[IC] Welcome Back to the Guild

[nautilusmp]

Nautilus listened to the youngster's explanations. The youngster seemed to speak without much delay, so Nautilus chose not to interrupt the youngster's speech. Nautilus waited to see whether the youngster would be able to answer his own question by himself. The youngster mentioned something about Roleplayerguild when explaining his internet problems, which strengthened Nautilus's belief that the youngster is a roleplayer. He saw the youngster opening his phone one more time, and he heard the response.

"That's weird. I have no signal. I always have had signal. And the clock is still doing that weird time thingy like it's changing time zones or something", the youngster said in disbelief.

"Well, it may blow up your head, young man," Nautilus began to explain. "But really, this is the Guild, where the roleplays in that site come true to life. And I don't know whether you are surprised by this, but I'm a...". His speech was soon cut.

"No time to explain!" the youngster shouted at him. "We have to go! Into the forest!"

For a while, Nautilus thought, while accelerating to run after the youngster. He was about ten to fifteen metres behind the youngster and currently equaling the youngster's speed, but he really hadn't run at full pace yet. Did I scare him like that man who carried a sword did to me before?, he thought. But if that man is scared of and running away from him, the use of 'we' in 'we have to go!' implied that Nautilus had to run as well, since there were only two people around, which is a contradiction. That means there was only one more possibility: that young man was stuck inside one of his own roleplays, and something bad was about to happen. Believing this to be true, Nautilus ran at full pace while tried to shout, "What happened?"

[Neobullseye]

"Nice to meet you to, Rose," Leon answered, involuntarily stepping back to the wall and again upon Rose mentioning dhow ridiculously high in the sky the Academy was. "And yes, that's my point. This place is apparently suspended in the air for whatever reason, so it should be logically impossible for a tunnel to be connected to it. Of course, everything about this... thing seems logically impossible, but that's a different story." Leon shook his head, then mentioned Rose to follow him back through the doors he just came from, holding said doors open for the girl. "Anyway, it's this way. Sure, it looks like a normal hallway now -- sans the fact that it's far too long for a normal hallway, and seems to be longer than the building it's in -- but it changes into a tunnel if you keep following it. Or the tunnel changes into a hallway, depending on where you enter it from. Either way, it's really disorienting, especially in the middle."

As he was talking ((And possibly walking down the interdimensional tunnel/hallway)), Leon tried to process a few things. For one, how in the world was this even remotely possible. Two, how did he get here. Three, how did the other girl get here. Four, how would they get back to where they belonged -- likely the most important one. "So, you said this was some kind of Academy, right -- Sorry, I didn't quite catch the name due to everything what's going on. Anyway, the point is, can you tell me a bit more about it? For example, why does it exist?"

[Kaga]

“Another world.” Muse replied surprisingly nonchalantly. “Or, well, another setting, at least.” I really should think up some less-confusing terminology… “Not so much ‘another world’ like the transition from your own world to this funny place; I guess you could call this place its own ‘realm’, then, and this little slice of Equestria is just one setting in this realm – or, well, I should say ‘version’, not ‘slice’, shouldn’t I? Yes, one version of Equestria. There are lots of versions of Equestria here. But I mean, to even things out, we also have lots of versions of SBURB, Panem, the Kanto region, and of course plenty of original settings. And none of them have any real transitions between them.” He stopped speaking at the perfect moment as he stood just inches in front of a wall of pouring rain. Bright sunlight still shined on Muse and Ebil.

“Here,” Muse spoke as he began to take off his leather jacket, then draped it over his own and Ebil’s head. “There’s an old house not too far ahead. Hopefully we can seek shelter there - but we don’t want to get drenched in the meantime, eh?” he grinned. “I say we make a run for it on ‘three’. One, two… THREE!”

[Ebil Bunny]

Muse rambled on and on about what up ahead was. Ebil tried to follow what he was saying, but it was quite difficult.
"Here. There's an old house not too far ahead. Hopefully we can seek shelter there - but we don’t want to get drenched in the meantime, eh? “I say we make a run for it on ‘three’." said Muse after they stopped next to the strange wall of rain. "One, two... THREE!"
Ebil Took off after Muse, but slipped in the mud, and landed face first with a SPLAT. He got up, and even though he really didn't like being covered from head to toe in mud, he continued on, thinking only about getting out of the rain. This "Muse" probably wouldn't like that the boy had covered his jacket in mud, so Ebil hoped that the rain would wash it all off.

[Evilorber]

Evilorber settled in the bushes, pointing to a similar area across the road from him for the other man to wait. It wasn't comfy to sit in. Could this really be what I think it is? Evil thought. [it]It's too similar, it HAS to be...[/i]. The humming was getting louder and louder, and it seemed to be approaching from over the hills. He turned to the man. "Listen, This sounds crazy and all, but I think I know what's about to happen... A giant-" Evilorber was suddenly interrupted by the sound of an explosion. A giant, wasp-shaped hunk of metal had appeared from over the hills. It suddenly began shooting lasers and rockets everywhere, scorching the land in fire.

Evil turned to the man again. "This was a roleplay about a fantasy world being invaded by a futuristic species of human-alien like beings for natural ores and resources." He once again faced the wasp, which, as he remembered, did not target the forest. Vaguely humanoid shapes began emerging from the wasp. They carried large, spoon-like objects. A woman crawled away from the destroyed house, and one of the beings noticed her, quickly pointing the spoon-like thing at her. Her skin was suddenly turned to ash, and a pinkish substance seemed to be absorbed into the weapon. The humanoid beings were moving slowly to the forest.

"Wait..." Evil began.

"This is the Guild?"

He thought about it for a full second or two, as the beings walked closer and closer to the forest. Luckily, they hadn't seen them yet.

"Yeah, actually, this roleplay was from the old site... b-but?" His eyes widened.

"Why are we INSIDE the guild? How did I get here? And what happens if we're injured or... die inside?"

[Kaga]

Muse stopped, not having expected one of them to slip so easily, separating them and letting them both get soaked. “Ehhh fantastic…” he mumbled sarcastically as he lost his grip on his only source of cover, the pouring rain coming down hard on the both of them. “Eh, worse things could happen in a world like this.” He said before offering a hand to Ebil, helping him out of the mud. “Remind me to teach you some reality-augmenting techniques sooner rather than later – that is once I gather a few more of you. C’mon, we’re almost inside…”

He scrambled over to the door of the old house, knocking loudly as he began to shiver. “Good news is, the fact that there’s any sort of house here probably means someone’s home…”

[HylianRose]

She thought for a moment as she followed him. A hallway that turns into a tunnel? This was a really weird dream... She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. [i]Maybe I should just go with it. It was interesting anyway. She stopped and looked at him when he asked why the academy existed. "Well, it's Kalmaysia Academy and it exists for the students. When kids, rather unique kids, don't belong anywhere else, they come here. We've even got a few 21 year olds, surprisingly. Though, if I'm being completely honest, I don't know why I'm here. This is..." She paused, wondering if she should even tell him. Dream or not, he'd probably think she's crazy. She sighed and shook her head. No reason not to. It's not like she really had anything to lose.

"This is a roleplay. I controlled a few characters in it. We... my group, we all created this world. Why I'm standing in it, I... I have no idea." She told him, feeling silly for even saying it. But it was true. Why was she here? She looked on head and saw how the wall of the hall began to slowly morph into bricks and darken. But wait... She blinked. "Wait, I don't even recognize this hallway. I mean, the school went through renovations, sure but... this... This should be a window. And I didn't notice that when we came back... At least, I didn't create it." She explained, looking around. The hallway had no windows either, which was weird.

She turned to face Leon, a new question in her head. "So wait, if you don't know how you got up here, or anything about the school, why are you here? You're a new character, right?" She asked, once again feeling very silly but it wasn't something she wanted to ask because she got this stinking suspicion this boy, unlike most students was completely oblivious.

[Asuterisuku]

Sandy squinted and held his hand up to shield his eyes - which felt as though they hadn't been opened for a long, long time - from the all too bright light. "At least there is light," he muttered to himself as he fumbled for his glasses. They were nowhere to be found, at least by pawing his hands around. Most of what he could see was a grey blob. He knew he wasn't home. His apartment was more colourful than this by a long shot. "Does that mean I'm still in the Guild?" He tried to remember what had happened to him. There had been an argument... This wolf had come out of the forest and was claiming to be the god of this world... His head hurt. He couldn't really concentrate. But it was no use. He couldn't remember any other details other than this: Muse, the man who had brought him there had called the thing that was speaking through the wolf 'Ex.' "Ex." He muttered the name aloud, wondering if there was a story behind it.

With one more desperate grope, Sandy's hand grabbed something solid. A table. On it were his glasses. He donned them and took a moment for his eyes to adjust, as the world came into sharp focus around him. As he got a better view of his surroundings, he realized something. He'd woken up in a cell.

Again.

The memory of what had happened the previous day came sharply to focus, as though it had been a dream turned very real. Including what Muse had said about reality being... malleable. That in order to change something, one had to believe what he wanted to change was already changed, to commit that belief to heart and mind. A daunting task for a skeptic like Sandy. Not one he could manage at a moment's notice like this. And yet, when he tried the door, it wasn't locked. Strange, he said to himself. Even stranger though, was the fact that when he opened it, it opened not to a building or any interior space. Instead, it had opened onto water, about three meters above the surface. Not too high to jump if it was deep enough, but enough to be intimidating.

But if he did jump, there was no boat, no place to make landfall in sight. He'd be in the water for a while... At least long enough to swim to the next setting. He wasn't sure how long that would take. But he had no choice, and he knew it. With only a moment's more hesitation, he dove. With nowhere else to go, he started swimming, determined not to change his course until something changed.

[John Walrus III]

John sat quietly beside his Puppet self, turning his die in his hand. The only obvious thing was that, dream or not, he was in his own RP, and something had happened. Water dripped slowly from his chin. No, tears. He was crying. He breathed deeply. Why shouldn't he be? He was sitting next to a dead piece of his life, literally.

He jumped when he heard a knock on the door. He thought for a moment. Could a Puppet have survived? Doubtful, which meant there was someone else here. Did more people get sucked into his world? He took a few hesitant steps toward the entryway. But suppose they were the responsible for this chaos? But why would they have returned? Did they know he was here? He stopped just a step from the door. A leak dripped down on him as the rain continued outside. He hasn't considered that. Perhaps they simply wanted shelter. He nodded in agreement with himself and reached forward to open the door.

Standing before him were two individuals, one seeming surprisingly cheerful, while the other was coated in mud, holding a jacket. John paused for a moment, before waving them inside. "I don't suppose you can tell me what the hell happened then?" He looked down at the die in his hand for a moment. He was faced with an 8.

[Kaga]

“Well heeeeey look who it is!!” an excited voice cried out. Were Sandy to look up, he would’ve seen a large green wyvern dragon hovering above the water, and riding it, an eccentric young male with messy violet hair and a rather cheeky grin. “It’s me! From before! I was controlling that wolf, remember?” No doubt the Godmodder recognized the human as one of those first roleplayers he’d sucked into the RP realm, right before he triggered Guildfall. “Y’know, I came out here looking for some meat to beta test my new dragon’s hunting ability and digestive tract, but that seems like a waste with a specimen as fine as yourself!” he chimed, still grinning. “I really didn’t expect any of your little group to survive; how amusing!!”

He then brought his dragon down lower, and the man’s features became more distinguishable. His sharp eyes would generally be the first thing to notice – richly colored as if to match his hair – if his left eye in particular wasn’t such a distinguishing feature. That single eye obscured itself in some sort of burning violet energy – almost like a tiny ball of flame pressed to his face, though translucent enough to still see the eye beneath, much like the purple aura that surrounded the wolf he possessed when he met Sandy for the first time. “Ya like the dragon? His name’s Basilix; Bassie for short~”

[Ebil Bunny]

Muse helped Ebil to his feet, and they continued on their run to get out of the pouring rain. The boy was glad that Muse wasn't too angry about his jacket getting covered in mud.
They soon, even though it felt like hours, reached a small building, and rushed inside to get out of the rain. Inside was another human holding a die.
"I don't suppose you can tell me what the hell happened then?" asked the person who had been inside first. Ebil looked over to his companion.
"If anyone knows, it's Muse," replied Ebil. He wasn't exactly comfortable talking to people, and someone who didn't even have the decency to introduce himself to people before asking questions made him even less comfortable.

[Kaga]

Muse hardly had the chance to thank John for letting him inside before he was suddenly asked ‘what the hell happened?’. “Well um…” Muse hesitated, looking John over closely. Is this the roleplayer I sensed? he wondered. He held a tabletop die in his hand, so, probably? Burning question was, though, what exactly did happen? He could try to explain the whole ‘welcome to the Guild’ spiel, but if this guy was referring to something specific that had just happened in this particular setting, how was he to know? “I just got here; you tell me what happened.” He replied. “I mean I’m guessing you’re proooobably a Roleplayer Guild member who got sucked into a roleplay, but as for what exactly just happened moments prior to my arrival… well, I’m not omniscient.” He answered, still shivering slightly, holding back the urge to shake the water out of his hair like a dog.

[Euclid]

Darkness.

It had been several hours before Euclid finally stood up, having watched the sun disappear behind the horizon and leave the edge of the sky a brillant shade of orange. Above him, the stars glistened and sparkled, millions of tiny lights that peppered the atmosphere and made the scenery more beautiful than it was during the day. The moon hung in the background, large and almost threatening, and Euclid smiled. He had always been a fan of large moons in the backdrop of the sky, looming over the planet; almost commanding it, but leaving the true majesty to be found on the world itself. Now that he was here, in his own world, he had no idea what to do.

We grow.

His thoughts were shaken by the soft booming of what he could tell were large footsteps. The ground trembled beneath him but he never lost his footing, shifting his body to view the source of the quake. What came to him was a large entity, enshrouded in green shrubbery with an intricate design all across its body. Its form was massive compared to his own, topping out easily at forty feet in height. It stood on four legs, of which at the end of each were several roots that seemed to form some type of extremities. No face could be found on the creature; if there was one, he couldn't see it. Its head was adorned with a tree that had no leaves, yet the branching was remarkably beautiful. When it stopped in front of Euclid, the two exchanged stares for the longest time before the creature let out a moan that sounded melodic, yet beautifully haunting. Euclid knew immediately what it was and dropped to his knees, propping himself up so that he could keep from buckling under the raw emotion felt in this moment. He had finally encountered the creature of his dreams - the Elder Root.

Resting on its back haunches, the creature moved to lay down, the roots on its feet extending and piercing into the ground. It positioned itself comfortably, then became completely still. Moments passed before the grass around it started to grow at a rapid rate. Flowers erupted from the ground, blooming almost as fast as they had been given birth. The growth started to move outward from the Elder Root's body, reaching past where Euclid was. He stood up, making sure not to get buried by the rapid engendering of vegetation. After a few minutes, the growth stopped, leaving the ground in a beautiful array of plants that could really only be seen from the air. Euclid marveled at the sight of the beast's majesty before yawning lightly. He had spent much of his time here watching the scenery, studying the world. He needed to rest.

Rest is for the weak.

Settling into the creature's surprisingly soft shrubbery, Euclid crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. Within a few minutes, he was lost to his dreams.

---

Elsewhere, in a city surrounded by water, was a fragile teen, ailing and afraid of the outside. He clutched a locket in his hand, his breaths ragged and labored as he stared out over the ocean. It was getting hard for him to breathe, to stand, to live. But, he still had some hope, even if it was slim. He knew that somewhere, someone out there was going to find him and fulfill his final request. Keeping this in mind, he smiled and placed the locket in his jeans.

"I know you're out there," he whispered to himself. "And when you finally arrive, I will be waiting. I just hope it isn't too late by then."

[John Walrus III]

John watched him, the one referred to as Muse, as he gave a swift, though limited, explanation that it had something to do with Roleplayer Guild, but changed it to the same question John had just asked. John sighed and thought for a moment. "The most I can say is that this is - well, I suppose was is more appropriate now - a roleplay of mine." He paused, inhaling deeply. "It's gone," he said bluntly. "This entire town is broken and destroyed. The Puppets who lived here are dead, not one of them lived I bet." John felt the tears building up. "This was a part of me," he whispered. He gestured back down the hall. "Even my character is dead." He clutched his die for comfort. "I'm dead here."

John sighed, on the verge of tears. Shaking his head, he turned to the shelves that had once held dozens, maybe hundreds of books and pieces of literature. He stared at what broken mess remained. Some broken books lay on the ground, while speed pages ghosted amongst the shelves. He turned again and say against a sturdy shelf, ruling his die between his fingers. "Perhaps you should see for yourself. Maybe you can understand this better than I."

[Neobullseye]

'Unique', hm? What, like Magical Girl unique? To be honest, given the setting, Leon wouldn't be surprised at this point -- not to mention he'd seen things that broke reality in far worse ways than your general Magical Girl does. For example, floating in midair with nothing to support it, yet simultaneously being connected to an invisible-from-the-outside dimension-warped tunnel leading to a dead cit-

Whoa whoa whoa. Hold it, wait, back up, full stop. A roleplay? Pretty much everything else what Rose said afterwards was completely ignored by Leon's brain, including the question why he was here in the first place. Instead, it used up pretty much all its resources to figure out why the girl thought she was in a roleplay. Come to think of it, wasn't he on a roleplaying site himself just before he woke up here? At least, that was the last thing he remembered -- which, of course, didnd't strictly mean that nothing at all happened in between. On that note, the city... Wasn't there a roleplay that played in a futuristic city? Although Leon couldn't remember the name for the life of him, he did seem to remember that it was pretty bad, with lots of railroading and very little NPC interaction. But wait. Did that mean... No, that was impossible. Yet at the sae time, everything here was impossible. ...He had to know. He had to ask, regardless of how insane it might sound.

For a good time, Leon said nothing, simultanously trying to make at least some sense of it all, searching for a way to express his suspicions and collect the guts to do so. After a deep breath, he turned to Rose. All he said was. "...That roleplay. Was it on a site named Roleplayerguild?"

[HylianRose]

She blinked, watching him as she finished talking and asking her questions. He was deep in though, almost shocked.. or so she thought. Might just be that he didn't feel good. She wasn't exactly the best at reading people's emotions or personalities. She wasn't exactly the best at a lot of things. One word to describe Emily? Derptastic. She almost always messes things up, as if it were a profession.

Her heart skipped a beat when he asked what the name of the site was. She turned slowly, looking at him with eyes of fear. She shook her head, closing her eyes. No, it could still be a dream. It had to be. She took in a deep breath and looked up at him. "Yeah... It's had a bit of down time. Why do... you know it? I mean, I guess the site could exist in the roleplay but that's a bit... weird." She answered, her brows furrowed. "Well, I guess if this is a dream, it doesn't have to make sense." She blurted out. Wait... She covered her mouth with her hands and mumbled, "Did I really just say that?"

[nautilusmp]

After running the fastest he could, Nautilus finally caught up with the youngster. Only then, the youngster finally answered his question.

"Listen, This sounds crazy and all, but I think I know what's about to happen... A giant-"

That was the answer Nautilus received from the youngster. Shortly after that, an explosion is heard and a flying object was seen firing lasers and rockets indiscriminately. Although Nautilus had spent more time inside the Guild than the youngster, this was his first time seeing strange objects that one will never see in the real world, at least as of September 2013, the time when he clicked the link. Wait, that man said he knew what was about to happen, Nautilus thought. Since that man is a roleplayer and this is the Guild, this means he plays this roleplay, he concluded. The possibility that the youngster read the IC thread instead of playing it just didn't show up in his mind. "It seems that this is a roleplay of yours. Can you explain what is this all about?" he asked the youngster.

"This was a roleplay about a fantasy world being invaded by a futuristic species of human-alien like beings for natural ores and resources," the youngster replied.

Nautilus was a bit frightened upon hearing the answer. A roleplay whose premise is an invasion is often a roleplay where characters can quickly die if the player makes bad decisions and, being stuck inside the Guild, they were just as vulnerable to damages as ordinary characters. When he saw a character got obliterated within seconds, Nautilus fully realized what the word vulnerable meant. Then the youngster told him something.

"Wait... This is the Guild?"

"Yes, it is. Why?" Nautilus replied.

"Yeah, actually, this roleplay was from the old site... b-but... Why are we INSIDE the guild? How did I get here? And what happens if we're injured or... die inside?" the youngster said.

"I don't even know why or how we are brought in, I just clicked a link and woke up here, just like you," Nautilus said, lacking any tone. The next sentence was said in an even more pessimistic voice. "I've seen a fellow roleplayer died here... and... they never come back. They die for real". He then paused for a few seconds, trying to think clearly. "We're not safe here, we'd better flee the scene. Keep moving in a straight line, we should reach another roleplay setting within a few minutes and hope it's safer than this one," he said after thinking for those seconds.

[Neobullseye]

...Well then. Apparently Rose thought that she was in a dream? Meh, it was a reasonable enough explanation for everything that was going on, were it not for the fact that, from Leon's perspective, Rose could not possible be the dreamer. Inversely, Leon figured he wasn't dreaming too; it simply did not feel like a dream to him.
Leon shook his head. "I'm afraid this isn't a dream, Rose. Given, I have no idea what is going on, but I'm pretty sure that I'm awake." Insane, maybe, but still awake.

The young man closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Sheesh, this stupid place was really starting to get to him. "...Shall we go back to the garden area?," he suggested. "I really don't like the way this place looks. My head hurts from just looking at it. Plus, I need some fresh air." Not awaiting an answer, Leon started to walk back towards the area they just came from.

A short while after they arrived back in the garden area, Leon spoke up again. "Anyway, I guess you can say that I know the Guild," he said, mindlessly picking up a small stone from the ground. "It's an actual roleplaying site from where I'm from. In fact, the last thing I can remember before... before waking up in this place is that I clicked on a link. That's all I know." He wished he knew more, but he just simply didn't. So far, the only clue he had was that both Rose and he himself seemed to have some kind of connection to the Guild, but without some more clues, he refused to believe that that had anything to do with it. It was just too insane to believe.
In frustration, he threw away the stone he was holding, sending it flying over the edge of the floating island and down towards a certain watery area -- one that happened to have a wyvern rider hovering in it.

[Ebil Bunny]

Ebil silently left the conversation and sat in a corner of the room, listening to the others talk. He didn't really have anything to say, all the stuff they were talking about were too bazaar. He tried to listen, anyway, and found out that this place seemed to have a bunch of dead puppets. Of course, puppets shouldn't be alive in the first place. That was the confusing thing. Also confusing was where they were. Muse had said something about being in a roleplay earlier. That would definitely explain the pony place. There would probably be thousands of pony places here.

[HylianRose]

Her eyes grew wide. Not a dream? It.... had to be... She looked around, her head and heart starting to hurt. It couldn't be real. It couldn't... Her brows furrowed, she followed Leon complacently, her mind somewhere else. But, I have stuff to do.. people to see. I can't stay here. Without a thought, she walked over to the fountain and sat down. It was as familiar to her as her own room in the real world. After all, she'd helped create it. But something about the school didn't feel right. She shook her head. She needed to get back to the real world. She needed to go back to her boyfriend and roommate. She needed to go back...

She sighed, feeling worn. She looked around at the school. Slowly, it was turning dark. The School looked like a ghost town. She didn't see anyone. Nothing was going on. It was like everything had frozen over. The characters and NPC were gone. She hadn't seen anyone save for Matt and she hadn't seen him since. Maybe.. something happened. She let out a shuddering sigh.

She looked over at Leon slowly as he spoke. She felt numb to his words. He was a roleplayer? She blinked and looked back down at the darkened grass. It should be brighter than this... She sighed. "I think... I understand. I don't want to understand, but I think I do. I'm from Roleplayguild as well. This is one of my roleplays. I mean, I didn't create it but... I helped. The last thing I remember is clicking that damned link and then nothing. And then I woke up in my character's desk, just like I'd been at my own." She explained, looking over at Leon. She watched him throw a stone in frustration. "There's no reason to get angry. Just... keep calm." She said, feeling like she was talking to herself rather than him.

"I'm just wondering... I mean... What's next? What are we doing here? Because from what I understand, we're in the site. We're in the roleplays " She said, standing up. She walked over towards the edge and looked down. "I guess we got lucky, being up here. We get a bird's eye view of everything from up here. It looks like puzzle pieces down there. I guess they must be roleplay worlds." She said, not really to anyone in particular. She sat down, letting her feet hang over the edge of the school.