After a long delve into the Loreheart temple, the party returned to the city and celebrated in the Starborn Inn. Darek and Maria were drinking golden ales as Killian was talking to the barkeep, browsing their shop.
Tekke sat there at the far end of the round table where Darek was kissing one of the bartenders and Maria looked at the shelves blankly, feeling distressed from the strange incident with Killian before they arrived in the city. She questions why everything seems to be so off. How Maria just seemed to be a yes person for Killian when she is remembered for being a wise and insightful oracle. Darek also seemed submissive as just yesterday, he was suspicious of their character and now he is a loyal servant to Killian. Is this a dream? Did she hop to a mirror-verse?
She goes over to Killian and tells them, “Hey… Killian. Have you noticed how things have become… odd?”. Killian replies back, “Oh! Um… no… I don’t think so… oh? Is there a monster creeping around?” He questions with excitement.
Tekke said with a skeptical perplexity, “No… I mean, Maria and Darek, they just don’t seem to be acting like themselves, and with that incident eariler… I don’t know, it just feels like, there’s something wrong.”. Killian asks, “Maybe the temple is cursed?”. Tekke replied, “I… I don’t know… but before we headed there, before the city… you stopped in place and… you were just not responsive.”. Killian replied with shock, “Oh! You noticed that…” they whisper to themselves, “They are smart and responsive.”.
Tekke lashed out in offense, “And with good ears! Look, I don’t know if you were day dreaming or had some sort of trauma issue but don’t scuff off us like that again.”. Killian says, “Look… I am sorry for the little… episode. I promise it won’t ever happen again.”. Tekke states as they look at the window, “Look, I am going to take a break. My home town is just a few feet from here.” They then overheard Killian, “Um… I can’t seem to pause… huh…”. Tekke asks with a raisin tone, “Pause what!?”. Killian thinks of an answer, “Pause… pause the… ugh… nevermind.”
She just gives up and heads to the door, “I need to clear my head.”. Killian looks at Darek and Maria and thinks to themselves, “Did I just kick out one of my party members?”
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Tekke arrived at her home town of Laymorcan and it seemed… different. All the houses were there, and the leporian people, but their skins were rocky, their hands were simple, as if everyone was wearing baking mittens. The flowers are replaced with flat diamond dots, and the houses’ crisp masonry growed with plantlife was replaced with flat walls of grey. She shook her head in disbelief, seeing Master Rofu sitting on a perfect brown cube, they asked, “Hey… what… happened to the town?”
Master Rofu: “The town? Nothing, it's all good. How’s the hero?”. Tekke asks, “Nevermind that! This is all a weir-” She was intruded as she saw the front walls at the north which she came from turn back to the beautiful, engraved stone that she remembered all too fondly. She gave a good five second stare until it returned back to the simple rectangles. She points, “That! Did you see that!?”. Master Rofu says with a confused tone, “Yes… I don’t know what that changed.”. Tekke says, “Ugh! I got to see if my house is safe.”. They run off as Master Rofu asks, “Where’s Killian?”
Tekke reaches to the grove to which her house lies. It, like many of the houses, is rocky with its surface, with the masonry being apparent but flat and blurry. She walks over and looks out the window, there just seems to be pitch black. She grabs the door handle and pull, but the door doesn't budge, at all! As if it was a handle nailed to the wall. She pulls again, and again, more frantically than the last. She was panicking as she muttered, “Come on… come on!”. She then body slams the door, it was solid like a wall. She blurted out in frustration. “Is this illusionary magic!?”. She casts a detect magic spell, creating a blue orb but it detected nothing.
She look at the right as she walks to the left and see the south side of her house only to see that there was no wall, in fact, when she looked, she saw the front wall just flat like paper, the inside was nothing but pitch black, with elements of the town just north hovering in the void.
Taking whopping steps back, she couldn’t comprehend what she was witnessing. This had to be illusionary magic… but it isn’t. She has no idea what it is. She look to her right but there was nobody there, she was too scared to even talk about it. She look at the void again and take a step forward, then another, then another, and as she reach to the edge, she take a step to the void, where the floor was non-existent, and drop. But suddenly, her right arm was grabbed by another figure and bull's back. A deep a metallic voice at the back of her head peaked, “Wait!”.
Tekke twitches to the right and noticed a large, golem-like figure with sharp edges and a cloak. They looked down at her, despise the red, triangle eyes being menacing looking, she knew that what was behind that face was a soul of compassion and sternness. They voice their motionless mouth with a clear monologue, “You are aware and safe.”.
Tekke gets up, still shaking, crossing her arms, she asks with a frightened tone, “Who are you? Are you responsible for this?”. The golem spoke in an honest tone, “No… and that’s not why I am here for.”. Tekke composed, “Then for what?”. The figure makes it clear as they lay their right hand by her left shoulder, “Tekke, I am here for you, and to educate you about the nature of reality.”.
She raises right eye but considering the animals around her, she keeps her ears open, “Okay… go on.”. The golem speaks, “I am Maklar, and you are becoming self-aware. You see, this realm you occupy, that you originated from, was in fact created by other worldly figures known as the Atomicians. They created these worlds as games to fulfill their need for fun and excitement, but as long as you are here, you might at the mercy of their master control as this system is not just connect to our line, the Quantum Net.”
Tekke says as they look down in the ground, “Are you saying… that my life a lie?”. Maklar assured with a cryptic honesty, “No.”.
The town suddenly appears normal again as the Leporian regain their hands, the flowers bloom with petals, and the houses decorated with rich vines. Tekke smiles as she notices her house is restored but Maklar expresses with worry, “The Atomician is here.”. Tekke asks, “The Atomician?”. Maklar explains as they open a square panel on the floor, “Stand on this. If the Atomician finds out about all this, they will get scared and might do something drastic, possibly killing you.”. Tekke ask, “Wait, was the Atomician responsible for my house and all that void?”. Maklar affirms with urgency, “Yes! Now stand on, I will get you to a safe place!.”
She looks left and right and sees just the citizens, she gets on the square platform and is relocated to a plaza, featuring highrises and various features and hovering vehicles. The sky was a dark blue with a white grid taking the place for clouds. The residence was more diverse as one could imagine, with creatures, shapes, and golems of all shapes, colors, and noise, walking, flying, and swimming. Tekke takes a step back as they ask in awe. “Wha… where is this place!?”.
Maklar hugs them to comfort them, “This… is Hubcore.”.
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Killian, Darek, and Maria explore the town and reach Tekke's house. They tried the door but it wouldn’t budge. Killian remarks, “Heh, guess they didn’t implement her house.”. Darek, “But it is right there.”. Maria, “Oh, I am sure that she is somewhere. Haha.”. Killian reads off as they lean in, “Warning error four oh four, AI model P four cannot be found. Possible corruption could occur in game files. Please contact tech support.”. They lean back and state, “Yeah, well tech support has been long gone. I think this is a good time to end the session.”. Darek thinks about it, then says, “I have no id-”.
Suddenly, the world goes dark as everything freezes, their skin gone as what’s left of them is a single dot in a realm of barely visible meshes.
