Wake up Prank? or the attack of the killer bunnies? [Solo]

[Bast]

Sometimes he wished waking up to the feel of grass tickling his nostrils and dirt budging in his shoes was not a common occurrence, other times it just told him that he had a good night at the summer concerts… it wasn’t summer... he hadn’t gone camping…this was not one of the good occurrences then. Last thing he remembered doing was logging onto a game. Wait no he remembered he had made a bet with Thomas, what was the bet again… oh well seemingly it had led him outside, damn his housemates, he bet they had all had a great night and used the time to get to far higher levels than he can get to soloing without them, and they were not the kind to let him ride on their exp.


He knew he would have to open his eyes soon enough, after all it was winter or close enough anyway, it was wasn’t it? It didn’t feel cold enough, he must have found his way into someone’s allotment, they’re going to be pissed when they find out a drunk guy slept in their petunias they have such care for they gave them heating… or whatever the plant was that made a soft crunch as he tried to get comfortable. Well five more minutes can’t do the plants too much more damage, so with his plan decided upon he went back to sleep.


He was forced to wake up as an annoying object placed pressure into his leg as he tried to turn over. He tried curling up, but this only forced the pressure into both stomach and leg… what was it grr… and now he was awake enough to be really feeling the effects of last night, thanks object. Whatever you are, you are going to feel the force of being frown… even if you break the alarm of this allotment with heating and force… no running bad, you win this round object. Well with a measly object beating him in competitions he is setting all the rules for and stopping him sleeping he guessed it was time he got out of here and found his actual bed. Opening his eyes he learned he wasn’t in an allotment… was he no longer in Kansas anymore?

He chuckled to himself then winced as the chuckling hurt his head, more than thinking did… this was a bad hangover. He moved the object off his leg... was that a scabbard?

He would like to say this realisation struck him wide awake, but it didn’t and he would like to speak of this event at later dates to random strangers telling them that “no one after drinking that much would be able to wake up quickly” but he knew their probably were some and even thinking of that this second, in this state he questioned that thought… but bugger that he has a scabbard on his belt and he is still focusing on his drinking levels and his sleep. Trying to sit up and look down at himself, wasn’t computing so well in his head he was having to look and think about everything he saw twice to even compute that it was visible never mind getting across real variables. But he did come up with the inspiring thoughts that will live down through his days never wavering, what in Scotland had the prats dressed him up in and where had they got the items from any-who?


He was both impressed and horrified at his housemates for how much effort they must have gone too to get him into this little get up. And where was he? Definitely not an allotment, neither was their little glass buildings or the vegetables, so a park, in Middlesbrough… well at least he had weapons though he wasn’t going to be glad if police found him without a licence for these historical re-enactment items he has on his person, oh well Middlesbrough parks were no place to go without some protection.


Taking care to make sure no one was around he unsheathed the sword from its scabbard, well it was hard to pull out at this sitting angle so he actually only pulled it partially out then touched the blade to check it was metal and then passed his thumb down the edge to test if it was blunt… it wasn’t. Looking at the tiny trickle of blood on his thumb from trying to control himself round sharp objects while not fully in the head… what did he expect would happen. Sucking the blood up he re-sheathed the blade with his other hand. Still sucking he used his free hand to tap the hatchet yep metal again; he wouldn’t bother checking this one’s sharpness. Well he was equipped, with the weapons he shoes for his character huh; guess he must be pretty predictable if his house mates had already got them for this prank.


Is that a bunny?

[Bast]

Rabbits, now this might not be odd for most parks, rare sure but it’s just a furry animal in a park where else in this kind of environment could one survive… but this was Middlesbrough; wasn’t it?

He might just have to accept that he can’t be in Middlesbrough; no life could survive in a Middlesbrough park and still look cute and friendly, like this bunny did. So not Middlesbrough did his mates go so far as to take him out of town… no they are all up for a prank but not one of them would be so keen as to be sober enough to drive and even if one were they wouldn’t want to stay that way long enough to drive someone out of town and then go back. So what had happened?

After scratching his head and then after feeling his hat trying to flop off a few minutes correcting its position on his head, he moved his hand down. By luck, coincidence or the powers of plot guiding him, his hand brushed down in a manner that brought up a menu. Now he knew something was up… a dream, virtual reality game…. he was being punked? Three things he questioned, but sadly knew couldn’t be it, firstly he was never one to dream of himself with a hangover, and no matter what people say that there was a first time for everything he was pretty sure that this was realer than that. Being punked this well would be awesome but something told him none of his friends had the money or tech to do this, in fact that lead him to the last one there was no tech that could do this. He should know he’s looked and always wanted to take a crack at testing anything remotely connected to a Virtual Reality (VR) project so where was he?



Looking more closely at the menu he could tell a few things, one that symbols and name of the character he supposedly was were very familiar as if… wait they were the class choices and name he chose for the log horizon game he was just about to start…it couldn’t be… Elder Tales wasn’t a VR game… was it? But he was here and those classes and that name were defiantly what he chose for himself, guess that means it had to be. But what equipment was he using, his house mates must have had a real laugh keeping this a secret from him, and then got him drunk… Yes it makes the most sense. His mates must have been kicking themselves with laughter knowing how much “Good old Rob” never noticed the thing he wanted to play existed and he had already bought a copy… yeah they must have had an even bigger laugh throwing me into the game drunk and carrying me out here. It makes the most sense.

So he could try working out in the menu’s how to log off but if his mates had been online long enough to drag him out into a forest they were surely levelling, so he might as well try to as well Right. He would try his hand at fighting the creatures of the area, bunny rabbits. Moving away from his menu screen he looked to see if the rabbit was still there it was, in fact there were a few of them. He thought lucky he wouldn’t have to search for more prey. After all they are only the level one critters there to help players level up in these early stages they shouldn’t be too hard to kill. He took both weapons out at the same time… and regretted it, they were heavy, sure hold them fine probably could swing them too but he could feel the strain from holding them it would not be good to swing them both for long… so he fiddled with the axe and it’s little hoop of a belt strap that had been holding it before, not the easiest thing to get back in, or at least we didn’t yet have the knack for it. After a minute or two possibly five who could tell, he had his axe back in its strap and not upside down and falling straight back out… that totally didn’t happen three times before he got it right… totally.

After that embarrassing display of coordination he was ready to rid the area of all the itty bitty critters that had observed the sad show… which from observing the situation was an increased amount of staring bunny heads, but this only enraged the fair bard into his decision picking up his sword that he had, had to put down so he could use both hands to get the axe back in the strap, a realisation came with this, he probably should have put the sword away not the axe since the axe was lighter. No matter, no more playing with his belt time to fight. Charge!

 

[Bast]

Charging forward at the time seemed… well it hadn't actually felt a clever move but it felt like the right move… too bad that Robert here was not in the right mind or maybe even those thoughts would have told him it was stupid, ah well what can we say we would do in his situation doesn't help the fact that he was committed to this attack, yelling and with a touch of screaming slammed his “mighty” well dullish blade down to strike at the closest rabbit. Most had scattered the one closest to being hit wasn't, which the little fella was probably very glad of, but our attacker in his bravado and desire for virtual blood lust was not so fond of the little guys luck. The little bunny hopped, hopped for its life and our hunter gave chase. Swinging arcs with his sword he was doing a better job at giving the forest a bit of a trim to its bushes and lawn, well grassy floor. With a few tugs on occasion to retrieve the weapon from bushes it tangled in or tough shrubberies he lugged and grunted his way after the fast little guy giving the little guy and those foolish enough to stay on the same course rather than split up from the chased bunny’s path. Yes, how gracious and powerful this man must look to anything watching this mad chopping slicing hunter and its rabbit prey.

Robert, no Bast was not giving up on his first prey of the game, he would have that rabbit. Chasing it further and further he was amazed that little guys were allowed to run this far from there spawn points and not turn around or have some sort of disappearing spot as they are critters to be chased they might have a spot they despawned them. As if on queue he noticed again looking at those in front of his intended prey were fewer than he remembered in fact he observed a few scattering into bushes and…. Rabbit holes…crap. Scrambling for more speed, energy anything so he could head this critter off he was gaining on the thing but it was tricky it seemed to hop or duck under any strike he made and the large swings never mind the blade it’s self didn't help with matters. He just couldn't seem to strike more than a couple of scratches and cuts to its tail and rear end. To be honest with the size of this animal he really should have been pleased by that but as the nuisance dared to head into a rabbit hole, Bast was fed up annoyed and was not going to be cheated out of a kill so easily, and stuck his weapon threw into the hole.

Who knew why it worked but he cut the little fella’s foot with his first thrust through into the hole. From there he took observation of where the HUD appeared to be moving and pulling up a bit of dirt, well a lot of dirt, it was similar to that of the use of a broken shovel and the ground dirt in all the wrong places went flying but very little damage to the hole just a mess to blade. But he wasn’t interested in that he was chasing the now slower moving HUD as it faded since the critter was out of sight, he trust down and there it was again the critters health appeared, and the chase continued with each strike doing less damage to the bunny as it became more dirt than sword that hit it, the boy chased after the rabbit striking ever downwards in hope of killing the prey.

The man never even took notice of how this invasion of the rabbit holes had caused many to evacuate their home fleeing around him; he was going to kill his prey, his rabbit nothing else mattered, some would probably wonder why but it is doubtful even he knew why.

[Bast]

This was taking too long, and he was starting to question how sane he looked doing this which was a sad if good sign that he was starting to think like most with some desire to appear in social norms, but he really did want to kill that rabbit. He wished, he had chosen to be a sorcerer and had a fire spell to smoke the vermin out but he would have to deal with the animal in a less productive manner keeping track of his prey was hard he knew one wrong move and he would lose it in the network of tunnels as he didn’t strike it, but he was lucky so far following it around the forest if sometimes banging into trees, stepping on thorns and having a merry ripping time who was he to care about such pains in fact who was he to care about the little damage he could see in the top left corner…. But he did what had done it…was doing it there it went again and he hadn’t even run into anything this time, only felt a pain where the green mud around his ankle touched his skin.



It was weird sure but this was a game world… and the rabbit was getting away, he only just got his blade into soil while the HUD was dissipating from sight and he just hoped his blade scratched the critter… not all luck can last, but this one did he noticed the HUD twitch up on the left headed towards a drop in the earth levels the hopefully meant the rabbit was on its way out… too bad about the burning feeling on his leg that made even this small glimpse of good luck seem nothing in comparison to it… maybe the rabbit wasn’t worth this…maybe he should get rid of whatever this slime was…Slime? It’s a monster as well isn’t it? He would slap himself from the idiocy of his slowness on the uptake.



Though his first instinct was to hack away at the snot nose beast he didn’t really feel like testing friendly fire attributes of the game first hand and slash away at his own leg, self-preservation it is a habit hard to get out of. But with that in mind he would have to try a little less drastic a method to get the….ow ow OW, he had to get the “Pain” off him. But Mr. Rabbit….Gods was he naming his prey now.



He chose repeated scraping against a tree and when that didn’t work a method of more brutish thrusting of the leg against the tree in a manner that simply bruised his leg and made the fiery stings feel to wrap around his leg tighter… well that and it’s hp went down by the smallest margin but he would be dead before the slime was. How was he going to get this thing off…and why did his brain prefer killing it than stopping it killing him…wasn’t he just a second a go choosing self-preservation…he really wished his gamer love of exp didn’t always get him so worked up like this, just because he was in a new game.



Kicking and thrashing he tried to get this slime to taste a little pain but let’s face it after how little he had affected that rabbit what good was this doing. Maybe a brush down the edge of that cliff would scrape it off looking over he saw only dirty water below should be safe. He jumped and moved his foot out to scrape the wall in one of the most awful attempts at getting rid of a hot burning pain anyone had ever tried… and well he had got around to hurting the thing quite a bit but it still wasn’t loose and though the water wasn’t any real help he felt reassured when he slid into it… But the most laughable thing to notice was the rabbit hopping around on junk in the water… why with all the time he spent kicking and playing with this slime was it still doing here.



This is the point things went from bad to worse for Bast’s first day in the world of Elder Tales.

[Bast]

Soaked from his fall he was unsure how to proceed, he had two choices deal with the newly returned nemesis sitting in middle of this swamp like pit in the middle of a forest or try and remove this slime. It was obvious that the slime was more important to take care of it was injuring him slowly but surely but he had been ineffective in removing the thing from his person never mind stopping its onslaught. And now he couldn’t even see the little snot, so deciding to move out of this water at least the water was gloopy, muddy and the bottom was uneven filled with pot hole after pot hole the depths were too uneven what could have so much chaos in one pit… in fact what was a pit doing here among these trees and grass.

He was cracking the slime against both mud and rock with each pot hole and though he should not be able to see through this mud so well the UI display was obvious whenever he damaged it in its flash to communicate the damage and was looking down into that mud and it was reacting choosing to move around try and find a safer part of him to cling to but as he started to notice these reactions so did he start to go on the offensive… he didn’t know how but he was finding away to attack…and it hurt, it hurt them both all over never mind it got them both dirty all over as well. And yet apart of him felt the rabbit was laughing at him, laughing at his predicament, laughing at his methods to solve it and laughing at how it the prey was watching it’s hunter squirm…. He really wanted to kill that rabbit.

Bast was ready for action like no other moment he liked to take the fight to others, and here was a method to do so even as he punched a rock breaking both the skin on his fingers and creating damage for the slime that had silly moved over to cover it, who knows what it was thinking but Bast was happy to show it the error of its ways. As it tried to retreat up his arm as it was passing his elbow he bashed it on to a jagged rock. Bast hadn’t noticed but the slime had stopped any attempts at attacking him though that wasn’t stopping Bast’s brutal strikes at his surroundings from helping his hit points from falling anyway. He was at a rocky shallow section he felt large enough to hold him and wasn’t in his eyes but oh it was moving around his….oh no no, not on his head releasing his grip on the rock he turned around in a motion both attempting to be fast and yet having that sloppy motion of everything below the water dragging at a slower speed than the motion had decreed necessary well which delayed his slamming into the rock which in turn meant he had to slam part of his head back as he felt it tugging at his hair whiling slinging around from neck down along his back. This thing was small but knew exactly how to send Goosebumps down the “protagonist” of this stories spine.

The pain shot down his spine following those previous Goosebumps and he shivered at the shock that he didn’t know how much blood he was losing… was he going to die… but it was a virtual game right… he wouldn’t actually die…would he? He was going to kill this thing and that pesky rabbit for making him feel this way... the creature… the dull greenish slime now muddy and bloody was moving across to his other arm. His sword was on this arm…hadn’t he sheathed it? He was unsure some part of him said he had another told him a story of a thrashing idiot that ran around the place with a sword he had thought too heavy just a little while ago and was flailing it like it was nothing… he would have to figure out how he was doing that… but now he had a chance of soughts a chance to get this thing off his body he hopped and hopefully kill it.

Brushing it against a thorny branch growing out of the side of the cliff he laughed as each thorn cut at the slime and little damage displays appeared part of him worried at this but the other part slapped it away saying “this was a game just a game”… as it slivered over his arm he wondered if it was the moisture of the water that had got it moving or the damage for none of his kicking or thrashing before he fell in here had seemed to budge the little goo. As it reached past his hand he brushed his hand against the thorns to hurry it further up the weapon faster. Now he was in business! He swung with all his might at the closest rock and watched its grip failing and it sliding up to top to be cruelly cut to ribbons as parts splatter all around him he doesn’t even notice him calling out for its death telling it to “die die die” repeatedly never stopping as he notices the health bar disappear and gleams of it disappear around him.

He turns to stare at the rabbit and noticed the dull greenish goo surrounding it… and knew now that it hadn’t been laughter before but the bunny shrieking out hoping for help… this pit was filled with slime….Crap!

[Bast]

Bast knew that the slimes could not have noticed him and all his thrashing about so why they had not targeted him was interesting in its self but he needed to get a way, he needed to scamper out of here. Squelching his way with falls and trips he made his journey towards a bunch of roots he hoped would aid him in his climb out of here. He remembered to sheath his sword this time, still questioning if he had really not sheathed it before and if he had when he had unsheathed it… but that was a question simply to mull over to keep his mind off the slimes the over whelming number of slimes that would surely kill him if they all decided to attack him.

He somehow made it to the roots without them attacking he was doing well he had no idea why they were not taking notice of him but he was not going to complain about it. The rabbit on the other hand did seem to want to complain as it was still attracting more and more of them to say hello and try to strike at it. Bast felt sorry as he started to climb out but not sorry enough to help the little furball, after all it would have died by his hands if it had gone another way how could he truly be sorry about its death saving his life.

Turning to the slimes he wondered how they were all appearing and where he wonde they were doing something in his eyes flowed out into his perception and flooded them with numbers he could see it the numbers telling him of the impending spawns of dull green slimes, and with this knowledge so did the slimes turn, so many of them turned to look at this source of magic, he gulped and made move to escape. Pulling on the roots he hefted up pulling gunk and grime and everything but a slime up with him to try and get out of this cesspool, he had turned away from the bunny and the rabbit had panicked.


The little rascal had survived a sword wielding maniac, a run across the forest it did not want to die thanks to a bunch of snot monsters and here, here was that same sword wielding maniac getting away using him as a distraction tool…this rabbit was not going to have it. This rabbit wanted to live. Jumping from hardened weeks old dung to half eaten rotten radishes and rocks, this rabbit was making its way to the sword wielding beast if he was going to die he was going to drag that beast that calls it’s self a man with it. Though in all honesty he was wanting to trade the thing that would call it’s self an adventurers life for its own. Hopping along he was getting closer.


Bast had only the tip of his shoe still in the grog he had been calling water and he was feeling good, the concept that life was still going to continue was one that he hadn’t thought a game could make him want to cling to so deeply before, he had never experienced a game quite like this one, never felt the value of his life as much as this moment… the shock that ran up his body in panic as he felt the tug of something on his leg and something run up his leg, sunk his heart like nothing had ever done…really he should thank that rabbit it gave him two glorious feelings he had never felt as strong as these times before and they were all thanks to it. But as it clawed its way up his back and he felt the first slime touch his leg all he could feel towards the cursed vermin was hatred so pure it might get someone killed, Sad about it likely being himself and all.


Claw, claw, jump, Claw, claw, jump, these were the orders running round the rabbits head, he did not want to think about the experience didn’t want to get his hopes up but he was sure as he reached the sword wielders furry head that with one more jump he could escape this hell and he so wanted to be free from this whole endeavour. Taking that final leap, he may have given the adventurer a bit of gnawing and tearing before he kicked off but the beast deserved it…so maybe he wasn’t so unfeeling but a little spiteful revenge wasn’t really connected to hope, was it? As he landed a top the mound the elation of the knowledge that he was free of the hole made him finally start to open up to the idea that maybe he was finally free.

Looking down at the pitiful adventurer all he could see was blood, mud and those eyes filled with a hate so horrifying he was stunned by those eyes. Wanting to turn and run he couldn’t get himself to move his vision from staring at those eyes oh how he wished he had moved as he felt the earth move. The monster had pulled too hard on those roots with so much weight… he felt the earth capsize and did nothing. He should have jumped, ran, something but all he could do was look into those eyes still filled with malice and hate. Knowing he was going to die.

As the earth crumbled around him and the rabbit he felt the enveloping of the sloppy goo that was under him the slimes were swallowing Bast whole and all he could do was stare down a rabbit. He near laughed but it made him choke on blood, mud and slime. He watched the rabbit land among the slime and all that ran threw his head now was that, that bunny rabbit was to blame for this doom, this end and damn them all if he was going to let the slimes kill his prey.

All the force of this experience behind him he found some sort of balance and lifting both slime, mud and his sword it’s self he brought all his might up so he could bring it crashing down on the reached beast he called a rabbit. As he snuffed its life out he felt only a little solace as, though he struggled to get free, part of him watched his own life deplete to zero and felt the world blur and then watched the colour burn away into white. This game it had dealt him an experience like no other game had, he wasn’t simply sad by his own demise, or in anger, he felt as though part of him slipped away. This was a feeling of anguish, rage and loss but in the end as the white became colour again that loss disappeared as he saw the stones of civilization, and the stain glass he laughed. Some part of him had thought he was truly dying, and now as his vision returned and he looked on this new world, all he wanted was to get out their again. He had felt death and all he could say was it, was worth everything else he had experienced here.

He was ready to continue his game.



Swarm