The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

[the64bitbot]

It was quite the interesting development for all of the EGG testers, as CHAMBER Corp had decided to do their very first multiplayer test.

The first testers were selected and informed, and they were all meeting today to discuss the final details and meet the other testers, a few of them being friends already.

Players
Moira (BlueSlime)
Lynne (Quartz)
Sanae (DemonKammy)
Caitlyn (Tiffanian)

They were gathered into a large room, at one end a set of EGGs, a group of techs still working on the finishing touches, at the other end a sort of conference table where a bunch of the heads of development sat in discussion.

As the girls entered, one of the heads broke off to introduce himself to them, he was a somewhat short, elderly man, balding gray hair and old person glasses. He introduced himself as Max, the head AI developer. Telling the girls about how it was planning to work and asking if they had any last minute questions.

"Oh, and one last note." he says before opening the floor to questions. "It is not standard, but we will be recording and watching the session as you all play, as this is a very experimental form of the game. You will also have a direct line of contact in the game to us." he finishes, also adding a small apology and noting that everything that happens in the game would never leave this facility.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Moira spoke up first.

"Oh? Watching while we play? I didn't think about that..." Color tinged her cheeks. "Why is that necessary? Do you think something could go wrong?"

As pleasant as Max appeared, Moira did not like the thought of a bunch of strange men watching her and the other girls play this game. Especially since she had heard more than enough about the game from other girls on campus who had played the solo version.

Her eyes peered over at the others. She knew each of them. Lynne had been her study partner for a couple years now, and she'd made friends with Sanae at the gym last year as well. Caitlyn was a freshman, and cute as could be, and for some reason Moira had decided to take her under her own wing.

 

[the64bitbot]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Max speaks professionally as he answers. "Honestly, we're not sure what could go wrong, it could be any number of things. We wish to monitor this session carefully in order to ensue the safety of both the tech and of the testers. Though we don't expect anything to go wrong, we have to prepare for the worst." He says.

Moira notices looking around however, that not all of the techs or heads were male, there were quite a few females too.

Max spoke again. "Though you can have our greatest assurance that all recordings will be destroyed after the session is over and applicate knowledge is gained from the findings." It was clear in his voice that he is sincere, and trying to put any worries the girl might have to rest.

 

[DemonKammy]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Sanae bites her lip nervously, unconsciously crossing her arms over her chest as the AI tech comments on how they would be monitored. She glances at the other girls from her school, staying quiet a long moment before finally asking in a soft, hesitant voice...

"So... this is just like the earlier ones, only we're all in the game at once?..."

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Caitlyn wasn't entirely sure what this game was about, the others had been fairly vague about the whole thing. This sort of worried her, but she was still perfectly willing to go along if Moira was there. It didn't strike her as particularly odd that the development team would watch as they playtested, though, and she didn't quite get the fuss. In any case, she stayed quiet, waiting for the game to start.

 

[Quartz]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Lynne stayed quiet as she waited on the others to have their questions answered. She was slightly nervous about the whole thing, and the thought of being taped certainly was not helping. It is a test though, I guess it's understandable that they would want to record it. She thought to herself, a slight blush giving away her discomfort with the idea.

 

[the64bitbot]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Max turned to Sanae, nodding. "Yes, that's pretty much exactly what it's like."

Turning back to the heads of the table for a moment, and looking over to the techs, he looked over his clipboard.

"Well, I think we're all set. You may settle yourselves inside if you're ready, or if you have any other questions, now is the time."

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Caitlyn didn't have any questions, or at least none that she would actually ask, so she simply waited for the others to move to their EGGs so that she could follow them in, anxious now to start the game and see if VR made games more interesting to her.

 

[Quartz]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

With no questions to ask, Lynne went ahead and climbed into her EGG, delicately straightening her clothes so that they wouldn't get wrinkled. The machine was more comfortable than she had anticipated, so she just laid back and waited for the others to get in so it could turn on.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Moira saw that the others seemed to be waiting for someone to move first, so she squared her shoulders and walked with purpose to one of the middle EGG devices, sitting herself down in it and finding a comfortable position.

"Well?" she said to the other girls with a slight curve uplifting her lips. "Coming?"

 

[DemonKammy]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Sanae bites her lip, arms still wrapped around herself shyly as she makes her way to one of the EGGs, slowly climbing inside. She looks around at the various display-like mechanisms of the still-open pod. Not nearly familiar enough with the science to guess what they are.

"I... I guess I'm ready..."

 

[the64bitbot]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

The girls settle themselves into their EGGs, watching as the chambers close, and each receiving a small a small notice informing them that the multi-player link up is in progress. It also notes that usually settings are chosen at this point, but for the purpose of todays test, almost everything has been placed on minimum.

The link finishes and each of the girls watch the world fade away, senses stopping as they feel weightless. They can see each other in the void, though shockingly they notice everyone is naked. This is not the case however when they watch the world construct itself around them, appearing in what seems to be the middle of a sparse forest, a small path winding through it, the sun setting and twilight ruling the land.

Each appears with a weapon, and some clothes or armor. No, viewers, the armor is not skimpy. They take a second to look at each other, before a screen appears nearby, so they can all look at it.

It's actually an image of Max, it would look something like a webcam, really, as he speaks. "Hello girls, can you hear and see me all right?" he asks.

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

This is actually pretty cool Caitlyn thought, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness as the game loaded up. Of course, that was when she realized that she and the others were naked. She blushed bright red and tried her best to preserve her modesty, suddenly much less comfortable with the idea of being watched and recorded in the game. She was glad when the forest, and subsequently her clothes, constructed themselves. She noticed that she was wearing what seemed to be fairly standard fare; a white dress that came down to her knees, a sturdy breastplate for protection, and a pair of white leggings to ward off the cold. She also found a sword sheathed at her side; hopefully she would be able to properly use the thing. She was startled out of her observation by Max, but she really didn't have anything to say to him, so she merely nodded to indicate that she could hear him. I really hope he doesn't watch too closely...

 

[DemonKammy]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Sanae blinked her dark red eyes, finding herself floating in mid-air. Then blushing deeply as she realized her lack of clothing.

She feels the ground against her feet before any sense of direction or gravity returns, leaving her somewhat disoriented, lifting a hand to her forehead as she tries to clear it. She can feel the clothing forming around her body before she actually looks down to see herself. Lightweight armor, nothing heavy enough to weigh her down... a sword forming, strapped to her back.

The webcam-window appearing out of nowhere startles her though, and she feels a feline REOWR escape from her throat as she jumps in surprise... then blinks... reaching up and gliding her fingers through her hair, able to feel a pair of twitching cat ears.... also faintly aware of a tail swishing about behind her...

"Aah?!"

 

[Quartz]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

As the world faded into nothingness, Lynne purposefully averted her eyes from the other girls but otherwise made no effort to cover herself. She looked off instead at the world drawing itself along the horizon, individual trees popping into place.

When the world finally finished forming and her new clothes appeared, she gently took a few steps to affirm that the gravity is back before looking down at her new clothing. Her new clothes were actually largely similar to her normal clothes, perhaps a bit more stylized. Even her glasses had been transferred along with her new outfit, although when glancing over their frames she could see just as clearly. She considered tossing them away, but decided she felt more natural with them on. Seeing that the others had also gotten their weapons, she suddenly perked up a bit. Oh right.. I picked magic as my weapon.. She pointed her finger at a nearby tree and a few icicles formed in front of her hand, shooting off and smashing into it. She turned back to the group, a bemused look on her face. "I will kill the first one of you to make an ice queen joke. Fair warning given."

Seeing the window, she calmly turned her attention to the grainy webcam image of Max. "It appears that we can see you well enough."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Moira giggles as the sensation of weightlessness takes over her body.

So cool... feel like I'm in space. she thought idly.

When she noticed that she and her friends were naked she raised a brow and subconsciously covered herself - not from them, but from the programmers who were perhaps observing.

The world formed itself around her and she looked down to see that she was dressed in a hard leather suit of armor with metal studs placed at various points with a stylized chainmail loin cloth that was more for looks than for actual protection that was placed over her breeches. It reminded her of some Red Sonja comics that she had secretly been collecting over the years.

Looped into a strand of rope on her belt was a sharp, one-handed battleaxe that curved wickedly. She grinned at the weapon, thinking it appropriate to her personality.

When Max blipped up on the screen, she gave a casual wave.

"We read you loud and clear, Max," she said with a smile as she gazed at her friends outfits and saw Lynne shoot some icicles into a tree. "What's our mission?"

 

[the64bitbot]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

"Ah, well, that's mostly up to you to decide! But, there should be a dungeon nearby, that will contain the usual monsters, treasure, things such as that. Anyways, we'll be in contact anytime there's an anomaly, or you can simply call us up at any time with a thought if you need our assistance with something that seems out of the ordinary."

With that, the screen disappears, and the girls are left in the twilight. One of them spots nearby, off the path, what appears to be a ruined building, a courtyard visible through the walls with stairs going down, to the darkness.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Moira points towards the ruins. "Okay ladies, let's head there and see what we find."

She grins at Lynne and takes the young mage's arm in her hand. "Let's go, queenie, you n' me first!"

 

[Tiffanian]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

Caitlyn followed the group, lagging behind more than a little as she admired the scenery. How are they making this so realistic? she thought as she marveled at the trees and other surroundings. It's like I've gone for a walk outside. Eventually realizing just how far behind the others she was, she jogged to try and catch up, though she'd likely stay behind them and a little to the left, as she was accustomed to doing in the real world.

 

[Quartz]

Re: The EGG Multiplayer! Terror in a Virtual World!

"I suppose I invited that one.." Lynne replied, following it up with an overly dramatic sigh. Allowing herself to be led on by the one arm, she followed behind Moira as they headed towards the ruins. Truth be told, she was a little bit reluctant to leave the pretty idyllic forest they were in for a dark underground dungeon.