Things were going slow. It was the first day, and only Chuck had made his way into the simulation. He had arrived far before them, and had almost all of his face covered by the helmet. If one was to glance at one of the monitors displaying what was happening within the simulation, they would find all but one of the three hundred blank. That monitor displayed only Chuck's character, one in a small white brick room, with a few chairs and no windows. One of the walls was made entirely out of glass. If Chuck squinted through the glass wall, he would be able to see four tables, each with five lumps placed on the top; these were the backpacks.
The other players were all asking questions, save the two or three that were completely unable to talk. All of them had their helmets on and had already been surveyed and asked how they wanted their characters to differ from themselves. The blood pressure checks had been completed. All they had to do was have the red buttons under each of their names pressed, and they would be in the simulation. Eleanor Murphy tapped her foot impatiently, and then proceeded to answer a few simple questions. "Is there any other last minute questions before we begin?" she asked. "If not, we can all go ahead and hook ourselves up to the machine and select our backpacks. I'm sure poor Chuck is getting awfully bored."

"Is there any other last minute questions before we begin? If not, we can all go ahead and hook ourselves up to the machine and select our backpacks. I'm sure poor Chuck is getting awfully bored."

Raising her hand excitedly CC hopped from one foot to the other as she tried to draw Eleanor's attention while standing in the middle of the other contenders. "I'm sorry, I have a question... do you have a bathroom?"

CC always got like this before a big adventure. A couple of weeks before she'd led her guild of Avenging Angels to hunt down a group of players on her Galaxy of Fantasy server who had been bullying noobs and stealing their resource points on a regular basis. In the lead up to the final battle CC had drunk enough water to fill her belly and she swore she could hear herself sloshing as she'd run to the toilet.

The flight to the complex hadn't been any better. The excitement and anticipation building inside her as the contenders had been treated like celebrities with first-class accommodations all the way. Her first sighting of the Echo Park, the world famous centre of the Echo Games community, had been a disappointment. From the outside the place look like just another office building surrounded by workshops and server nests.

It wasn't until she'd actually walked into the 'Inner Sanctum' and caught sight of the colossal bank of monitors that her heart had finally begun to race, and with it her other bodily functions. "I really gotta pee."

"No, I'm afraid you will have to hold it for the next year," said Eleanor with some sarcasm. "I'm just kidding, first door on the left down that big hallway, you can't miss it!" she said smiling, more cheery than before.

It felt like an eternity since he'd entered the simulation, but Chuck felt he' learnt all he could about the physical laws of the new realm. They mostly mirrored the real world, but with a few exceptions he might be able to make use of at some point. Looking down at his hand he quickly concentrated before watching it dissolve into a mass of pixels with a loose framework of green lines beneath. It wasn't much of a disguise, he'd be the first to admit, but it should do for now.

Concentrating he willed his avatar to rise from its chair, much as he would his own body. He'd been practicing piloting the digital form remotely and had grasped enough of the basics to be able to navigate most obstacles without difficulty. He'd reached the point where even the most elaborate of acrobatics came almost effortlessly to him and with a quick flip he launched himself into the middle of the room, standing between the four tables as he considered the backpacks carefully.

This was obviously a test of some sort, or a selection process. It couldn't just be as simple as a bomb in a briefcase though, that would end the game far too quickly. No, it had to be something more elaborate than that. Slowly he paced around the tables, examining the bags one by one for any obvious signs or indications as to what they contained, his eyes darting over them as he tried to decide what should be done next.

From the far side of the room, Nana huddled in on herself as she sat in her wheelchair, her big brown eyes darting from one person to the next. Looming protectively behind her was Hideyaki-san, her butler and caretaker, ready to leap at her command. More than that, Nana wanted his familiar presence here, admist the unfamiliar people and sights. She had already had her helmet strapped to her head, and the oddness of wearing it heightened her anxiety.

Nana had asked for a clear view of the monitors, and watched the only person admitted inside so far do acrobatic tricks. Looking down, she found herself running a hand over her knees subconciously, and she quickly clasped her hands against the armrests of her chair to stop herself. She felt Hideyaki-san place a comforting hand on her shoulder, understanding of her plight.



Nana blinked away some tears that began to form in her eyes as her thoughts swam around. She couldn't think of any questions to ask, not ones that she wanted to voice out loud, as they were all too deeply personal. Everything, every hope Nana had, every moment since hearing the news of being admitted into the Echo Game, had been one breathless second after another. Sleepless nights, days filled with melancholy and excitement in equal measure. She fiddled with the wooden omamori in her hand, a charm for protection. Holding it calmed her racing thoughts, and she took a few deep breaths, wincing in pain when it stretched the skin along her spine.

Hideyaki-san produced a small bottle of water and a set of pills for her almost out of thin air, and she gulped them both down. She was definitely ready to get into the game, if it meant relief from this life.

Jack sighed, he had come here to play the game not listen to people ask stupid questions. This seemed like to might actual be interesting and as usual everyone else was slowing him down. He waited bored until they finally got in. It seemed the only person who was playing right now was getting used to it doing some nonsense acrobatics. Hmm, if physical ability did not directly translate into the game then that could be quite useful. Jack pondered over what he would do first when he entered this strange virtual world.

"Alright, I'll go ahead and let you all get started," said Eleanor. The buttons were activated, and several players entered the simulation.

The backpacks had been strapped to the tables beforehand, inaccessible by Chuck. Suddenly, the straps fastening the backpacks vanished.

As soon as the backpacks were grasped, the individual was sent to the random destination tied to each backpack.

All of the Backpacks were different in various ways, however they all had different colors.

The Backpacks

1. The Red Backpack: A small backpack with a particularly bright red color that seems to fill the entire room.
2. The Yellow Backpack: This one smells funny and is covered in mysterious stains.
3. The Orange Backpack: A somewhat larger backpack, with little wheels and a compass. Now isn't that neat!
4. The Brown Backpack: This one looks very aged and is coated in a thin layer of dust.
5. The Black Backpack: It's not really a backpack. It's a duffel bag with a comfortable looking strap.
6. The White Backpack: A particularly boring backpack. There is nothing interesting about this except for that it is white. That's too bad.
7. The Gold Backpack: It shines brilliantly. It couldn't possibly be pure gold! Right?
8. The Purple Backpack: There are small places where the fabric has been torn, but it is still impossible to see inside. One of the straps is missing
9. The Pink Backpack: Dora the Explorer? Really? Nobody could possibly want this backpack, with Dora's face stitched onto the front
10. The Silver Backpack: Again, this clearly isn't a backpack; it's a briefcase.
11. The Dark Blue Backpack: A very calming blue color, don't ask why, it is simply very calming.
12. The Light Blue Backpack: If your feeling teal, this is as close as you're gonna get. I mean, it's basically teal. Yeah, it's teal.
13. The Dark Green Backpack: Well it's green and OH NO! It's on fire! Yikes, hate to be the guy that has to deal with a flaming backpack.
14: The Light Green Backpack: Smells like dish soap.
15: The Gray Backpack: There are initials on the side of this! Cool! They say, "kill the child." Woah... wow... um... that can't be good...
16: The Rainbow Backpack: All the colors you could possibly imagine! Why settle for one Backpack when you can have them all!
17: The Cream Backpack: A fat looking backpack, clearly crammed with different things
18: The Indigo Backpack: Think I'm running out of ideas for colors? Wait until you see the next one
19: The Violet Backpack: No, the next one
20: The Heliotrope Backpack: Here you are.

Settling into her cradle CC pulled the interface helmet down over her face and settled back. As she relaxed a wave of bright colours washed over her, forming themselves into a tunnel before she finally found herself standing in the waiting room she'd seen on the screen a few moments before.

Scrunching her hands together in front of her with excitement CC hopped from one foot to the other before noticing Chuck glaring at her ominously. Quickly pulling herself together CC looked down at herself and found she was wearing something which resembled a high-tech white body suit which strongly reminder her of the outfit her avatar was used to wearing in Galaxy of Fantasy, perfect down to the smallest of details.

After spending a few moments marveling at herself CC looked over at the collection of bags trying to decide which one she'd look at first. Her attention was immediately drawn to the silver briefcase, which looked like the ones used by agents in the Megacorp Online games to transport their secret government black ops gear around in and she was tempted to choose it for herself, but then she noticed one of the other bags on fire.

This is a digital world, she thought to herself, Everything here is an analogy for something else and if the bag's on fire then its flaming, and I know all about how to deal with a Flame War!

Quickly she grabbed 13. the flaming Dark Green Backpack and holding it at arm's length screamed at it, "Your mother's so fat, they had to design a new type of plane just to ship her here!"

Jack blinked rapidly adjusting his eyesight and senses to this new place. Well this wasn't to hard, it seemed the first thing to do was pick one of the many many backpacks before them. 20- check that 19 some girl had grabbed the flaming one and started yelling idiotically, whatever.

He quickly analyzed the available backpacks, hmm it was pratically impossible to choose with so many options, in paticular since he had no idea what any of them did. The orange one seemed practical, as did the cream one. Argh what the heck he had nothing to lose right? Just a game. Feeling irked that he already had to make a decision that he didn't know the consequences of Jack strode forward and grabbed the 16. the rainbow backpack, basically it was just a terrible way of compromising between his choices.

Moving around the tables carefully Chuck watched the other two make their choices as he considered his own. Perhaps he should wait to see what the backpacks held before taking one for himself? Butno, the Game probably didn't work that way, and besides there was no guarantee what their backpacks held would have any impact on what would be inside his.

Stepping up to the table Chuck gently poked the pink one with some sort of cartoon characters on it. The bag looked as good as any other but Chuck moved on, something about it just didn't appeal to his. The gold one held no appeal for him either, while it may never tarnish it would also be soft and malleable and while he liked to see those traits in others he would never choose them for himself.

Finally Chuck stopped in front of 4. The old and dusty Brown Backpack. For some reason this one felt right for him and reaching out with both hands to took hold of it and slowly began making his way back to the seating area from which he'd risen, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

Nana was carefully set into her cradle, with much help from Hideyaki-san and a few other employees of the Echo Game corporation. Before pulling the visor down on it, she gave her butler a smile, which he returned and gave her hand a squeeze. “I love you Hideyaki.” Nana whispered as she held his hand tight. “I love you too, little bee.” She heard his deep and somber voice reply before she was swept away in a blur of colors.

The intense amount of white was the first thing that threw Nana off-guard and caused her to stumble a bit, the second thing was she realized she was standing. Standing! Her long, slender legs tapered off into hooves, shocking her initially even though she had asked for this race. She tried to move her left leg forward and wobbled on the first step, but soon she was prancing around in the corner of the room excitedly, her dusky gray hair flowing behind her. She didn't care who saw, blast them all!

She reflexively ducked down when a female voice shouted across the enclosed space, slightly echoing off of the sterile white walls. Nana had no idea who the lady at the other end was, but Nana hoped she never got on her bad side while in the game. That was when Nana noticed everyone clustered around the backpacks, and a bright pink fabric caught her eye. It wasn't her favorite color, but it reminded her of something...

Coming closer, carefully moving through the throng, Nana found herself at 9. The Pink Backpack, and she had been right. One of her favorite cartoon characters faces was plastered on it, and Nana picked it up, mouthing under her breath, “Swiper no Swiping!” She couldn't suppress a small giggle as she hugged the backpack to her. This was the perfect backpack for her, or so she thought. Adventures! Fun! Possibly a talking map... Nana tried to peer through one of the flaps but to no avail. It was securely shut for now, and the rest of the people were milling about choosing, and sometimes nudging each other out of the way of backpacks.

As the backpacks were selected and lifted off of the tables, they began to emit a soft glow. Suddenly all of the players that had already grabbed backpacks were transported into the main simulation. In addition to the pink, dark green, brown, and rainbow backpacks, the light green, indigo, cream, and violet backpacks had been picked up.

Players would soon notice that, even if they squinted hard at themselves, they wouldn't see pixels. Everything was hyper realistic.

Player #13-CC

As CC selected the burning dark green backpack, she was transported into a dense rain forest full of beautiful flowers and exotic creatures. Immediately, the flames on the backpack began to spread, and a few trees began to ignite. Unfortunately, it was not currently raining in the rain forest. CC would have to act fast, or the whole forest would go up in flames! It would be difficult and dangerous to put it out herself, but she could manage... probably...

Player #16-Jack

Jack was transported to a beach. There were two small human children playing tag, and another was eating a large ice cream cone. An older women that seemed to be their mother had clearly fallen asleep reading a magazine and was laying on a beach towel. Four young women wearing bikinis were crowded around a man. Every time the man talked, the women would erupt into a chorus of giggles. Finally, there was the lifeguard, a bored looking teenager fiddling around with his phone.

To the north there was a pier with a few people fishing and a hot dog stand. If Jack looked close enough at the hot dog stand, he would notice a suspicious heavily cloaked figure approaching the unsupervised children...

Player #4- Chuck

Chuck was in a city street. The buildings all looked run down except for the large casino in front of him. The place seemed group of women was talking at a street corner and were giving him some strange looks and two bored Elven security guards standing outside of the casino. A goblin with a little stubble of hair on his chin walked past Chuck. When he approached Chuck, he stealthily pulled out a knife and brought it down towards Chuck's bag, ready to cut open the bag and grab some goodies from it...

Player #9- Nana

Nana was suddenly within a pleasant, bright field. She must be near an ocean because it was so loud. There were some nice white flowers on the ground, but they made strange shapes and... wait a minute! Nana was in the middle of a soccer field. As a black and white ball sailed towards her, she realized that she was in the middle of a soccer game! One team had yellow uniforms with orange stripes, and the other team's jersey's were pink. The same pink as Nana's new t-shirt. The ball was being passed to her!
(AKA a football game, for you non-Americans.)

As he felt his body beginning to dissolve, obviously being transported to some new location, Chuck quickly made a grab for the table, his fingers closing around the strap of the Gold Backpack still resting there. A moment later he found himself standing on the streets of a city his fingers clutching both backpacks for a second before the gold one slowly faded away, vanishing without a trace.

It was worth a try, he thought to himself, but obviously someone had been prepared for that little trick. Whoever was in control of this simulation had just gone up in his estimations of them, but only a little. Taking a moment to assess his situation, Chuck realised he his entire body was now covered with a heavy black robe with a the high hood and white mask shrouding his face from any casual onlookers.
Considering the reaction of the women nearby either his sudden appearance out of thin air or his attire seemed to have drawn attention and Chuck quickly turned to make his way to somewhere a little more private in order to inspect the contents of his backpack without interruption. Just then he heard footsteps coming up behind him and turning saw a thief plunging a dagger down towards his pack.

Stepping to one side to avoid the attack Chuck snapped his arm out, grabbing his assailant's wrist tightly, causing it to drop its knife down onto the pavement. Quickly bending down to pluck the blade up with his free hand Chuck pulled the goblin back into a nearby alleyway, out of sight of the elven guards. Glaring down at the goblin, his red eyes glowing slightly in the darkness and the goblin's own blade held to his would-be assailant's throat Chuck growled as menacingly as he could, "Where am I? Tell me about this place."^@SpookySquid

CC was a little worried as her plan had backfired, it seemed the rules of the Game weren't quite as abstract as she'd thought. For a moment she stood there, holding the flaming bag at arm's length and looking around the white room for anything that could help douse the flames before suddenly the too shifted and spun, changing into a beautiful jungle meadow, complete with brightly coloured flowers and small creatures watching her with interest.

Suddenly the flames leapt from the backpack up into CC's hair. Crying out with fear she dropped the pack and quickly quashed the flames before they could spread before looking down at herself surprised to find she was wearing some sort of jungle savage outfit. What made it worse was that it felt like real fur, something she'd have to lodge a complaint about once the Game was over.
Realising something was wrong CC turned around to see the flames from her backpack had spread, and then some! A good portion of the surrounding vegetation was aflame and quickly spreading further by the second. Thinking quickly CC grabbed a nearby branch and pulled the backpack out of the inferno, before using the stick to quickly flip open the top and tip the backpack out.

Looking down at what she had to work with CC began to think of a way to get out of her predicament...

Jack blinked rapidly and looked around curiously. Sure it was virtual reality but it was still absurdly well done. He seemed to be on a beach, not very well populated. A couple of kids with thier mom, some rich guy guy with some ladies, a bored lifegaurd who looked like he was on minumum wage, some fishermen near a hotdog stand. A slight rumbling in his stomach warned Jack that he was hungry and when he looked down he noticed that he was in a swimsuit. In short he was on a boring beach on a sunny day wearing a pink swimsuit with a rainbow backpack. Wonderful. For some reason he was now featuring scars around some of his joints.

Well the first thing he could fix was his hunger so he walked over to the hotdog stand somewhat reluctantly. He exaimned the prices then reached into his pockets for money and quickly realized they were empty. Jack looked around somewhat embarrased and noticed a shady looking character close by. Who seemed to be staring intently at the kids and thier snoozing mom. Weird. He didn't know if he had money in his backpack but even if he did it was worth a shot to see if he could get some free money. Jack walked up to the cloaked man "Hey mister, mind giving me enough cash to get a hotdog?" Jack said in a friendly manner wondering how the man would respond. The guy looked even more suspicous up close, Jack was ready to run in case he tried something.

@SpookySquid

Jac looks around the room she was directed to when she first came in. "Eleanor?" She calls out, "Anyone here?" She was late, she knew it. Jac sighs, she had tried to explain to her mother that they *had* to be there on time, but her younger siblings had made it harder than it should've been to get going. She sees five other people already attached to the simulators, with their helmets on. They look so lifeless, just laying there... She shakes the thought away, No, they're fine. Remember what you're here for, this is going to help people!

She tentatively walks over to one of the empty cradles, her fingers running against the cool material. I wonder... Jac picks up the helmet and teases herself with the thought of putting it on. But you can't do that, you don't know the rules. What if you aren't supposed to put it on yet? She looks around before climbing in the cradle, Come on, just put it on already and start up the simulation! You're probably missing important details! Jac sighs, conflicted with herself as always. She calls out one last time, growing impatient, "Eleanor? If no one is here, I guess I'll just start it up myself?" Worried she was going against the rules, Jac pulls the helmet up and places it over her head. "Here goes nothing." She mutters.

Immediately she is pulled into a swirl of colors, her entire body tingling. She can feel herself fading away from reality and being transported into the game. She reappears in an empty white room save for a few tables and some chairs. Over on the far side of the room are rows of backpacks set out on the tables. There is a plethora of choices concerning size, color, and type. Jac walks up to the tables to get a better view and stumbles a bit, still not used to the controls. Once she reaches the tables she sees that there are backpacks missing from the rows. She expected at least five of the backpacks to be gone, but there were eight missing. Go ahead, grab one. Everyone else must have already gotten theirs. Jac runs her hands over the backpacks, feeling each one. She selects a dark blue backpack, number eleven. She's not quite sure why, but the color is very calming, very soothing, to her. She tries to unzip the backpack to check inside, but with no avail. Not sure what to do next, Jac sits down in one of the empty chairs and waits. What if you weren't supposed to do that? What if this messes up your chances for winning the game? Oh leave her alone she'll be fine.

Nana blunk in surprise as a soccer ball sailed towards her, almost in slow motion. She hadn't played soccer in so long, not since before the accident, yet...

She tried to respond by using one of her hooved feet to catch the ball, but she ended up missing it just barely and it got caught between her hooves, tripping her up. A loud chorus of boos followed her descent into face-planting in the green field. She still had the ball though! Nana quickly pushed herself off of the ground, stumbling as she tried to maneuver the white and black ball around with her hooves. It was such an unfamiliar sensation, to be moving around like this, but it was exhilirating!

That was when a rather stocky player in a yellow jersey cut her off and grinned beneath his large nose. What's his deal? She wondered briefly, before he came charging at her. She flinched instinctively, huddling in on herself. When she opened her eyes, she saw that stocky yellow jersey had stolen the ball from her, as easy as taking candy from a baby. Another chorus of boos rolled over the field, and one of the pink-jerseys gave her a gesture she was sure meant "What the hell are you doing?!"

She grimaced, wondering why she was here, but set herself to running desperately after the stocky player. Her hooves allowed her surprising speed over the green turf and she was soon in front of the stocky player, engaged in a war of feigning back and forth. He's really aggressive! If I can use that to my advantage... But how? She kept him locked down for now by taking advantage of her speed over his strength, meanwhile her teammates made sure he had no opportunities to pass the ball... for now.

The air around him when Lachlan awoke was not unlike the air he had known all his life. His olfactory sense was one of the only things left to him in the world - along with the constant tearing pain in all of his bones, which he had come to accept like an old friend - but he was left terribly wanting in a world with so little to smell. His only solace in this were the times the hospital staff had brought him flowers, or shared a meal in or nearby his room.

He then realized a new sensation was upon him, something he couldn't quite explain, though he knew within the dark world of his mind that he was in a much more spacious room than he was accustomed to. The feeling was foreign and drew beads of panic to it like a magnet, but Lachlan quickly dispelled the mood. If he was awake, he knew it was nearly time.

In the hospital, a digital replication of the real world fed into his mind to simulate rather crude eyesight. The technology had improved throughout the years, and he found more detail in the world around him as the feed's resolution increased, but he was told to expect something entirely beyond in the Echo Machine. To say he was excited was an understatement.

A woman was speaking, and one of Lachlan's attendants typed it into a console near his bed. His brain's acoustic sensors registered the words.

is there any other last minute questions before we begin -- if not we can all go ahead and hook ourselves up to the machine and select our backpacks -- i'm sure poor chuck is getting awfully bored

Lachlan did not reply with any questions, simply prompting a large smiling-faced symbol to appear on his monitor, followed by a thumbs-up. Shortly after, the scent of polymer entered his nose as what he could only assume to be a helmet was placed on his head, and his mind erupted with a million colours.

The game seized Lachlan's neurological system in a vice, rearranging the signals in his brain with more force than he ever felt before. It tapped into areas he had never used, fleeting sensations dancing in his mouth, on his skin, in his temples. He fought it, at first, slowing the pattern's progress, nearly stopping it in some areas, but as new feeling filled his body, erasing his pain, filling him with strength, he let go. He began fading out of the world, and fading into the machine. Blurry images grew in front of his mind, and he could hear a sound, so close it was almost inside of him. It was laughter, he realized as his lungs heaved. He was laughing.

Lachlan immediately stopped all the muscles in his body, cautiously reaching within himself with his mind. The laughter ceased, but his smile he could not rid himself of. Slowly he moved his arms, his legs, moving his fingers and toes, simple movements that brought endless bliss.

He looked down, realizing his body was rather ephemeral. He had never known what he looked like, but he had read many stories, and he solidified an image in his mind, one he would use as his own avatar. It was a simple image, a tall man, with brown hair and bright blue eyes, well-muscled and light-skinned with simple attire and a large green cloak thrown in for romantic effect. Again, Lachlan examined himself, confirming the change. He flexed his arms, feeling the strength, throwing them in the air. Then, he roared, a deep voice echoing across the void, raw and powerful.

For the first time, Lachlan breathed with his own lungs. He sucked the air in deeply, blowing it out in another hearty chuckle. The images dancing in front of him became clear, now, as he practiced adjusting his eyes to focus on the objects around him. Several other figures, like the men and women from his stories, stood around him, and between them all were several bright bags.

The backpacks. Now, he knew the game had begun. There would be plenty of time for play in the next twelve months.

He launched forward on his new legs, wrapping a strong hand around the first bag that caught his eye: a bright color, the orange backpack, standing out from any others. Its symbols spoke of travel, a world he could now explore. A world wherein he could be someone. A world he could rule.

Player #4- Chuck

The goblin sung like a bird, answering all of Chuck's questions about his location. Suddenly, the two elven security guards rounded the corner. The quickly aimed their pistols at the two men. It wouldn't take Chuck long to realize that these weren't the Keebler Elves. They were looked like they were out of Eragon or Lord of the Rings. They were both over six feet tall, lean, and muscular. The quickly trained their pistols and Chuck and the goblin. "What's going on here?" one of them asked, "put the weapon down!" The other man repeated these phrases in two different languages that were unfamiliar to Chuck.

( SimplyJohn, your new country card is in the mail :D)

Player #13

It would seem that who ever had filled CC's bag not only had quite the sense of humor, but was also a jerkwad. Immediately, things began to look grim for CC, as popcorn fell out of her bag. After the buttery goodness flowed to the jungle floor, the remains of a burnt book titled, "How to Remain Calm and Safe During Large Outdoor Fires," fell out of her backpack. Only the cover of the book remained intact. The rest had burnt to a crisp. A few other burnt papers fluttered out, blackened and unreadable.

Finally a few usable things fell out of the backpack. Here is a list of stuff within CC's BP. Remember, anything could turn out to be useful:

-A burnt book cover
-Two small, wrapped packages addressed to CC
-A bright yellow surfboard
-A bag of fruit snacks
-A large bottle of liquid soap
-A stuffed polar bear
-A red candle. OH CRAP IS THAT DYNAMITE OH GOD CC YOU BETTER... JK, I'm not that cruel. It's just a red candle.
Everything was fastened to the surfboard. But none of it looked like it was going to get CC out of this mess. The flames were rising quickly. Suddenly a brown jeep drove by the forest fire. The driver didn't seem to notice the fire. Maybe she could try and get the driver's attention...?

Player #16- Jack

The suspicious man smiled at Jack and softly said, "Ah... we are brothers then... we both have no money, nothing to provide for ourselves, but that will soon change... long live Jabrawl! The bowl of tears drips on the dry soil..." the man quickened his pace rushing towards the children. Jack could now see a gun holstered at the man's side...

Player #9- Nana

The man on the orange team was advancing rapidly towards the goal. He reared back his leg ready to shoot into the goal, when suddenly a whistle sounded. The officials said something that Nana couldn't hear and suddenly, the crowd went crazy. People were picking Nana up and cheering, calling her a hero! A man asked her to autograph his forehead...But what exactly had she done...?

(Working on other two, will be ready soon.)

@SpookySquid "What's going on here? put the weapon down!"

"Is this how you welcome a Zambian envoy to your city?" Chuck cried out, throwing the goblin down in front of the Elven guards, "I was promised a warm reception, not thuggery and petty crime. Now where might I find a true man of value in this wretched hive of scum and villainy?" As he spoke, and the guards were distracted by the fallen goblin, Chuck quickly slipped the knife up into his sleeve, vanishing it from view but keeping it close at hand in case his bluff didn't pay off.

With a dramatic sigh Chuck lifted his arms into the air in a sigh of exasperation, "And you haven't even asked to see my documents of identification either, have you?" He continued, playing the part of an aggrieved noble.

Opening his backpack Chuck quickly began to sort through the contents, casually keeping his distance from the guards and using the fallen goblin to help block their approach through the thin alleyway as he inspected what items he'd been given to work with. "Just spare me one moment, I have them just here..."