"Huh?"
There were a few moments of complete silence as Jun stood by, unable to quite process what had just happened. The last thing that he remembered was calling it a night with his friends and preparing to shut off his PC for the night to sleep and wait for the maintenance to pass. But now...

"What's up with thi—"

The sound of a woman's voice immediately caused Jun to freeze over before running towards the the nearby lake. His body felt unnatural already, but it was only when he—or, rather, she reached the water did the gears finally begin to turn. Silent laughter began to slip from those lips, but after a few seconds it became full laughter. That lasted for all of five seconds, however, before an angry scream erupted forth.

"Are you serious?! Like, okay, I get what sort of situation I'm in perfectly fine! I've seen enough light novel premises to understand! But why DENEB?! Why not—GAAAAH!"

Jun—now Deneb, the female ninja he had been raising as an alternate character—sank to her knees in despair. The dagger that she had been holding in her hand until now simply slipped out of her grasp, falling onto the sand at the shore without a sound.

"Aaah, this is horrible. It could be worse, but... Come on, you damned cliche premise! At least give me my martial artist instead or something! Even starting from one again is fine! Just... Why Deneb? No, why am I a girl?!" she complained, staring at the reflection of herself in the crystal-clear lake water. The sound of silence reflected back at her was enough to give the ninja a moment to reflect on her situation, however, and after about a minute of trying to take deep breaths and calm herself, Deneb finally took the dagger from where it was and sheathing it.

"Okay, freaking out about the current situation can... Wait. I need to figure out the current situation and how the world is right now," she rationalized internally, finally deciding to stand up and look around. Upon closer inspection, the lake she had been complaining in front of was identical to the one she had logged out at, which meant it was logical to assume that the worlds were identical. The problem now, though was trying to figure out what else carried over. Inventory? Map?

As if on cue, two semi-transparent screens seemed to pop up in front of Deneb, causing her to sigh in exasperation.

"I guess we're going that route, then?" she asked, quietly looking over the latter to see if there were any other 'players' in the area.

None. That was probably a blessing in disguise for the moment; at the very least, it meant that no one else was here to see her outburst. All she could see was a marker showing where she was and the landscape around her. It was possible, though, that the map simply didn't show other players, which would make this whole ordeal markedly more embarrassing than it was if nobody else was around.

She hoped that the former was the case.

"Well, no sense in checking now, I guess..." she mumbled, quietly skimming through the items that she had before focusing in on her target—a 'Return to Town' scroll. The interface was similar enough to how other games portrayed the system, with the added benefit of not needing to use hands to grab whatever it was that was needed. The convenience was appreciated by the ninja, of course, as she unraveled the scroll and activated the magic.

If anything, going to Inarrel would probably answer a few questions that she had.

---

The feeling of instantly teleporting was disorienting for Deneb, and the ninja almost tripped over herself as she wound up in front of the town's central plaza. Inarrel was a large coastal town that bordered on the edge of 'city', mainly due to its importance as a port town for the nation of Amniya. Of course, that same location, being right in the middle of the continent, meant that it was also a hub for players of all levels.

In other words, if there were any other players, they were bound to gather here. That brought on its own set of problems, though—what kind of players, how they would act, and...

"If there aren't any people wishing to stir up trouble..." she said quietly, finishing her own thoughts as she re-oriented herself and took a seat on a nearby bench. With the sun still bright in the sky, the ninja took this moment as a chance to begin to understand the new systems as best she could. It would be better than staying anxious about how different this body of hers was now, at least...

"I get that I modeled the character after my preferences, but really now? Is this some god's cruel idea of a joke?"

Reality is inherently filtered through the mind, producing a unique sense of comprehension that is different for each person. Even identical twins will have varied ways of studying reality, even if its minor. To have one's concept of reality challenged can cause anyone to question if they're sane, or not. And for one of the players now on the other side of the screen, they were going to be in for one hell of a shock.

"Eh...did I doze off? Knew I shouldn't have had so much caffeine earlier..." Chris stirred, yawning, backbone popping as he stretched, only to pause. Odd, if he'd dozed off, why was he sitting upright? Not slouched back? He never crashed, not unless it was somewhere comfortable. His chair wasn't the most comfortable. His vision also seemed off, like there was something directly in front of his face, preventing each eye from seeing around. "Okay, this is weird."

The ground felt cool against his feet, and hard, not at all like the carpeting of his room at the university in Tokyo. Like stone. And his desk looked wrong, where was his laptop, his supply of food? Hell, where was his phone? His gaze slowly looked left, then right, as the historian rose to his feet. And that was another alarm bell, the chair didn't feel like what he knew, and if anything, it seemed to...crunch slightly as he pushed down. He almost lost his balance, a hand shooting out to grab the table...as he glanced down, steadying himself, he froze. That wasn't his hand...

"What." As if to make his what felt like a bad trip or strange lucid dream worse, he heard footsteps, and his head swiveled, his entire body turning, to take in...the space that felt oddly familiar, but also not. And he saw her, a blondish woman wearing a strange sort of bluish fabric outfit, almost like...no, this had to be a dream. But as he stood there, the elf stopped, a smile crossing her face, a joyful one at that.

"Ah, I thought I'd find you here, are you alright, Indy?" Her voice was cheery, gentle, kind, loving, in a big sister manner. It made Chris feel ill. Something was so wrong. If this was real...his gaze took in the workshop. His hand from earlier, that looked a lot like his character model, the sounds his clothing made, that didn't sound like a t-shirt and shorts, made him look down, seeing what looked more...like what you'd see someone in a tabletop game wear for traveling clothes. This also revealed his arms, and legs...weren't his own.

"...Meg?" The strange way Chris spoke, now realizing his voice sounded more...reptilian, made Meg pause, lifting an eyebrow. "Something wrong, Indy?" Chris took in a breath...then slowly smiled, reaching up a hand, to touch the hat that almost always sat there, and pulled it off, exposing flat dragonscale, the dragonkin known as Indiana Jones looking his NPC turned seemingly living person in the eyes. "I don't know, how do I look?" This made Meg stop, and place a hand to her chin, studying her creator for a few moments, before chuckling. "Fine as ever! But I gotta ask...I feel a little weird myself. Like something's off, its why I came to find you." Concerned eyes met Indy's, as the two stared at each other for a long moment, before Indiana coughed, to clear his throat.

"Well..." He had to keep his hand planted on the desk, given the new height difference from before, the weight difference, and well, just everything. This was one hell of a lucid dream. But right...hadn't he sent Meg to check the notice board? It would have been about a half hour prior to his last recalled memory. Standing motionless, he soon sighed. "Just a sense of deja vu, that's all. Did you check the board or?" His voice was gravelly, well, reptilian, to be precise again. Meg nodded, but then sighed. "Yeah, but I didn't see anything interesting on the list for us, and then as I was walking back...some folks weren't around who I'd just seen. But I'm sure its fine." Chris shrugged with one arm, the gesture a bit stiff. He glanced around his workshop, trying to not make himself sick or dizzy. If this was a lucid dream, surely he could will whatever he wanted, right? Just as a test, he moved his free hand, trying to make it pass through his body...only for it to not. Okay, that wasn't supposed to happen, right? It was making Meg look at him funny. "You sure you're fine? You're acting strange...should I get us some tea?" It took him a moment, then Chris nodded, deciding to adapt to the role of Indiana. "Yes, that'd be lovely, thank you Meg."

After Meg left, Chris quickly looked back to his empty desk, seeing a quill pen, and hanging in front of the desk, well, above it actually, was a portrait of a landscape, somewhere he'd been. Funny, that looked like real paint, not some clever coding. He was feeling sick again, so he sat down, listening to Meg work in the next room, the other humming. For the first time seriously, he considered the possibility that this wasn't a dream. Nor him falling, bumping his head, and slipping into a coma. That this was real. But it didn't...make sense. Stuff like that doesn't just...happen, right? It made him think of the players he'd noted suddenly go missing, including one or two people he'd seen around before. No trace. What could this place be? A massive simulation that he was now stuck in? No...he wasn't using a VR headset, so that wasn't it.

"Hmm...It can't have been too long, its a good thing I'm here in the Guild, better that than...the middle of a battle field or something." He mulled over this more, placing one clawed hand in his lap, glad that he had working opposable thumbs at least. Why couldn't he have made a human model? Or even an elf? Well, truth be told, being a dragonkin had incredible perks. Increased strength, stamina, hell, he was pretty sure he could even get wings from a race centric quest, but he'd never found it, so he'd chalked that one up to a popular urban legend. Not that he needed them, finding a witch's broom or something that would work could replace that.

His other hand found its way to the desk, and began to tap against it, as he kept thinking, wondering what it could all mean. Could this be some sort of parallel universe? Had he swapped bodies with his character? In this world, did everything exist as if it had always been there, rather than added in? The thoughts swirled through his mind, and for a moment, his eyes slid shut, nerves shooting through his body. It scared him, he was already in a foreign land before, now he was in a whole new world. With no way to seemingly get home. The fear of never seeing his family again, his mother and father, rose up in his chest, making it hard to breath, before he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him, pulling him from the pit of despair he'd been about to fall into it.

"Indy! Snap out of it! You're shaking like a leaf!" Meg's worried voice jarred him, making him realize how bizarre it had to seem to his...friend. His big sister. His eyes opened, the one that could see Meg on his left side glancing up to her...it felt really weird, but he was already starting to learn the differences, plus his body seemed to be automatically handling moving his tail, if he even had a visible one that is. He always was a fast learner. Just treat it like a big divider in your face, blocking off vision in front, in favor of a larger field of vision. Plus eyes that can move freely of each other was a plus. "Meg...I'm sorry, just, had a moment of fright. Remembered a bad memory, that's all." Meg scowled, sensing he was hiding something, but knew it wasn't worth pushing at. She sighed, gesturing to the tea, which she had placed in front of him, before reaching up a hand, to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I swear, you're like a child sometimes. You're supposed to be one of the greatest artificers one day, and here you are, scared of a memory. What, was it an old teammate you have sour memories of?"

"No, just...my first adventure, that's all." She harrumphed, accepting the statement, as it seemed to be true. How little did she really know. She had a history in this world, whereas Chris...had no idea for sure. He'd stated that his character was a foundling, raised by a human in the port city..so he wondered if that was true. "Drink, it'll help, and when you're done, we can go check your mail, see if your father wrote." Even as Chris reached for the drink, he paused, looking up at Meg, well, more like levelly, before laughing. "Papa Jones, he's fine?" "Yeah, he should be, I spoke to him yesterday in the market, don't you remember?" Another memory he didn't know, but he was beginning to see a pattern...It was like an old story of his, where a character had stepped into the shoes of someone who looked just like them, same name, powers, and everything, but different history. Similar, but not the same. "Yeah, sorry, was up late working. You wanna go get ready to head out? I'm thinking we go down to the market place, see if there's any quests there for us. Or anyone who needs items made." Meg nodded, but didn't say anything, offering him a smile and a shoulder squeeze, before walking off. He wouldn't lie, his gaze drifted after her, man, had he really given her the exact same figure as her name sake? That was a nice sight...get it together.

Taking a sip of the tea, Chris...no, Indiana Jones now, mulled over what was going on, as he swallowed, then took another sip. This was a good cup of Green Tea...he almost wished the MMO had done a crossover with Rune Factory or something, then he'd be able to drink Relax Tea. He wondered if he could make more NPCs, or if it was just Meg and him. Oh well, even if not, he'd do what he could. First, he had to get the lay of the land...then worry about long term plans later. At least the guild was on the edge of the port, most players went through there...When Meg confirmed she was ready, he'd head out. But for now, he enjoyed his tea, a taste that felt so...unique to him. Beautiful, really. It brought him...relief. It was going to be a long road, but a worthwhile one, he felt. To make the most, of his situation. Even if he was universes from home, he'd fight...for Meg, and for the other players. He was an Artificer...a lore junkie, and he was going to figure things out...one way or another.

But really, this tea is so good. Like, wow, he was legitimately wondering if the Dragonkin race had stronger tastebuds than humans, or if something else was going on...

Where am I, and how did I get this stick?

That was Yoriko's first thought as she opened her eyes to behold a quaint medieval town, and the crystal-tipped black staff she now held in her hands. Her second thought was Hold on, this looks familiar, followed shortly by: Oh. Oh dear.

She turned her head to take in her surroundings, and found that the motion itself felt heavy. Hair, she realized, I'm being weighed down by hair. Raising one hand to feel around the back of her head confirmed this: she had hair, and it was long, long to the point of being almost absurd. Looking down, she could even see a few silver strands sweeping around her feet. Just how long have I been asleep?

Then again, her hair had never been that color, and this fact, combined with the familiarity of her little stick and her current environs, led her to a hypothesis. And to confirm it... She felt about the top of her scalp, and there indeed were a pair of stiff, curling horns, emerging from the skin just above her hairline.

Well. That was one question answered. Which led her to another: How in the heavens did this happen?

For the moment, she decided, she wouldn't worry about it. Coming up with pointless theories without any evidence would only be a waste of time; she'd need to look for clues to come to any reasonable conclusion as to the nature of her displacement. The important thing was not to panic. Panicking never helped. She needed to start moving around, to figure out the situation, her needs, and any threats she might as of yet be unaware of.

Off we go, then... She took a step, stumbled, and nearly fell flat on her face.

Her body, which could only have been based on her character Viridian Daeva, took a bit of getting used to. For one thing, she was taller and had different proportions, and for another her hair now went down all the way to her feet, which made it quite difficult not to trip up. For the next few steps, she leaned on her staff for support, slowly working out how to balance in this new (and, she admitted, rather poorly designed) physical form. If she'd known this was going to happen, perhaps she'd have made her avatar more practical...

Her shoes clacked gently against the cobblestones and she made her way down the street, going from a hobble to a walk and a walk to a stride as she acclimated more and more. The town seemed mostly deserted, the roads and benches all empty, the doors closed and windows shuttered up... perhaps she ought to try and get in one of the buildings. Even if there was nobody there, it would at least give her shelter.

No, wait, there was someone. A girl (And quite an adorable one, Yoriko thought to herself) in fantastical black-and-white cloth with segments of armor at her hips, sitting on a bench and looking quite thoughtful. Who this was, Yoriko had no idea, but perhaps she'd know something. If not, well, two people could solve a mystery quicker than one...

"Hello?" The tall demon woman raised a hand and waved. "Hello there? Could you spare a moment?" The rather polite and conventional greeting felt out of place in this strange setting, but she wasn't sure what else to say. Is that even a real person?

@PKMNB0Y

Nanami had been sitting at her desk, vigorously clicking away with her mouse as she tapped on her keyboard, positioning her character with skill and precision. She was currently in the middle of a quest that required her to track down a rare creature, she had spent the last few real life hours attempting to find the creature, wanting to claim a trophy of it for herself, finally after several minutes of her character sneaking through the underbrush, her character came into a clearing... where she saw her quarry, a majestic pure white 20 point stag, it's pure white fur shimmering in the light as it drank from a pool of water. Nanami immediately used the Marking ability on the stag before taking careful aim with her next attack... just as she was about to launch an attack... she blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she was in the body of her avatar, Shinon, with bow in hand, aiming directly at the stag. Without even thinking, Shinon shot her arrow, landing just short of the stag, raising it's attention and causing it to immediately flee the area.

"Son of a-!"

Shinon felt a fit of rage coming on as she had missed her opportunity to snag a perfectly good prize... that was before she had remembered she had cast Marking on the stag for this exact purpose... however... now that she was here, how in the world was she supposed to use that ability? Shinon had come to realize that she had been brought to a new world, one that was similar, if not identical, to the MMORPG she loved to play. It was shocking at first, but she had read light novels and watched anime with similar plot developments, so getting used to it wasn't too hard... however, in this sort of situation, to activate an ability like Marking, she should just have to concentrate, right? With that, Shinon closed her eyes, and opened her senses to her surroundings, going into an almost meditative state. It was then that she sensed something, something guiding her. She decided to follow this feeling, moving at a slow pace to remain in stealth so as to not scare away her prey a second time... it took a good fifteen minutes, but she had finally rediscovered her quarry. Without any wasted time or effort, she brought up her bow, knocked an arrow, and shot it at the white stag, knowing that one arrow probably wouldn't be enough, she knocked a second one, aimed for the head, and fired. Both arrow hit their mark, additional damage being incurred due to the marking ability as well as additional damage from the Whittle Down ability she possessed, with the accumulative damage, the stag fell over, dead. Without any time to waste, Shinon hopped out of her hiding place and took out a knife, beginning to carefully skin the stag for it's beautiful pelt, she managed to get it off without issue due to her skill level for it being so high as well as due to her real life experience in hunting. Once she had the pelt carefully set to the side, she got to work on carving the head off of the body body, managing to get it off without too much of a hassle. She had gotten what she had come for... but now what? What should she do?... Deciding to do the obvious, she decided to return back to town. It took Shinon a bit to figure out how to access her inventory and how to store things, but once she got the hang of it, it was pretty easy! Deciding to use a scroll to teleport to town, she vanished into thin air before reappearing at the entrance of the port town. She fell to her knees as she almost threw up due to the nauseating disorientation she felt from moving instantaneously.

"That was awful... going to have to get used to that..."

---

It is almost jarring how quickly unbridled excitement can be shifted into complete and utter bewilderment and Damian was about to find this out first hand. Mere moments ago the young man was counting down the seconds to Emerald Odyssey's scheduled shut down, trying to squeeze as much gameplay in as he could before the maintenance started up, but then everything just went dark. "Shit. Did the power go out?" Damian pondered aloud as he searched the blackness that surrounded him, trying to regain his bearings. But just as quickly as the darkness washed over him it was replaced with searing and blinding flood of light. "Damnit!!"

As Damian blinked his eyes in an attempt to try and regain focus he was greeted with a sight that was far more troubling than the sudden darkness that had over took him. He was no longer in his small quite studio apartment, but rather he stood in the middle of a town that was bustling with life. "The hell?!" Damian exclaimed in utter shock, his body naturally taking a few steps back in an attempt to separate itself from the bizarre situation. It was in his confusion that Damian managed to catch the back of foot on a loose rock and send himself toppling over. Damian's body hitting the ground practically shook the earth and sent up a cloud of dust and dirt.

"Owww..." Damian groaned as he laid on the floor for a moment, the slight hope the strike to his head would some how pull him back to reality. "Uhh are you okay?" It was this soft voice that finally encouraged Damian to reopen his eyes and just as he feared he was still not back in his room, though this time he was greeted by a face peering down at him.

She was a young woman with soft features and a round face, dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail that hung down just below her neck. She wore simple cloth shirt that seemed too large for her with a slightly tarnished plaid printed skirt that settled down a little bit above her ankles. But what really caught Damian's eye about her was the woman's green skin paired with the pointed ears sprouting out of her head. If Damian didn't know any better he would of sworn that this a forest nymph, but that would of been impossible. "Well are you?"

After what felt like an eternity of gawking and staring Damian finally managed to find his voice. "Uhh uhh y-yeah.... yes I'm okay." Damian stammered out as he looked up at the woman.

"Good, then would you mind moving? You are blocking the road." The green skinned woman said, placing a hand on her hip in what looked like impatience. Damian Sat up as quickly as he could, but stopped himself the second he noticed that even with out standing he was already towering over his pointed ear associate. "The hell?" It was in this moment that Damian took a second to turn his attention from the bizarreness of his surroundings and finally on to himself.

"Holy-!!" Damian cut himself off as he looked down at his massive form that was cladded in armor. As he stood up he only became that much more aware of his staggering size, looking down to the nymph woman who was still eyeing him and waiting for him to move. "I-I'm sorry ma'am..." He said, offering a slight bow of his head.

"Just try to stay out of the street from now on okay?" The woman said before offering Damian a smile and continuing on her way and leaving the giant to try to come to terms with what was going on.

Damian took more than an apocopate amount of time familiarizing himself with his new form in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the town before finally refocusing on his current situation. The answer was too obvious, but even more insane that Damian didn't want to admit it to himself. Finally he decided to swallow the hard truth that he had in fact been transported into the body of his avatar, the Strom Giant Yjarldor Stormcaller. Not only that but he was ripped from the real world and tossed into the that of the fantastical realm of Emerald Odyssey. As much bewilderment and fear filled his core Damian, or rather Yjarldor, couldn't help but have some excitement burning in his chest. After all who wouldn't want to be inside of their favorite video game.

Now the only thing left to be decided was what was he going to do next, lucky for him he was already in Inarrel, a central hub of activity. He was sure that he could stumble upon a quest here, the thought of which only further fanning the giddy flames in his heart.

The sun is in my eyes.

This is Akimoto's first thought. This, not the more practical "where am I" or even the hysterical "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BODY". No. "The sun is in my eyes."

Well, it is.

And that was that. The time is 7:30 AM. The day is Tuesday. Akimoto is lying flat on the ground, lush green grass brushing against her face, birds chirping in the trees, and the sun is still in her eyes. This, not the utter wrongness of "the birds chirping in the trees" when Akimoto knows she lives by herself in an apartment so close to the road, trucks cause a minor earthquake when they pass by it, this is what triggers her getting up. Later, she will look back and laugh a little--sigh a little, too, because it's a testament to her own laziness, and Akimoto doesn't like being lazy.

(That's a lie. Sleep is good.)

But, honestly? Akimoto has always taken change rather well. Her favorite game as a kid was Peek-a-Boo. She loves jumpscares, horror movies, and surprise parties. The unknown is an adventure! The fun is in the mystery, and so on. You get the idea.

So, Akimoto rolls over. The sun is no longer in her eyes, but now there's another problem: she's hungry. It makes sense; she's still human and all that. Just... in different circumstances.

After some time spent lying on the ground and examining her settings, her hunger reaches the point of mild discomfort. Akimoto rolls over again (hm, there's something in the way) and gets the sun her eyes again. "Guess I really have to get up, huh," she says out loud, and is surprised (pleasantly surprised) to find that her voice sounds more feminine, less ravaged by sore throats, bad diets, and yelling into the voice chat because your character just totally killed it, did you see that!? It's weird, sure, but not bad. In fact, Akimoto could get used to this.

Pushing her fingers into the soft grass (real grass, she notes), she pushes herself up, in the process discovering and documenting the various other new developments about herself and her body. Long legs, she thinks, admiring her pale, smooth skin and perfect figure. Wow, she really lost some weight, huh? Is this some weird dream? (No, this feels too real to be a dream...)

It's not until she touches her hair, curls tumbling down her (bare) shoulders in a scene straight out of some Disney Princess movie, that she realizes. These curls are blue. Or teal. Whatever. The outfit she's wearing--it's a teensy bit revealing, honestly, but now that Akimoto's shed those pesky pounds, she doesn't exactly have to worry about it--is extravagant, and familiar. The skirt, tangled around her slender legs. The presence of something cold and metallic, pressed against her upper leg. That... thing that she's seen before...

It's the outfit of her character, KitKat Winters, from the game Emerald Odyssey. Class: Dancer. Race: Naiad. Oh. Oh.

...And it all comes back. The grinding for materials. Falling asleep at the monitor, snuggled into her favorite hoodie, half-eaten bowl of ramen and meat skewers sitting next to her head. The expansion downloading while she slept. She's-- She's--

"AWWW YEAH!!!"

Akimoto's scream echoes for miles, and by the time her ears stop ringing, she's up off the ground and running towards the nearest town in hopes of finding breakfast. Her steps are light! She can't stop grinning! Her dagger is strapped securely to her thigh! Watch out, world, there's a KitKat Winters on the loose!

Episode One: THE QUEST FOR BREAKFAST!

Igarashi Kaito wasn't surprised to feel the puddle of drool around his face as he slowly awoke. He had a bit of a habit of falling asleep at his computer, especially when he had a day off the next day and wouldn't have to wake up early. Not to mention that there was also a new expansion for Emerald Odyssey which... well, he'd actually probably slept through. He wondered how many of his friends in the guild had already gotten started, and forced himself to get up, wipe the drool off his desk and get back to work, by spending his day playing on his computer...

And then he opened his eyes, and realized that he wasn't staring at his crappy desktop computer. Instead, he was staring at a rather nice looking stone room. It was familiar... Not in the way he was hoping for, or even really in a way he recognized immediately, but familiar none the less.

Slowly, he looked around the room, and it was only then that he saw the giant eye-shaped window behind him, and the pieces fell into place.

"Oh... Ooooh noooo..."

This was definitely the office he'd built himself in Emerald Odyssey.

This... This wasn't great. It might be interesting, but he'd just gone from a world where he could live happily and safe to one filled with monsters that'd kill him as soon as look at him. And if this had gone the whole Log Horizon route, then it also meant he'd been passing himself off as a potential dark lord in a world full of npcs who were now probably powerful kingdoms. Even if he wasn't the complete opposite kind of person in real life, that would put him in a little more danger than he was really used to.

But then again, if this was going the Log Horizon route, then there might be other people here as well.

"Alright, lets see how this goes... Uh, ok, open menu!"

His legs almost gave out from relief when the menu appeared, because that would make things significantly easier. However, this realization apparently didn't stop his hands from shaking when he reached over to it.

"MasTeR."

Kai totally didn't jump or yelp at the new voice, whirling away from the menu to see a woman who appeared to be made of red, extremely reflective glass.

"A-... Astra? Is that you?"

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he wanted him to be right or not. Astra was an npc he made to act kind of like his assistant/general thing when it was only him building Edenkyte. She had some pretty advanced AI too, thanks to a surprisingly informative tutorial provided by the game itself. However, rather than give her much of a personality, he decided to make her more like a magitech android than a normal person, because he thought it would feel more appropriate for her character. And finally, she could turn into a sword, because in what he'd slowly discovered to be an unpopular opinion, he actually liked Fi. Anyway, if it turned out he was right, then this would make the whole "npc's becoming real, living people" thing more likely than not true, which as mentioned before, was terrifying. On the other hand though, having her around could make surviving in this place quite a bit easier.

"YEs mAsteR. IS sOmETHinG tHe MatTeR?"

"Yeah..." He said, making note of her odd speech pattern. "Tell me, Astra, do you notice anything different about today?"

"I dO." She said, her body seeming to ripple and warped for a moment. "My boDy SeemS to bE cOmPOsed difFerENtlY to HOw it UsED to Be. YoUR boDy is ThE SaME, bUT yOUr SouL is DiFFEreNt."

And then her hand rippled, before distorting and flowing over itself to become a blade, and the time it took for her to go from standing at the door to holding it against his throat was almost faster than he could see.

"YoU Are lOrD DAnoNGOrF, buT You are NoT. WhAt are YOU?"

To some, the fact that he didn't even flinch might've seemed impressive. If anyone could read his mind though, they'd know he just didn't have time to do much more than freeze up.

"Gaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaa..." He "said" slowly, before slowly raising his hands. "Uuuuuhh, ok... Let's explain this from the top."

And so he explained everything. Emerald Odyssey, the real world, the relationship between Igarashi Kaito and Danongorf before the Log Horizon style world shift, and finally a quick rundown of the show so that comparison made sense. He couldn't tell if she was skeptical or not, because her face never changed expression apart from the occasional ripple, but eventually she removed the blade from his neck.

"UnDERstooD." She said, causing him to sigh in relief. "ThIS dOes ExPLaiN the anOmaLIes I hAvE DEtecTED."

"Thank god..." Kai sighed, before giving her a look of concern. "So, you said your body is weird from the world switch. Are you ok? Your voice is kind of weird."

"It SeEms I caNNoT ReTAin My hUMan ForM at ThIS POiNt. WitH Your peRMisSion, I wiLl RevErt to BlADe fOrm unTil A soLUTIon iS dIsCoVERed."

Even as she spoke, Kai could see that she was beginning to distort even more, and nodded.

"Right, do it quickly." He said, holding his hand out to her. As she took it, she quickly transformed into a red, crystalline shortsword, and he took an ornate sheath from the desk and placed her in it before attaching it to his belt.

"Alright, how are you now?"

"Analysis indicates my form is stable, Master. I will begin the recovery process momentarily."

"Cool, just rest up for now." He said, before reaching out to re-open his menu, noting with surprise that he could actually do it just by thinking. A frown grew on his face as he looked through his friends menu, noticing that most of the guild seemed to be offline. In fact, most of his friends in general were greyed out. However, after a few more moments of concerned scrolling, he finally came across a familiar green name, grinning with relief. Sadly, it seemed she wasn't able to chat quite at the moment, but once nice feature of the game was that players could leave messages in that kind of situation.

@TheFake
"Hey Kal!" He said, joy and relief audible in his voice. "Thank god someone else is here, I thought I was gonna be alone. Hey, meet me in the town. I'm gonna head in and see how many people got came over with us. See ya soon!"

Once he was done, he scrolled through his inventory and grabbed a Return to Town scroll.

"Ok, let's see how bad this really is..."

---

Danongorf wasn't entirely sure he didn't just teleport in falling on his face. He had barely needed to walk while in the office, so he hadn't really noticed it, but the difficulty of trying to walk around significantly taller was really starting to kick in here.
Even as he struggled to maintain his balance though, he could see that he clearly wasn't as alone as it had seemed from his friends list. As he stumbled through the streets, he could see more and more players appearing around him. He also saw quite a few people of the land, looking around nervously at the adventurers freaking out around them, and for the first time since he woke up he realised how lucky he was to have Astra around to force him to keep himself composed.

Unfortunately though, he couldn't really see anyone he knew. Not only was there no Kal, he didn't even recognize any of them. Everywhere he looked, it was freakouts. More annoyingly, he saw that more than a few of these freakouts seemed to be directed towards the landers. He wanted to stop them, but unfortunately, a fair few of them were clearly higher levels than him, and could probably take him out even before the town guardians could stop them. Considering the way he wasn't entirely sure players could respawn in this place yet, that was a risk he wasn't willing to take. Also, again, he probably wouldn't end up doing much more than losing his balance and falling on them.

Yet.

@PKMNB0Y@Anza
Finally though, when all seemed lost, he saw someone he recognized. He hadn't seen either of them very often, of course, but he recognized the models of a ninja and a demon cleric he'd seen a few times while grinding for EXP. Unfortunately though, he'd decided to keep in character during each and every one of their interactions, so they only really knew the up and coming Demon Lord Danongorf!

So this might be a little awkward...

"Uh, hey guys." He said as he approached, giving a nervous little wave to the pair. "I'm Danongorf. I think we've met, once or twice? Maybe?"

"Hm... Okay, it looks like nothing's missing from my inventory, I've got a warp to the training hall, status and gear is intact..."

With a quiet stare at the visual interface in front of her, Deneb crossed her arms and leaned forward. As far as she could see thus far, everything was identical to how it was in Emerald Odyssey while it was a game. Even the smallest details of the town square, high-poly as they were before, were translated into what could effectively be called reality. The only thing that remained up for debate, however, was skills.

"I wonder if I'll be able to use them naturally or be forced to activate them..." she sighed quietly to herself before the voice of a woman calling out to her caused the ninja to turn. Her new height wasn't something she had exactly adjusted to either, and after a second she realized that the source of the voice was taller than her.

Damn. This was going to take some getting used to.

"Hm? Is there something I can help you with?" she asked, almost out of instinct. Deneb's gaze soon began zip about the woman's clothing, in an attempt to ascertain her identity, before a status indicator popped up at the edge of her field of vision.

"...Viridian, level 60 cleric, huh? Looks like you just hit the level, which means that you haven't run the 'Red God's Return' questline. Explains the staff and lack of BiS gear... Oh, sorry, don't mind me," she said, quickly waving in front of her as she realized what kind of information she was babbling. It was fairly obvious once 'status' had popped up that this was another player who had been dragged into the world, which confirmed one of her theories on the spot.

It was then, though, that another larger character seemed to approach them. The almost-carbon copy of Ganondorf was undoubtedly a player, and this wasn't the first time Deneb had seen him around, either. She wasn't much of a 'roleplayer' on either character, but credit was given where credit was due: food buffs were helpful during extended periods of farming for gear and materials, and it wasn't like throwing some money at a high level chef to get that handled wasn't a simple matter when she could simply leech off of her main's bank account.

"Mmm... I guess I'm supposed to call myself Deneb now, then?" she asked, stepping off of the bench and brushing herself off. Now that she was standing, the height difference between the two of the players in front of her compared to herself was... Jarring. And mildly aggravating, to boot.

"Now... You had a question for me? I'll answer to the best of my ability," she continued, focusing back towards the cleric in front of her.

@Anza@Rabidporcupine

The first thing Shinon was going to do was find some of her friends, or at least someone to talk to.... was there a way to look at her friends list and see who was online?... well, that was something she would have to find out later, for now she stood up, her legs wobbling as she was still slightly nauseated from moving to one place to another instantaneously. After she found someone to talk to, what would her next goal be?... she supposed she would search for her house, she remembered purchasing a small cabin in a low level area where the only monsters were low leveled beasts. If her house was there, then that means all of her trophies would be to! Speaking of which, she needed to find a way to have the white stag's head given to a taxidermist, that way she could have it hung on the wall of her house. But after she did that, what then? There were just so many things to do and so many things to try out that she didn't know what she should do. Wait, where was she going with this? Ah, right, she wanted to search for a friend or someone to talk to. However, she REALLY wanted to have her White Stag's head given to a taxidermist..

"Nngghh...."

Deciding to give into her desires, she began heading into the town in search of someone willing to taxiderm her trophy. After, a few minutes of walking around town, she saw a shop that should do the trick. As she entered, she was impressed by all the tools and commissioned trophies that were there. However, she quickly set aside those thoughts and went to the counter of the shop, where the owner was. After a quick conversation, Shinon brought out the stag head. The owner of the shop seemed impressed with how intact the head was, as well as how beautiful the fur was. Shinon found it odd to be holding a conversation with an NPC, but went along with it nonetheless. After agreeing on a price for it, the man told her that he should be able to get the final product to her within a day or two and told her to drop by around noon either tomorrow or the day after. Shinon was a bit confused, usually in game you wouldn't have to wait that long for a commission from an NPC, but she simply shrugged it off and decided to head out after handing the owner of the shop payment up front.

"Huh... that was... odd. But, I guess it makes sense? Anyway..."

Shinon was getting more confused the longer she thought about it, but decided that it would be easier for her to just accept things and move on. Now, what should she do? Well, as she thought of what to do, she immediately went back to her original plan, which was to search for other players. At once, she made her way to the central plaza, that would most likely be where other players would gather, if there were any that is. Being the only player in this world scared her somewhat, what if she was all alone and would have to live out the rest of her days here with no one to talk to but NPC? Granted, it seemed the NPC's had been given intelligence equivalent to a normal human at the very least, so she supposed it wouldn't be all bad, but she shook the thought out of her head, she knew the plot of basic isekai light novels like this, if there was one person like her in the world, there were bound to be more... those suspicions were proven to be correct as she spotted a group of players gathered in the town. She immediately began running towards them, waving her hand in the air and calling out to them

"Hey, hey! You guys, over here!"

Shinon continued running towards the group, once she was within talking distance with them, she ground to a halt, picking up some dirt as she put on the breaks.

"ThankGodthankGodthankGod, thank God there are other people here! I was beginning to think I was the only one here!"

@PKMNB0Y @Rabidporcupine @Anza

Viridian? Yoriko recognized it as her avatar's name, but even so it was jarring to hear herself being addressed in such a manner. For that matter, how did this person know that name? The little girl seemed to know a great many other things, in fact: her class, her level, and a bunch of jargon Yoriko couldn't understand but knew was related to her activities in Emerald Odyssey. That was another piece of evidence supporting her hypothesis about the situation being related to the game, at least. Not only had the game world and her virtual body been somehow made real, but information about her in-game actions and statistics had somehow been carried over as well.

A thoughtful look flitted across her face as she considered it all. Then she suddenly turned, eyes widening, as her long and fluffy ears picked up the thumping footsteps of someone else approaching.

That old sense of familiarity was back, though less powerful than before: she recognized this figure. Or rather, she recognized his race: that green skin and towering height were characteristic of Odyssey's Orc species, a popular archetype for male characters. She'd played with some of them before, in fact, though she couldn't for the life of her remember all their names. Avatar, world, character data, races... and from the way he was talking, she could guess that this Danongorf person might well be in a similar situation to her.

A new hypothesis, then: she and other players had been transported, copied, or otherwise transplanted to a faithful and detailed recreation of the game Emerald Odyssey. She'd work on confirming this for now, and then get to the how and why.

"Danongorf, Deneb," she said, looking back and forth between the two strange individuals, "Yes, I do have a question. Questions, actually: you two are—or were—humans, correct? From the nation of Japan? And you're both aware of what 'Emerald Odyssey' is or was?"

Just as she was asking her question, however, another one showed up— and her words of alarm all but confirmed Yoriko's suspicions.

"There, there." She stepped towards the newcomer, raising her arms to placate her. "Calm down. You're from Japan too, right? Can you remember anything about how you got here?"

@PKMNB0Y@Rabidporcupine@Bone Father

Elyan suspected he was in a game before he opened his eyes, a surprisingly difficult action.

He couldn't remember much of the night before, only that he had received his payment from a guild whom he didn't bother to remember the name of. Thinking a little harder, he remembered some kind of party, a fight, a bunch of drinks and multiple Kitsune girls, whom he couldn't remember were players or NPCs. Reaching to his hip, he was relieved to find that his inventory was still there. That was one upside for today.

All of this, he did in a moment, tall the while trying to push through the pain that went through his head as he did so, as well as a strange, sensible thought that kept making him wonder about his inventory, for some reason. Then, before he could open his eyes and tidy the desk he had fallen asleep on and the weird thing on his hip... he heard something.

Birds. Singing. They didn't do that, not near his apartment. His windows were reinforced, and he rarely opened them. No one was let into his apartment, so they wouldn't have opened them. Someone might have broken in, but there would be no reason to open the window...thinking about this, Elyan wondered if the windows could even open.

He opened his eyes, and was greeted by the sight of a large tree looming over him. He appeared to have fallen asleep against it, after passing out the night before. His rear felt cold from sitting in mud, and he had the most horrible crick in his neck from...

The sleep? In game? He looked around some more and realized this was Emerald Odyssey alright. The same game he had planned to log off from before getting a drink or ten...uh oh.
He wasn't stupid, he knew what this kind of thing was. He had watched stuff like this.
He took a deep breath, and finally spoke a single sentence, making the only sensible comment someone could make on a situation like this.

"Neat, i'm getting a harem."

Suddenly feeling in a much better mood, he heard something, sounding like people...talking. Picking up his spear and shaking the leaves out of his hair, he bounded up the tree, planting his rear on a branch. Not too far, he could see several people conversing. NPCs acting out a scripted event? Or other players in the same situation he was? Not bothering to announce himself, he stayed on the branch, eating an apple he had found, listening to their conversation.

---

The streets of Inarrel bustled with life, dozens of people going every which way as they tried to carry out their daily tasks and avoid crashing in to each other. Yjarl couldn't help but slight chuckle at the thought that no matter what world he was in people were always in too much of a hurry for his tastes. It took him more than a bit to get the hang of maneuvering his new gargantuan form, much to the distain to the half dozen of street vendors who's stales he managed to topple over as he stumbled about. But luckily it seemed that after a few falls that Yjarl was able to walk down the street with competence, this may have been do to the fact that people started to make way for the clumsy giant but Yjarl still counted it as a victory.

Though it took some getting used to Yjarl was actually starting to like his new stature, it gave him a view over everything around him that he could only dream of. A small smile formed on his light blue lips as he scanned over the scurrying crowd that flowed around him, despite the haste that surrounded him he couldn't help the excitement that filled him as he again appreciated the fact of where he was. He was actually in Inarrel. In Emerald Odyssey!! The behemoth had to contain himself from jumping with giddiness, namely do to if he did he would probably fall over again.

The only thing that brought him back down to reality was the fact that in all honesty he had no idea what he was going to do now. "Huh..." Yjarl stopped as he began to ponder the options. Usually while he was playing the game he had a menu of quests that he could choose from that gave him a sense of direction, now that he was here what was he supposed to do? "If only I had a map or something..." As soon as the words left his lips a small screen popped up in front of Yjarl's face, prompting a rather loud yelp from the towering young man quickly followed by an apology to the group of concerned on lookers that he just startled.

As he recomposed himself Yjarl looked back to the screen floating in front of him and just as he asked for it was a map. "Awesome..." He mumbled as he scanned it over. Yjarl started to walk and just as he had hoped a little marker on the map began to move with him, that was him. "So cool!" Despite it being a simple little thing Yjarl couldn't help but be fascinated by the map, to the point that he began to walk with it still open, tracking his progress through the city with it.

He didn't even know how long he had been walking by this point, he may have gone on forever like this if it was not for him over hearing a conversation that caught his interest. "Wait Japan?" Yjarl spoke aloud as he finally closed his map and looked over to catch the sight of a small group of characters. "Did you guys just say Japan? Like the real world Japan?" He questioned as he stepped towards the group, peering down at them. He then threw his arms up as if in victory. "YES!! I'M NOT ALONE!!" He exclaimed, his voice almost shaking the earth with its force.

Deneb simply crossed her arms and nodded as the cleric asked her question. That was enough to summarize the situation: everyone present was a former Emerald Odyssey player from the Japanese server. While that on its own was understandable...

"I have a bad feeling that I'm the only one in this sort of unfortunate circumstance in this group..."

There was a moment of silence before Deneb coughed to clear her throat, acknowledging the presence of the panicking third person scrambling towards them with a slight nod.

"Yes, your instinct is likely correct. This current form mimics the abilities and skills of the character I was playing before the maintenance, so we could probably draw a simple comparison to any number of isekai series out there and summarize our situation thus," she stated, shrugging her shoulders before glancing around. Though she had expected players to congregate in the town, she hadn't quite expected herself to be the sudden center of attention.

It wasn't like she could speak about her current situation, though; that would be particularly embarrassing to speak about at length right now. If anything, hunting for a solution would have to wait until she could either slip off on her own after learning enough or finding someone that she could confide in.

And at this rate, neither was likely to happen.

"In any case, if you're asking questions, then I shall as well. Putting aside matters of getting home for the moment, as that seems highly improbable given our complete lack of knowledge, what do you all plan on doing now?"

@Bone Father@Anza@Rabidporcupine

Hina squeezed her eyes tightly shut, vaugly aware of a warm light on her face and the chatter of animals in her ears, but trying to ignore the sensation in favour of getting some sleep.

'Did I fall asleep gathering again? Damn, I hope Chisuikoumori didn't get killed by some wondering monster, I'll log on and check later.'

Hina rolled over onto her side frowning for a moment upon feeling the touch of grass on her cheek, before becoming acutely aware of the fact that she wasn't at all tired, but rather just feeling very lethargic. Snapping her eyes open she observed a forest clearing through what seemed to be a fine red mist radiating from her face, before finally locking her eyes onto a strange looking flower.

'Wait those actually exist? I thought they where just an Emerald Odyssey thing... actually where am I... more importantly I'm starving, wonder if I can eat the flower...'

After a moments thought she decided that eating the flower was a bad idea, instead standing herself up, half delirious with this strange ever growing hunger and absent mindedly pulling up her hood to keep out the red mist, before stumbling off in search of food.

Eventually stumbling into a clearing where what looked like a dead deer, missing its head and pelt but otherwise pretty much intact lay, Hina blind with hunger leant over and began to feed off the corpse. After she'd finished a number of thoughts raced through her recovering mind.

'Is everything really massive... No I'm tiny... Hehe, this is kinda like Emerald Odyssey... Holy S**t I just ate that thing... Holy S**t, I'm in Emerald Odyssey.. Hell yeah!'

Taking a moment to think about the situation Hina realised that given her hight she was probably currently in the body of Chisuikoumori, and what she experienced just before was likely the effects of her sanguine hunger. With that in mind Hina squeezed her eyes tightly shut and shouted inventory, grinning as she opens them and sees the semi-transparent pannel and quietly cursing herself when she realised she already had a few bottles of blood. After donning her mask and traveling cloak to protect herself from the sun before using a scroll to return to town.

"This is going to be so much fun!"

One, two, three, four... Goodness! Now that she'd found one person, others kept popping up like rabbits, gathering around them and chiming in on the conversation. It made sense: humans were social creatures by nature, and their first response in a time of crisis was often to seek out others, relying on strength of numbers for safety and support. Even in a strange world or virtual reality like whatever this was, the old instincts prevailed.

Yoriko— or is my name Viridian now? —raised a hand, palm outwards, at the newest arrival, a blue-skinned man even larger than the orc. "Please, don't shout. I know we're all probably very... shocked by this development, but that's exactly why we need to consider our choices carefully." There lay the darker side of human instinct: fear, panic, fight-or-flight responses. Any sustainable cooperation would require everyone to control themselves, to rely on their knowledge and wits rather than raw emotions.

Deneb, at least, seemed to get the idea. Viridian wasn't quite sure what 'isekai series' the girl might be talking about, but she seemed to have a solid sense of the situation, and might even have figured out more than she herself had. 'Skills and abilities' was another thing she could add to the list of what had been copied over, although how she might use her avatar's healing powers without any buttons to press remained a mystery.

Regardless, Deneb had raised another good question, and Viridian already had an answer in mind. "You said it yourself: the problem is our lack of knowledge. So the first thing we should do is try to solve that." She gestured around at all of the gathered players. "As our avatars, do we need to eat or drink? Do we sleep? If we can use our old skills and abilities, can we improve them just as we used to?" She smiled. "There are dozens more questions, but I'm sure I can trust you to imagine the rest on your own. We need to experiment, explore, and share information. Work out what we need to survive here, what the greatest threats might be, and how this whole situation came about."

@Saarebas@PKMNB0Y@Bone Father@Rabidporcupine

Eventually, all things must come to an end. Even as good as the tea was, it was over too quickly, and Chris, nay Indiana sighed, setting it down. Somehow despite the size difference, he managed. Albeit, it was super slow, as he wasn't sure of his own strength. Once that was done, he tried something, only to freeze as the map of the guild headquarters came up before him in thin air, realizing that it was like...that one movie, where data screens could appear in front. Which made him wonder...he got to his feet, slowly, carefully, turning even as Meg returned, a bag over one shoulder. He glanced to it, then looked to her. Meg chuckled. "Remember? Someone wanted their walking stick enchanted into an actual magic staff? You wanted me to deliver this Staff of Furious Rose Petals to them for you?" It took him a minute, then he remembered, and nodded. Some actor wanted it for their performance, but he couldn't recall if it was a player or an NPC. Oh well, someone in the Guild who did acting alongside being a crafter, if he recalled right. "Yeah, I remember, I'm gonna go to the plaza, see if anyone's around who might have some missions for us, alright? Gotta work hard, after all, I'm not a good Artificer if I'm not exploring and or inventing." This prompted a light laugh from both of them, before Meg walked over, and lightly kissed his cheek, or at least tried to, standing on her toes, before huffing and lowering. "Jeez, stop being so tall!" "Warn me next time, so I can stoop. Be safe, alright?" This got an annoyed grunt from Meg, before the big sister typed elf turned, waving farewell as she headed off. Soon as he heard the door to the outside click shut, he quickly turned, as quickly as able, glancing around the room, seeing some of his gear. His climbing gear for scaling cliffs, that most people wouldn't find useful, but as someone who literally went anywhere he wanted as able, even if it meant venturing into unfinished areas or areas that hadn't rendered properly, having all the equipment one could use was helpful. He grabbed each item, rope, grappling hooks, even a rope ladder, and stored them away on his person, figuring out he had an actual inventory still in the process. Cool. He put his hat back on, grabbing his travel coat from a hook, pulling on with a bit of difficult, and then checked in the full length mirror he used when trying on outfits, smiling. Only to stop, and try, but fail to snap his fingers. "Whoops! Forgot the bag and whip!"

Going to a chest, he rooted through it real fast, glad that it worked like a normal storage chest for the most part, pulling out a whip and satchel. It had cost him some gold for the otherwise cosmetic items, but the whip at least was good for some combat. The lack of good modern firearms would be an issue, but still. Putting on the bag, and attaching the whip at his waist, Chris did one final check, before the newly arrived Indiana Jones, pleased with the results, turned, and walked down and out of his quarters. Down the hall he went, passing no one, his clawed feet slapping against the stone tiles, before he arrived in the guild entrance hall, glancing around, still seeing no one. This concerned him a tad, but he shrugged, adjusted his hat, and walked outside.

To an outsider, it was like a castle, or a really big mansion, that was the Guild Headquarters. The Guild Leader and other higher ranked players, such as the actual treasurer, and officers, were the cause, they had put the long hours in paying for the construction of the building. From their own skills, to hiring others to do it, it had risen, level by level. From an originally small plot of land, to now a fully fledged estate. Sure, it wasn't as big or as grand as some of the higher ranked guilds in the leaderboards, but they were trying. As Indiana strode into the sunlight, he lifted a hand to block out the light, only to twist to let a pair of Goblins run past, the duo carrying a flat loaded up with stone bricks. Ah, if he remembered right, they were expanding the back of the headquarters, to add a new area for the latest member to attain the rank of journeyman, and thus move out of the apperantice/fresh meat group barracks. He'd been a bit of a journeyman for awhile, and was quite happy, though he had no intent to rise too high in the guild. At least, originally, that had been the intent. If he could rise to the Master rank later, perhaps.

Keeping up his pace, Indiana stopped at the gates out, seeing the Guild-NPCs, special NPCs designed to be tied to the Guild itself, worked the gates, opening them enough to let him out. He offered a smile and a wave, seeing a pair of bow elves up in the towers that acted as the front gate security, and smiled more. It seemed that some aspects were still intact. But with pep and purpose in his step, to hide his nerves, Chris hurried down the path from the overlook, and after a bit of dodging carts and people, arrived at the plaza. Sure, it had all been to help his new body adjust, being taller, heavier, and well, bigger, made for an adjustment. Thankfully, he was mindful of his own center of gravity.

"Hey!" His voice rang out, draconian in every sense of the world, more than likely drawing some attention as the red scaled dragonkin approached the group, joy in his tone. It was more than likely at least one of the others gathered knew of the Artificer, as while dragonkin were a bit rare, Artificers Dragonkin were likely unheard of. Plus with a standing out appearance that was literally Indiana Jones but a dragon, it was hard to not at least recognize the look, even if the name would elude them. He lifted a hand in greeting, seeing at least two faces he knew of. The Ganondorf lookalike was high on the cooking leaderboard, if he remembered right, and the Storm Giant, well, again, he'd seen the guy around. "Thank heavens I'm not the only one! I was afraid I'd have to rough it on my own, well with my right hand teammate who's not one of us at least." It probably got an odd look from those passerbys who didn't understand,but the other players would get he was referring to the NPCs that players could make. He'd caught the tail end of things, and frankly, he was relived, to see that they were already considering their situation. "I can't say I know what's going on, besides parallel universe theory, multiverse theory, or alien abductions, or a fluke of a reality shift. But I did binge most of the lore on my own, so I can at least help fill folks in on minor stuff. Major stuff we should already know is something else." His voice was cheery, even if there was a faint undercurrent of nervousness. He placed a hand on his hip, sighing softly. "No, but seriously, everyone else has their map and inventory at least, right? Any other features we know of? I was able to drink some tea earlier."

He said the bit about tea in response to the girl who had spoken of drinking, before shaking his head regarding anything else. "Don't know about skills, but given my friend Meg just went to make a delivery, and an expansion to the guild housing was underway, regardless of any other players, the world itself is seemingly fine. Hell, apparently if we have backstories, they're here. No joke, my character's old man in his backstory is alive and kicking, and I'm probably going to go find him, see if he's alright later." It was a bit of a mouthful, but the jist of it was, it was more than just their NPCs or world around them come to life. It was literally as if they'd woken up in another world, rather than a world that was suddenly made. "We should explore the areas around, see if anything new has appeared. Its possible the new expansion is in this world too, but I honestly couldn't guess what it was, they kept a tight lid on that." He leaned in then, sighing. Despite his confidence, Indiana was concerned still, worried. "Am I the only one worried about something happening, and monsters now roaming free of their previously assigned spawn points, to cause trouble outside of dungeons?" His mind was racing, and while on the journey to the plaza earlier, he'd gone over the design of the world in his head, recalling its rough tech level, major groups, who ruled the nation, where the higher end stuff was, and hell, major historical events. Like that thieves guild who had hijacked a ship a few months back he'd heard about. He could only imagine the chaos that might result now from the world being...real.

Hopefully no one else was about to panic, right?
@Anza@PKMNB0Y@Saarebas@Anza@Bone Father@Rabidporcupine

@Anza@PKMNB0Y@Saarebas@Bone Father@DocRock

"Oof, geez, looks like I might've brought the crowd, huh?" Kai asked, looking between everyone. "Uh, well anyway, yeah, I was a chef from Osaka. I... well, I don't know if everyone is totally comfortable going straight to real world names, but why not? I'm Igarashi Kaito! You guys can just call me Kai."

His head whipped around to Deneb when she said the word Isekai, grateful that he wasn't alone in his idea of what had happened.

"Yeah, right? I'm getting some extreme Log Horizon vibes from this whole thing, right down to the 'new expansion' part!"

He froze for a bit when she asked what everyones plans were, because apart from coming here, he didn't really have any. Before he could answer, the demon cleric started asking about how living in their avatars bodies worked, and if they could advance the same way they did when it was just a game.

"Well, this is just a theory, but I think the answer might be yes to all of them..." He said to the cleric. "I mean, these aren't just artificial bodies. They're real, physical, fleshy ones. Here, look."

As he spoke, he pulled unequipped his bracer and showed them his arm, which had a small graze on the underside.

"I got this when I teleported into town and fell over. If this was just some kind of fake body made of code, I wouldn't have a graze or anything, right? I'd say that means we still have all the same needs as we did in the real world. Actually, no, that's not right. It'd probably be better to say that this is our real world now. BUT, we do also have menus, and I was able to get a scroll from my inventory to teleport here too, so I think a lot of the game mechanics should work the way they did before as well."

He brought his hand to his chin, trying to remember anything else important, before raising a finger into the air as one last important detail hit.

"Oh right, I nearly forgot to mention. When I got the graze, I did also lose a tiny amount of HP, so I think they might still be connected somehow..."

Finally, he turned to Den to answer her question.

"Aaand, well, I'll be honest, I don't really know what I'll do now." He said, scratching his head sheepishly. "I'm not so sure I wanna keep going with the demon lord thing, especially now that all the NPCs are proper living people. Which, by the way, also a flag for this being a Log Horizon style world shift! Anyway, plans... Well, maybe I'll rebrand... Yeah, start a Monster Hunter style hunting guild... And then I can COOK THEM!"

And suddenly, all his loose thoughts began to intertwine, as he finally figured out a proper plan for the quite possibly terrifying future.

"Ok, right, I'm gonna start a hunters guild. Like I mentioned before, we players probably still need to eat and sleep, but if this is like Log Horizon, then any food that isn't prepared by someone with the cooking skill is gonna taste like a flavourless goo. Or salt, if you have any. It also needed to actually be cooked like it would be in real life, because any food made in the crafting menu also just tasted like goo. I think you could eat raw ingredients like fruit and it tastes fine though, so that might be a temporary solution. But anyway, yeah, you can make food out of pretty much any monster in this game, and if we hunt it a certain way, we can actually butcher them instead of rely on drops."

He pointed towards the ocean side of the town.

"And considering how many other players seem to be freaking out in the market district, I reckon we might need as much good food as we can get, otherwise they'll start moping around and lose any will to do much of anything. Again, this is all based on the show, and it might not actually go that way, but better safe than sorry..."

He sat down on a small stone fence, almost falling over it in the process, but managed to keep somewhat balanced eventually.

"So yeah, I'll capture, butcher and cook monsters, and then I'll either try to find a way to transport them to the cities and towns the adventurers are staying in, or they can come to Castle Edenkyte for it."

He looked around the group.

"Of course, I'd much prefer to not do it alone. I'm not exactly amazing at the game outside of cooking and building, so if anyone wants to join Edenacht, I'd be glad for the help!"

He turned to the Dragonkin.

"Now, I'm pretty sure I've seen you in Heavens Door a few times, so I'm guessing you're already with them, but if you ever leave or anything, you would be particularly useful. Like I said before, I'm borrowing from monster hunter here, so that means weapons and armour made from monsters, and seeing as our old artificier is missing like almost everyone else in my guild, I'm probably gonna be coming to you a lot."

Finally, he turned to the only two people he hadn't addressed, the hunter and the storm giant.

"And you two, well, I reckon you guys are perfect for the job, honestly..." He said, looking at their character names. "I mean, Y-... Ij... Stormcaller, you're enormous. That's an advantage against all the big monsters right there, and Shinon, you look like a capable archer. I bet you'd like the chance to hunt some giant monsties and feed the hungry at the same time, right?"

Kaede came to standing in a room that only looked vaguely familiar in the most basic sense. And that is what made the least sense. The room that she found herself in was an exact replica of the bedroom in the house she had constructed herself in Emerald Odyssey, which was of course impossible.

The second thing she noticed was the weighty helmet on her head and the weight of armour on her shoulders. A look down revealed the armour of Blood knight Kallahar, her avatar in that same game that she had spent a possibly unwise amount of money buying cosmetic items for to get just right. Also impossible.

The third, and most alarming thing that she noticed was the door to the bedroom being smashed in by a familiar looking man in shining steel armour wielding a longsword that he was pulling from the wreckage of the door.

“Murderess Kallahar, this time I will have your head!”

Shit. She forgot that she had left the NPC idle in the outer room. It was also unfortunate that the bio she had set for him had made them very antagonistic towards her. That he was currently trying to kill her made this the most alarming impossible thing to be happening so far. Kaede reached for her revolver on her hip, instead finding the grip of Kallahar’s longsword.

“There will be no escape from the righteous justice that you deserve!”

She held up the sword to fend off his attack, somehow strong enough to handle its weight. The blows fell, driving her to one knee. Kaede rolled to the side as the next came down towards her, embedding the paladins sword into the floor. She rose, looked over her shoulder, and turned to dive out of the nearest window.

---

Wow, this really is Emerald Odyssey, huh?

Walking quickly, though perhaps with a bit more wobble then she intended, Akimoto and her high heels make their way towards the closest large town--Inarrel seems like a good start, since it's a fairly big town and besides, this Naiad wants sushi for breakfast. They have a good variety of seafood, too. (Just thinking about all the food waiting for her is enough to distract Akimoto from the frankly insane circumstances of her morning meal.)

Bouncing her way up to the gate, Akimoto enters the town with enough pizzazz to start a flash mob. This goes mostly to waste, though, because nobody's looking. They're all busy worrying and panicking over the "wait I'm IN THE GAME!?" to realize that she's arrived! Hmph!

...Though, maybe that's the better option. After all, KitKat Winters did have a reputation of breaking people's hearts and stealing their stuff, so... on second thought, Akimoto's gonna stay out of the spotlight. She's not wild about the idea of getting caught and punished (wait, would she be put in jail!? How serious is this game?) because she did a little gold-digging in the past. In fact, it might be better if she went undercover--does she have a cloak or something? She can't exactly remember what items were in her inventory before the upgrade, but if she did have anything for covering up, it'd be in there.

Though, where would that be...? Akimoto twists around, trying to locate any backpacks or bags on her person, but finds nothing. Not her fault the "Aquatic Enhanced Dancer Set" doesn't come with much storage... For a set she spent countless hours grinding and crafting, the armor is far from practical. Like, who fights in high heels!?

After a moment of thought, Akimoto gives up and resolves to just stay low. Now, where was that sushi shop again?

It's with some difficulty that Akimoto weaves her way through clusters of NPCs and players, relying on her newly-discovered area map (which she can apparently summon) to show her the way to Sword's Sushi, a popular, easily-accessible shop for lower-level players. Tapping on the counter to get the NPC shopkeeper's attention, Akimoto makes her order--fried squid, tempura rolls, and the fish roll platter. So what if it's a lot of food? This is not the time to worry about gaining weight!

In a decidedly non-Emerald Odyssey move, the shopkeeper tells Akimoto that her "food will be ready shortly." Shortly. Now, to new players, this might seem logical--food takes time to prepare, right? Wrong! Unlike real life, food in Emerald Odyssey is prepared instantly! Or, it was. The whole "game = real life" thing is taking a while to sink in for our poor Dancer.

Fortunately, the food doesn't take too long to make, and soon the gorgeous platters of sushi are set out in front of a hungry Akimoto, who eagerly digs in, disregarding all manners and picking the sushi up with her fingers directly, then popping it in her mouth.

The food quickly disappears and soon Akimoto is on her way out, humming happily to herself. Today really is nice. Maybe she'll go try out those gameplay functions she loved so much when Emerald Odyssey was first announced.

Oooor maybe... She can find some friends? Maybe there's a dance club somewhere around here. Y'know, to live a little! Akimoto nods, plopping down on a bench and pulling up her map. Hopefully, the NPCs around here aren't freaking out and can afford to pay some attention to her. (Good attention. Not you-stole-my-heart-and-broke-it attention. Though, did Akimoto really do that much damage? It's a video game, after all.)

Crossing her legs and considering her options, Akimoto catches wind of a conversation happening not too far away from her. The players are discussing their options--but they don't seem interested in dancing. Too serious, Akimoto thinks, accidently pulling an apple out of her inventory, looking at it, and then taking a bite.

"Ah, I suppose I'll introduce myself as well! My name is... well, my player name is Shinon! I'm a level 48 archer, a hunter variant of the class. Anyway, thank you for trying to calm me down, I was just incredibly relieved that others are here too."

Shinon thanked the woman who was trying to calm her down before turning to look at the person who seemed most calm in this situation, the rather... short woman who looked like some sort of rogue or thief type of class. Shinon didn't really know how to approach her, back in the real world Shinon only interacted with others when she had to, and most of her time was spent either playing Emerald Odyssey or hunting out in the wilderness. However, now that she was here, she knew full well that she would have to learn how to interact with others. Thus, she took a deep breath, breathing in before breathing out and then speaking to the shorter woman, to answer her question

"Well, what I plan to do is, I plan to hunt monsters and other creatures and take them as trophies... It may seem a little weird, but I was a hunter in the real world, so I guess I'm a little excited to hunt fantasy creatures for real now. I already have a white stag head being taken care of by a taxidermist."

When Shinon heard about Kai's idea, she began jumping up and down

"And Mr. Kai, I'd be more than willing to join that guild! I can help hunt monsters, I'll keep their pelts and heads, and I can give you their meat, does that sound like a good deal?"

Shinon was very excited for this idea, she could hit two birds with one stone. She could hunt and collect monster trophies, and sell them to Kai's guild for some money. For her, it would be a good way to start a living in this world.

"As for lack of information... Well, we could go to local libraries and such to learn about this world, couldn't we?"

@Rabidporcupine @PKMNB0Y @Saarebas @DocRock