.HACK//Sandbox [Semi-DM'd, Explanation Inside]

[Roland Karloseth]

Chaos folded his arms across his chest. "Some serious glitches have been happening ever since I found this:" he said, and pulled the bracelet piece out and handed it to Blank to examine. "it serves no real purpose, and isn't really even part of the game. And that's not the only thing. The other day, a monster found it's way into Aqua City, a supposed 'safe zone' and causes some havoc before dropping glitched gold and an empty potion bottle. PKers are popping up suddenly, and other monsters I've never even SEEN before. I've seen two other chucks of this bracelet, one which is owned by a friend of mine in real life. Things are getting ridiculous..."  

[xDarkPisces]

Blank turned the piece of bracelet over and over again in his hands, inspecting it carefully, noting each curve and indentation. 'A bracelet... just like... but it couldn't be. Not again...' he thought, causing a rather troubled look to cross his face. "Where... did you find this?" he asked hesitantly, though he doubted the location was of any great importance. "And... a monster? Here? There's... no way that could be right, but... I suppose you wouldn't make a story like that up."

This was all starting to sound ridiculous and hauntingly familiar to him, though he didn't know exactly why with regards to the latter. He hadn't been a part of the first cycle... the first bracelet... Suddenly he had two very strong urges conflicting in his head. One was to take off his visor, destroy his game, and never think twice about 'The World' again. The other was to dive deeper into this mystery and make himself a part of the investigation. Unable to make a decision right away, he handed the chunk of bracelet back to Chaos.

"Look... is there a way you and your... friend could meet me somewhere and perhaps... perhaps we could talk this out? Could he get online possibly?" he kept his voice to a hushed level, as it was considered uncouth to speak of the real world while playing in 'The World,' seeing as it destroyed the illusion. With the passing of the word 'illusion' through his thoughts, he pondered the bracelet once more. Such power...  

[Roland Karloseth]

"Hrm... you know something I don't. And no, she's currently entertaining a guest at her place. I dunno, perhaps... If you lived near us, perhaps we could meet IRL... but it would still be a while before it could be done" Chaos said, and checked the online status of Lynx, only to see that he was offline. "Besides, that wouldn't help contact the other person holding the bracelet piece. He's offline too, and I don't know him IRL. Perhaps we can go somewhere and you could tell me what you know?" Chaos took the bracelet piece and put it away. He had a tavern in mind, a place that was fairly private due to items being a bit more pricey there, but Chaos had plenty of gold. He was planning on paying of course, for his curiosity was ever growing.  

[xDarkPisces]

David felt his stomach lurch as he squinted into the virtual reality projector of the visor. He didn't feel quite right yet, and interacting in 'The World' wasn't helping the way he had expected it to.

Blank nodded. "I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check on that one. I'm not feeling too well at the moment, so I'll have to get out of here for now. Perhaps later today, when I've gathered my bearings and gotten myself feeling better." He stared at the bracelet again, his head spinning. All he could think was 'Not again... not again... not again...'

"Look, I don't necessarily know something you don't... I've just got suspicions that... tend to be well-based and correct eight times our of ten." He straightened up and slung his polearm across his back. "Let me get some rest. I'll meet you here later and we'll go someplace and talk this out. Just you and me. Sound good?"

And with that David took off his visor and logged out. He stood shakily to his feet, stumbled over to his rickety bed, and collapsed on it, falling almost instantly asleep once more.  

[Roland Karloseth]

"Sounds like a plan. Meet you later I suppose." Chaos said as the man logged off.

Eric looked at his clock. "Hrm... 3:30 a.m.... damnit, I'm such a night owl. However, the upside is that it's less crowded at night." Eric mumbled and logged off the world. This bracelet thing was getting more and more mysterious, and Eric didn't like mysteries. He liked answers. He laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling before sweet darkness came and invaded his sight...

Status: Offline  

[Roland Karloseth]

((Sorry about the double post, BTW. not much activity atm, I'm trying to stir some up))

Eric awoke with a start "Wow... 2 in the afternoon. I slept late... oh well. Lets go see if Mr. Dude is online, shall we?" Eric logged onto 'The World'

Chaos looked around Aqua City. He seemed to be favoring the place lately for some reason, though he didn't know. He chose here this time so He could meet with Blank about those bracelet pieces. He went to sit down near the Chaos Gate, waiting for Blank to log on.

Status: Online, Aqua city, waiting  

[xDarkPisces]

David sat bolt upright in bed, causing the blood to drain more quickly than he'd wanted. His head spun for a moment and he clenched his eyes shut, trying to shake off the sleepy daze. He stood up slowly, testing the limits of his discomfort bit by bit, and found that his headache was gone and his fever had lifted. He stretched comfortably, stumping over to the fridge to grab a soda, and sat down at his computer, sliding the cool metal visor over his eyes.

Blank Luck squinted in the dim eternal evening light of Aqua City, getting his bearings before setting off in the direction of the bridge. Regrettably, he had not specified a meeting place to Chaos earlier that morning, so he had no idea where or when he would find the cryptic Blademaster. Shrugging to himself, he stopped by the edge of the stream and gazed down into the rippling reflection of the sky overhead. Hopefully Chaos would be able to make some sense of all this 'glitch' nonsense, and finally set his mind at ease. Surely this was all some great misunderstanding or prank. The bracelet couldn't really be back... 'Could it?' he wondered.  

[Roland Karloseth]

"Hrm... I wonder where Blank could be. Oh!" Chaos said. "Maybe I should set my location beacon thing on... That might help him find me if he's online." Chaos set it and waited.  

[xDarkPisces]

Blank's screen pinged as Chaos' location beacon did its job. Checking the mini-map in his pocket, he turned towards the chaos gate and saw Chaos standing right where the beacon had indicated. Mentally scolding himself for not being as observant as he should have been, Blank strode off towards the gate, smiling and shaking his head.

He stepped up to the chaos gate, extending a hand in greeting. "I trust things have stayed relatively quiet over the past few hours?" He was speaking with a note of sarcasm, and was still not completely convinced that these so-called 'glitches' were anything to worry about. 'This feeling could be a bit of denial, though..' he pondered. "Let's get indoors somewhere. Somewhere less exposed, preferably. I don't want the whole user base knowing we're... paranoid..."  

[Roland Karloseth]

"Yeah... follow me. I know a place." Chaos said and walked to a tavern. He chose a table at the back corner and sat down. "Feel free to get anything, my funds are near infinite. Anyway, you were telling me earlier that this bracelet thing has happened before?" Chaos leaned in and said in a hushed voice.  

[xDarkPisces]

Blank Luck sank into a chair against the wall and looked suspiciously at the patrons around him. They were all so clueless, so blissfully unaware of the danger that could be brewing. After all, if history was repeating itself, some of them could very well wind up...

"Alright... I'm not going to give you the intimate details, for no other reason than the simple fact that I don't -know- all of them very accurately. I only know what I've been told. About a year ago, a pair of users were caught up in a chain of events that let to... well... I'll put it this way: some people didn't survive. The users I mention were named Kite and BlackRose. That chunk of bracelet you possess... I think it might be a piece of the bracelet he was given a year ago. I never heard what happened to it after..."

He paused for a moment, remembering the details of the events as they'd been explained to him almost a year ago. Closing his eyes for a minute, he continued. "The bracelet could be used to alter the data of characters in this game... that was its power... A dangerous power, yes. You can imagine the possibilities. Thing was, Kite never really had a choice. It was bestowed upon him. There were other mysterious aspects to the saga as well... The monsters... some of them were becoming corrupted, changed... like they'd been infected by a virus. Players who encountered them would find them either with insane amounts of hitpoints or with impossible stat attributes. Regardless, none of them could be defeated... until Kite came along with his bracelet.

"Using the bracelet, he was able to rewrite and 'drain' the data from the monsters. I'm a little hazy on the details of that bit, but from what I can tell, it had some sort of adverse effect on the game as a whole. And there was another thing: users that were defeated by these hacked monsters, or that were drained themselves by other means than Kite's bracelet... they would inexplicably fall comatose in the real world..." At this point he stopped, looking around him once more to make sure they weren't being listened to.

"And that's really all I know... All I remember, at least. If that bracelet has anything to do with the original... it's bad news. Really bad news..." He folded his hands on the table in front of him and waited for a response.  

[Roland Karloseth]

Chaos looked at Blank... well, blankly. "That can't be good. Now that I think about it, I think I heard something about a player falling comatose in a cafe. This thing... it's gotta be the same thing."

Eric frowned. He set to work sending a message to Gabrielle:

Eric Smith

Gabrielle

I just received some troubling information on this bracelet stuff. I would advise that you don't mess with it until we have a chance to speak face to face. I know someone else who has a piece, but I will have to meet him in-game to speak with him. I would like you to be there with me when we talk, but it's not necessary. Above all, DO NOT THROW THAT PIECE AWAY. It is imperative that we know who has any pieces. We do NOT want that to fall into the wrong hands.

Eric "Chaos" Smith

"Surely the Crimson Knights or even Admin would recognize the... 'symptoms' from last time though right? That doesn't seem like something that would be easily forgotten..." Chaos said.  

[xDarkPisces]

Blank laughed a full, but soft laugh, holding a hand over his mouth to stifle the sound. "The Crimson Knights? That's laughable. Forgive me for being cryptic, but those guys are really pathetic excuses for protection in this place. Sure, they can stop a few PKers now and then, maybe even the occasional inexperienced hacker, but we're talking about seasoned professionals here, Chaos. People that hack with the intention of hurting someone. And not just one person, but as much of the user base as they can manage." He felt his heart rate starting to rise a bit and sat back in his chair, struggling to keep his voice below the roar of the tavern.

"The Crimson Knights can do nothing against this threat, Chaos... They won't be able to stop... it... if it gets out." He broke off and looked away.  

[Roland Karloseth]

"So then this thing is beyond control of Admin and CC Corp. Well then, I guess it's up to the users. Though I don't know what should be done, except maybe throw these things away and don't log on for a month. Though even that would be bad." Chaos said. He didn't know what to do, and couldn't think of anything that didn't involve hacking. Then again, he couldn't think of anything that did involve hacking either. "Comas... Not a pleasant thought. I'm not so sure I like keeping this thing now, but I suppose I had better."  

[Erverain]

Alex awoke as his chair rolled out from under him. With a thud that rattled the piles of foodstuffs and a swear, Alex glared at the chair.
"Stupid friggin' oscillating chairs..."
Getting up while rubbing his back where he fell, Alex rolled the chair back to its original position.
Checking the time, he decided to make himself a meal. After which, of course, he returns to his computer.
Gathering the equipment, he logs in to The World.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lynx blinked in the constant evening light of Mac Anu. Noticing a small blinking message, he discovered it was from the Crimson Knights. It was the standard thank you message for helping with the running of The World, blah blah blah, corrections to the weapon programming from the critter, and that was all.
Shuffling through the mailbox function, Lynx wondered if he'd gotten any more messages.
"Nope, nothing new here. But it looks like Chaos is online. And he's in town to boot. Wonder if I should bother him."
Deciding to send a ping his way, Lynx started his message.

Lynx

Chaos,

Noticed you were on, and was wondering if I should bother you. You seemed to recognize that broken item I picked up earlier, so I was thinking you could take another look at it.
...It does look familiar for some reason, though.

Lynx

Status: Online--Delta, City of Water Mac Anu