*ring ring*
“Rez, you may want to get that,” Luna says. She seems to be holding back a smirk.
I shrug. I certainly wasn’t expecting a call from any of my friends at this time of day...or night, for that matter. Luna had called me over for another gaming session, even though I thought Sig had one planned for this moment in time...and when I asked him about it, he said “just do it”. (Yes, he linked to that old memetic video. Shut up.) But the fact that no one else was there when I came into Luna’s game room (whatever other features the room possesses are irrelevant to my purposes), along with the fact that she knew about the call...and encouraged it...
She’s up to something.
“Sig, you’re contradicting yourself. This means you’re planning something.”
“Already have it planned.”
“It also involves Jolu and Vic.” Their names are listed as people on the call.
“Yeah...”
“And Luna.” I think for barely a moment, and before Sig can respond, I accuse: “You two are co-DMing tonight, aren’t you?”
Sig and Luna break down laughing simultaneously. This can only mean I’m right. “Dammit man, you’re killin’ me here! How can I keep a secret when you figure everything out so fast?”
“But yes, you’re right,” Luna says.
I never anticipated this kind of communication, but that’s what you get when your best friends are also hackers. “What led up to this?”
“Playing old games while half-asleep. Literally.”
“It’s a shame nopony has created computers yet. Your ‘video games’, even those of your past, are utterly astounding.”
“Which games?”
“Namco’s Tales series. After she saw me playing Tales of Destiny, and I told her that there was more than one game in the series, I showed her a ‘sizzle reel’ of pretty much every main game in the series.”
“Which one are we using?”
“Xillia,” Luna said, “for one reason alone: linking.”
“Neither of us are quite sure how she ended up in my head-”
“Sig, you’re such an insomniac...” Vic interrupted.
“...yeah, yeah, maybe that has something to do with it-but in any case, Luna pretty much fell in love with the game mechanics and wanted to try using it in one of her RPGs. She pretty much told me everything about her games of O&O after that point, and I gave the same courtesy with our D&D sessions, and then we got to planning.”
“And then this. Whatever the end result is.”
“Pretty much. And the ‘end result’ is us playing a realtime RPG with our characters, or new ones, with game mechanics from an old-and-awesome video game RPG in a dreamscape Luna is making while she and I watch the fireworks.”
“Right...” I turn my attention to Luna. “And we’ll be playing human characters this time, right?”
“Most certainly. Now, to begin, we’ll need you to fall asleep first...”
“On it.” For Luna’s gaming sessions, I have found it efficient to already have something set up to force me to sleep. In fact, I was already in my pajamas, now I just have to be in bed with the headphones playing music to a video that my optics are displaying. I can easily assume that the others have had their bits explained to them...something about comparing me to a router, something about magic.
I’ll see them there.
Within the dreamscape, I ‘woke up’ last, despite having fallen asleep first. I’m positive there are explanations for this, but right now I don't care about knowing why. For once in my life, I feel like actually being physically active, even as I know it's not actually physical. And right now, I don't care.
I stand up and get a good look at myself. Human, male, good. Basic-yet-intricate-looking robes, classy while still leaving plenty of room for athleticism, check. Staff of metal, made for hitting as much as for channeling magic, certainly feels about right for that. Big man in armor with a weapon that works as a shield, blue-skinned girl in robes that somehow evoke both white and black mages while moving at unexpected speeds, and they're both clashing in the plains?
Well, I guess I woke up a lot later than them than I thought. “Trying out the combat system without me, are you?”
“Ask her! She’s the one who demanded to spar with me,” Jolu, or whoever the character is that he’s playing, “Gk...didn't think you’d be a rushdowner...your Artes are all support!"
“My Artes are all for playing with everyone’s health, mine included,” Vic states. I don’t yet know her character’s name either. “You’ll notice I haven’t been using them?”
“As far as I’ve seen, medic classes often have lower attack, sometimes greater agility,” I note. “The speed here is probably to get from patient to patient-but she’s using it here offensively, to keep poking at you.”
“Well then tell her to stop!”
“Try hitting her yourself!”
“I can’t hit a girl!”
“Too bad! The girl is hitting you!”
“Try using an Arte.”
“She’ll stagger me when I try!”
“Normal attacks don’t stagger!”
“Do you really want me to test that?!?”
And then something weird happened. The world...glitched, for lack of any better terminology. The sky trembled and seemed to flicker between night and day, with landscapes shifting rapidly and an immense pressure bearing down on each of us. I think I may have seen Jolu standing the most upright in his armor, which was saying something due to the gravity.
And then as quickly as it started, it stopped. Aside from a message that faded from the quickly brightening sky.
‘THIS. WORLD. IS. MINE.’
...certainly not something to inspire confidence. “Guys...?” I offered.
“Yeah?”
“Our campaign has no sense of subtlety whatsoever.”
“...there isn’t a campaign.” Vic stated.
This confused me. “What?”
“Sig and Luna planned this as a prototype, a beta test. There isn’t supposed to be a mission. Just a combat test.”
“YO DMs!” Jolu yelled to the sky. “THIS ISN’T FUNNY ANYMORE. WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU UP TO OVER THERE?”
There was no response beyond the sky glitching again, and the message soon vanished.