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Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

There was work to be done. The party wouldn't get another respite until the dungeon's end, so it was best they prepared for what challenges lay ahead. Their fearless leader, Benkei, was working with Rael to account for all the supplies they had to work with. They'd gotten to work mere moments after the attendant left-- were they just putting on a brave face? Or did a chance encounter with death really not scare them?

"Could use a snack." He cleared his throat on approach, burying his shame for another day. He hadn't expended much energy thus far, but he was still peckish. It was weird. He didn't get nearly so hungry so quickly in the real world. Was it all the extra muscle he'd put on in the game? An odd thing to mull over as he reached down and collected a sizeable bit of food. After a moment's thought and a glance over his shoulder he picked up a second share.

Then his eyes went to the collection of special items and potions they'd laid out. Graves hadn't taken the time to drop by the alchemist in Thorinn before the raid, stupidly enough. He'd gotten cocky, excepted to run through this no problem. "I could use one'a them ironskins too." He reached down and plucked one up, slipping it into a specially made loop in his belt. There was another vial hanging next to it that he pulled from its string. "Don't like takin' without offerin' anything back," he said, tossing it to Rael. "Extracted straight from a basilisk's fang. The guy said the poison's so potent it'll burn you just by lookin' at it too long."

Graves winced just at the memory of it, a hand moving up to rub his shoulder. "Think I believe him, too."

That single, concentrated extract was worth almost a quarter of the kill by itself. It would've made for a hell of a hunting tool in his arsenal if the world hadn't gone to shit. Now, all he could hope was that it saved a couple'a lives before the day was done. "Maybe hand it over to the archer. Can only imagine what a shot of that shit through the eye would feel like. But, y'know," he shrugged, "I trust your judgement any which way."

With a final, over-exaggerated bow, he turned away and was off.

His path brought him over to where Seele was "helping" the much larger Alja to her feet. Evidently they'd managed to work through her panic attack together. That brought some comfort, he had to admit. Alja was good at what she did and they needed her help if they were going to get through this. She might not be back to her usual, chipper self for awhile, but this would have to do. Seele'd done good.

"Here." Graves offered the second serving of food he'd taken over to Alja, plopping down on the ground where she'd once been to scarf down his own meal. "Goshta keep yer shtrengthh up." He sloshed out between chunks of jerky and dried out fruit.

The Voyagers of Duonia: A Medieval Fantasy RP

---

"Nobody'll rob you if you don't have anything worth taking." Chip mused aloud as he beat the snow out of his dirty cloak. A mangy, old thing, cut from polar bear fur and sewn onto patchwork leathers. The only thing on his person worth snatching was the coin purse tucked into his belt, but that rarely saw the light of day-- too buried in furs to ever attract any attention. It was stupid to walk around in a place so wretchedly poor as this all wrapped up in silks and wearing gold on your fingers. Even somebody as big as Dular couldn't protect Entyrea from the truly desperate.

And anybody cursed to live in this frozen hellscape was desperate from the start.

"Thanks for the help, Mister Temfarrow! We'll see ya soon enough. Off to the tavern, then." He waved goodbye over his shoulder, trudging along in the direction of the tavern. Dular was more or less leading the way, since she'd traveled these streets before, but Chip was getting a feel for the town already: its streets and alleys were not unlike the game trails and world roads he'd spent so much of his life following. If the pattern of fresh prints on the ground were any indication, most folks tended to go in this direction...and their feet tended to drag more snow than others going elsewhere. Better a clue than nothing, he supposed.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Graves didn't get up. He felt a hand grasp his shoulder and gentle words reach his ears but he couldn't hear them. The ringing was all there was. A loud, constant screeching, accompanied by a blood-pounding headache. His eyes snapped shut. It was quiet here. Dark. A place he'd often visit when he needed a moment of reprieve. Andrew was usually alone in this place.

Not this time.

'We're goin to die, aren't we?'

Probably. Dungeons like this one were meant to challenge top tier players. It wasn't strange for a group to wipe several times trying to complete one. Only this time they wouldn't get up, he supposed.

'Doesn't that scare you?'

No shit! Andrew'd have to be certifiably nuts to not be frightened by a thing like that. It was only human, after all. Still, it was something he'd thought long and hard about for a long time, even before today: what'd it be like to die? He wasn't much of a religious person anymore. Odds were the only thing waiting for him was the void. That was a bit scary, he had to admit. Nothingness wasn't a concept he could wrap his head around.

'Its too soon. We're s'posed to have the rest of our lives head of us...'

Not much of a life worth living for, Andrew laughed. It was a scornful, hateful little sound. He'd had two short decades on this earth and what'd he waste them on? Shuffling through every day like a zombie? Playing games when other people were actually, y'know, succeeding in life? He'd gotten good at this last one. He was proud of that-- proud of this fake life he'd built for himself. It was more effort than he'd ever put into the other one.

'You never gave yourself the chance to, you fuckin' idiot. And now its gone!'

Maybe so. There were other around him, though- others who had actually used the time they'd been allotted. Alja must've had people that loved her waiting back home. Kalie wanted to be a teacher. Wasn't that something! How many lives would she go on to impact for the better if she got out of here? We have a chance to do some good here. A real chance. All that work you put into swinging a fake sword around and now you might be able to do something with it.

'...'

You're better at this than any of them, aren't you?

'Yeah.'

I didn't save up every penny I'd ever earned on a scalped video game so you can throw this one, solitary opportunity to not be a complete fuck-up away. So get up. Get up and kick some ass for me before you turn my brain to mush.

And with that Graves turned away, walking out of the dark and back into the humid corridor in the middle of a dungeon. His eyes slipped open. He could feel his heartrate slowing back to normal. The ringing in his ears faded into dull background noise. The headache lingered; that one was manageable, at least. He stood up, looking to the people around him- actually taking the time to see them.

To see them scared outta their minds See them being brave for the others around them. See them setting aside their differences to help however they could. See them taking charge, or offering up supplies, or even just giving words of encouragement when they had nothing else to offer.

They were a motley group of weirdos who never should've had to go through this.

Graves took a breath. "Don't fuck it up."

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Anger burned in Graves' chest even as the group caught a moment's rest. They were collapsing along the corridor around him, exhausted and harried. He paced between them all, unable to keep still. Rael asked him if he was alright and he could only give her a nod. Graves was sure if he tried to speak he'd only end up yelling, and he knew that wouldn't be fair to her. He still had so much energy-- it infuriated him. One little misstep had taken him out of the action damn near immediately, forcing everyone else to pull his weight for him. His incompetence had almost killed Seele; how could he be so stupid? So reckless? Why'd a little pain cause him to run like a fucking coward?

He watched her slink against a wall, too hurt and too drained to even stand. She was ragged. The skin around her fingers had been sundered, her cheeks were still wet with blood leaking from her face and there was that black shit still running through her veins. It must've been the feedback from expending too much arcane energy- it wasn't something Graves had experienced personally, but he was vaguely aware of the mechanic. He'd never heard of it doing that to a person, though.

The distance closed between the two of them before he fully knew what he was doing. "Sit," he demanded, waving her down until she complied. Crouching next to her, Graves started peeling back her sleeves to get a better look at the damage she'd done to herself. It was...extreme. He could only imagine how excruciating it must've been. It'd take quite a lot out of him to fix, but it was the least he could do. Graves began undoing the straps on his own gauntlet.

With his other hand, he slid the nodachi from its scabbard and stood it up with its tip stuck in the floor. He moved the bare flesh of his arm against the edge. The steel was cold to the touch, damn near freezing compared to how humid it was in there. He sucked air between his teeth as he braced himself for the pain, then he cut. Two horizontal slashes, right next to each other. Blood began to flow immediately, so he was forced to release the sword and put pressure on the wound.

'Count to ten,' he told himself. 'That oughtta be enough.'

Once he reached ten he pulled his palm from his wrist: the two cuts were scarred over, and a large amount of blood was gathered in his open hand. "Keep still. This'll feel weird as hell." He warned. Then Graves took her hand in his. The pooled blood sprung to life, surrounded by arcane energy, and slithered inside her pores. It burned through her nervous system like a purging fire, destroying the corrupting substance in her bloodstream and repairing what physical damage it could find. The fatigue wasn't something he could fix, but he hoped this made up for earlier.

The process was nearly wrapped up when a bright light filled the room. He turned to look, and saw the familiar uniform of one of the game's attendants. It was about damn time somebody said something. What kind of sick freaks would just throw all these horrible new things in without saying something first?

But then the man began to speak, and Graves felt a terrible lump rising in his throat. It turned out this wasn't just a content update. This wasn't even the game glitching out. Everything that was happening-- the pain, the hunger, the gore-- it was being done to them. And that wasn't even the worst of it. That disk plugged into Andrew's temple was apparently wired to fry his brain if he ever died in the game. How close had some of them come to dying in there without knowing about this? How lucky were they to be alive?

The devs didn't seem to know why this was happening, or even who was behind it, but they'd apparently been unable to take control of Pariah back. "Hours?" Graves repeated. His voice was quiet, shaken. "You knew about this for hours and you didn't say anything?" He knew the man behind the hologram couldn't hear him. Knew that this message was going out to everyone. And yet he felt like he was standing in the room with one of those developers he'd met all those months ago at a 'con. He felt like one of those awkward but enthusiastic men who'd made a game he adored had just drove a dagger into his stomach.

What if they'd been told back when they were prepping for the raid? How many people would've been saved if they'd known to just not go in?

Graves turned suddenly, throwing all his weight behind his hand as he punched the wall. He wanted to scream. Sixteen people were trapped in this dungeon until they completed it-- the only way out was always at the other end. They'd have to run through this death trap-- he'd have to watch real people die-- and none of it had to happen.

Would anyone notice if he went? He lived alone...the only one he'd seen in months were his co-workers and his landlord.

Would anyone care?

He dropped to his knees, silent.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

They had to move. Their path to escape came grinding open just as the barrier that held up the ceiling began to flicker and fail. With all those holes torn into it it looked like it should've fallen much earlier, yet Seele kept it up all the same. She'd poured her all into protecting them and it was tearing her apart, literally. Kazuki was shouting at her to flee. Her strength was failing-- her body crumbling-- yet she insisted everyone else get to safety first. She was the only one that could hold it. Benkei said to hell with that.

A sword slammed into stone, cracking it. Magic ran through the shifting dirt like lightning in a thunderstorm: sharp, jagged and wickedly quick. It reached the stone underneath and willed it upward, tearing up from the tiles in the center of the room to meet the falling roof. Its shape was not unlike its caster's fist. His earthen construct would hold; not for long, but it would hold.

That was the signal to put their asses into gear. Graves reached down to wrap an arm under hers, taking her weight onto his shoulder. "Ya did good, kid. Time to go." The two of them were off, moving as quickly as Seele could manage. He had to pick her back up more than once on their jog across the room,making sure to keep his head down to avoid getting a last minute haircut.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

A searing pain turned into a dull thrum as Kazuki worked his magic. Graves sat with his back against the wall, his face torn up with emotion. Pain in and out of game was a familiar friend to him, but this had completely and utterly caught him off guard. It was like he'd stepped on a real, not-made-of-code bunch of nails; it'd happened a couple of times when he was helping his 'pa build their garage. That pain a dozen times over was still less than this.

Shame. He was ashamed to be the first one to bitch out after taking a hit. It wasn't supposed to be this way, of course-- not that it made him feel any better about it. He was supposed to be leading the charge. Kicking ass, taking names. That was what was expected of him. Graves had a reputation that didn't include cowering next to his healer.

"Thanks." Still, he couldn't deny that Kazuki was helpful. He'd gone to work quickly on a wound he probably hadn't seen before this and fixed it quick. Threw in a bandage to boot, too. He was quick, efficient, didn't bother with chatter- it was something Graves appreciated. The fear in the man's voice when he called out to Benkei was...forgivable, given the strange circumstances. Something was very wrong here. "Seriously, man," he said as he stood up and gave Kazuki a look. "I 'ppreciate it."

The rest of the team, meanwhile, had gotten to working on getting them the hell out of there. Seele was struggling to keep the ceiling from falling on them, Rael and Benkei were solving the puzzle's riddle, and Alex had pulled some stunt to launch himself across the full length of the room to get to the actual levers themselves. The archer looked ecstatic at his success. "Just pull the god damn lever then! Seal's workin' her ass off and those spikes comin' down are gonna hurt a hell of a lot worse than these ones."

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The way behind them shut with a thunderous crack, causing Graves to jump. He glanced over his shoulder quickly. 'Hope nobody caught that.' There were more nerve-inducing noises coming from above them: the hideous laughter of shadowed things, ready to pounce. If only. They activated some kind of trap in the ceiling, causing spikes to jut out and- worse still- for the whole thing to start descending toward them. There was a way forward in the form of a door on the other side of the room, yet it seemed to be locked behind some lever-based puzzle. Great. The worst parts of Pariah were always the things that could kill you but you couldn't kill them back.

To make matters worse the floor seemed to be spiked up, too. Rael managed to avoid getting shish kabob'd, if only just. For all his many complaints about her, Graves couldn't doubt her speed or flexibility; nobody else in the party could replicate that maneuver. So instead he stepped up next to her and gave her a cheeky wink, "Don't you worry your pretty lil' head off. I got this." And he took a step forward onto the tile left of the one she'd checked. No trap was triggered so he put his full weight onto it, looking back at everyone else. Seele look like she was prepping to do something about the upper half. Alex had an arrow notched and ready to go at...something. But most of them were clueless. "Alright, everybody, keep in a line behind me and don't do anything stupid and we're gonna make it across just fine."

Just as he was starting to go Alja tapped him on the back, muttered something, and he felt an ice cold coat of armor wrap itself around him. He just shot her a thumbs up as thanks for the assist and pressed on to the tile in front of him-

A spike came flying out! He stumbled back, trying to avoid the point, only for it to catch the bottom of his boot. The tip pierced the hardened leather like a needle pierced cloth, and it kissed flesh not a moment later. Graves fell back into the arms of whoever was standing behind him, and a howl left his throat.

"GAAARGH! FUCK!"

It was a terrible, agonized bellow from the deepest part of his gullet. Pain shot through his foot and up his leg like he'd never felt before. Shock rocked his system. He'd been playing Pariah Online since its Japanese release, and in that time he'd suffered all manner of injury: impalement, limb loss, full-body burns. Yet none of that could compare to being nicked by one of these spikes. Confusion, panic and rage at his own stupidity flushed his mind as he stumbled on one foot, ushered to the back of the party. "What the fuck- what the fuck was that? What the fuck?!"

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Foreboding hung in the air, heavy as smoke. Heat bore down from a code-built sun. Hunger rumbled in bellies that had never felt such a thing. The party of adventurers stood amidst a pile of would-be ambushers turned to corpses. Graves had waded into combat with the goblins the moment they'd appeared, throwing himself into their center to hack and slash away at their tiny, fragile bodies. Combat in Pariah brought on a rush like nothing else in the world. No other video game let him feel this way. It was over too soon, however, and he was left standing covered in gore that stunk far worse than he could've imagined.

He didn't pay it any mind. His attention was focused fully on what lay before him: a mural of some kind, depicting abstract images that must've had some kind of connection to the dungeon and what lay within. Hidden within it was doubtless information of great import-- a clue as to how to defeat its mechanisms, to conquer its bosses, to plant that ever so elusive 'world's first' flag. Graves gripped his chin with one hand, resting that arm's elbow across his second arm, wrapped 'round his torso. He squinted hard.

"I have no idea what the fuck I'm looking at."

His head rotated on a swivel over to the trio of backliners talking amongst each other about something less important. He cupped a hand 'round his mouth, and shouted over to them: "Hope you nerds are figurin' this out and not just jerkin' around!"

Satisfied that the brains of the operation would have this deciphered in no time, he turned on his heel and headed over to the main gate where most of the raid was gathered in waiting. There were a lotta people just standin' around, waiting to get into the action. It sounded like Benkei and Rael were discussing who'd take which half with Aaginim's team. Didn't much matter to Graves. There'd be things to kill either way they went. All this planning and strategizing and shit seemed like a waste of time.

There was other talk, though, that did concern him. At least a bit. Plenty of new mechanics seemed to be cropping up as the day went on. Alja getting drunk was the start of it, sure, but this heat? The rot of the dead? It had to be brand new. Like, within the hour or so they'd spent together new. Part of him was worried there'd be other, nastier surprises awaiting them. 'Doubt this circus can handle it.'

"I'm sure they'll be fiiine." Graves told Benkei. "All's we gotta worry about is gettin' these lowbies across the finish line," he said, jerking his thumb back at those not present. "You can handle that, right? Y'know, if we fail, ol' Aag's will put it all on you."

"No pressure or anything."

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

An incredulous look crossed his face. It was something he had dismissed out of hand, but now that he was watching Alja talk and move up close, it seemed less and less outlandish by the moment. Drunk assholes were a familiar commodity 'round the gas station and his home alike. There were more than a few instances when one of his siblings would come stumbling into the living room, sloshed out of their mind- it looked a lot like Alja did now. Damned if it made any sense, though.

"'M I gonna be okay, Graves?"

He took her by the shoulder and gave it a squeeze. The irony of it wasn't lost on him. "You're gonna be just fine, pal. Nothin's been done to you, you're just..." He paused a moment. "I get the feelin' you don't drink too much IRL. This is that. Now, I'unno why you're feelin' it in here, but I think I've got a fix for it."

With one hand he lifted up Alja's palm into his. With the other, he unsheathed just an inch of the greatsword hanging from his belt. Just enough that he could nick the tip of her finger. It was a cut he'd practiced a hundred times for diabetic strips, only piecing enough skin for a droplet of blood to slip out.

'Focus. Only pull out what's needed. Don't want her to hit me.' Graves turned his hand over, motioning toward the wound with a single finger. A tiny stream of oddly colored blood began to be coaxed out...

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The pipsqueak was staring at him like she had somethin' to say. He did his best to only glance her way a couple'a times, though he couldn't help the eyebrow creeping up his forehead. Brace for the worst, he figured. She'd throw out some snide remark about him being too soft; that'd get under his skin for sure. Instead, she agreed, and stumbled over something else he couldn't place. She was as red as the coat 'round her shoulders. Had Aaginim's proposal broken the shell of the infamously prickly Rael?

“—I mean everyone’s got a soul. Doesn’t make anyone special.”

"...Evidently," he agreed, holding back a smirk.

The whole moment was almost cute until Katie tossed what sounded like a barb their way. Her voice was shakier than he'd ever heard it. Even Pariah's quintessential edgelord couldn't keep it together. Graves rolled his eyes.

He turned to look back at the two at the center of attention, his eyes naturally trailing to Alja. Her expression was harder to read. Odd. The mammoth had been a fountain of energetic positivity just a little bit ago; he would'a figured she'd be through the roof at this. Then she started walking toward at the couple. Stumbling, faltering. Teetering on just falling over. Graves took a couple steps behind her just as she ran right into the edge of a table.

"Hey." Graves touched her shoulder. She didn't look too good. "Are you feelin' yourself?" As if to answer his question Alja started wobbling toward the nearest chair like her legs were about to run away from under her. He pulled it closer to her, awkwardly attempting to guide her into it without being too touchy. He didn't know her well- this was obviously not normal, though. Graves paced around to stand in front of her, leaning down to get a look at her eyes.

"If I didn't know better I'd swear you were..." He squinted, watching how her eyes followed what was in front of her. She looked drunk. Not that she could be, of course. Pariah's alcohol didn't have that affect on people. If they had changed that recently surely he would've known, right? He was always reading patch notes. Always skimming through community forums. If anyone had mentioned intoxication being added to the game he would've known it.

He shook his head. "Think you've just been playing too long, Alja. If I were you I'd grab a sandwich, some water and a shower after this run's over, alright? I've heard wearing the disk too long can do shit to your head."