1) Welcome To The World...
The story begins within Mac Anu, a lively root server and a haven for the newbies of the world. The Root Town is heavily populated, mostly with new characters who are either buying items, forming parties, or just lounging around talking to other characters. Two level 10 characters, Nall and Gingitsune, both the type of players who would gladly help out newbies, are introduced. Nall scours the rooftops, watching the players below, eyeing a particular group of newbies. Gingitsune tries to form a group with some of the new players. Soon after Gingitsune and Nevaeh begin to converse, a message is received by all of the players in the Delta Server to come to the Root Town, signed by an administrator named Royce. Nall, expecting the Root Town to fill up and become particularly uninviting, attempts to log out and realizes he can't. Soon all of the players realize that they can't log into Mac Anu's root town, nor leave it. Buildings shake, and commotion arises when a level 48 Yoroi general appears within the city limits, and begins attacking characters. With rumors of players dying in real life after infected monsters killing their characters, people are terrified of attacking the monster. Nevaeh, an experienced hacker outside of The World, but novice at attempts within the game, weakens the monster twice, and gives Nall and a collected group of fighters a chance to nearly destroy the monster. Noticing the monster is not of its own free will, but a puppet, Gingitsune and Raye tell everyone to stop attacking. Soon a female character is heard from the rooftops, furiously scolding all of the players for hurting her creation. She erects a second Yoroi General, and rejuvenates the first. Before the mayhem begins, Balmung appears and slays both monsters. He leaves quietly after telling every player who witnessed the occurrence never to speak of it again.
2) The Aftermath
Mac Anu is in shambles from the fight against the Yoroi General's made by the hacker, Royce. The server is being scoured by the Knights of War, led by Kamui, for any sign of the hacker-- or anything hacked for that matter. Nall and Gingitsune both agree that they should do whatever they can to find out about this hacker and how she managed to be the first person to ever hack a monster into a Root Town. They gather up a group, and prepare to head to "Forbidden Passed Over Far Thunder", a field that is locked, Nall suspects, by Royce. After gathering enough man power, the first quest begins.
3) Forbidden Passed Over Far Thunder
A broken, lifeless desert. Such is the nature of Forbidden Passed Over Far Thunder. The ground is cracked as if from some great force, exposing not the innards of the world, but rather barren strips of pure code. Contact with this, explained by Nall, deletes your character. The field is barren of all save the group; not even monsters wander this landscape. The gate closes behind them; without the help of Nall, they cannot leave the field. Nall demonstrates an uncanny sight, predicting even the monsters and floors of the dungeon no one else could see over the horizon. They set off, strategizing as they go. Stumbling upon the dungeon, a trap-door in the sand, the group finds themselves in an even hotter place than the desert above. Lava lies in pools throughout the corridors. A first battle takes place when a mirage turns into reality. A Mu Guardian, protected by many smaller, hacker versions of itself. The powerful monster is more than even Nall predicted from the outset. The might of Gingitsune, combined with teamwork from the rest of the party, was sufficient to take the creature down. Soon enough another battle confronts the group, this time with custom-hacked monsters. Flame Warriors, Flame Mages, and a Hinote Minotaur round up the list. Rebuilt monsters, they had an better AI than any encountered before. That wasn't enough to save them, however, as the team continues to cut them down. Nall displays even MORE uncanny abilities, manifesting in a control over time itself with his bandana.
4) The terrifying Shinja!?! Forbidden Passed over Far Thunder 2
An empty room, a wall where stairs should be. The floor cracks, falls away, and the party falls with it. The room they arrive in is lace with molten lava, bubbling and gushing pools of it everywhere. Before the party has a chance to escape, however, the Hacker Girl they were chasing makes an appearance. Nall's casual remark reveals her name to all; Royce. She shows the tip of her power, causing dozens of portals to appear around the room. Another gesture and they drew together, merging into one portal, which activates. Revealed therein is a giant snake, covered in spines and with stats off the charts. Its tail could cut a player in half with ease, and its fangs were easily just as formidable. To top it off, its natural fire capabilities were keeping it at east in the heat that had everyone struggling. Though the head was intense, it was quickly forgotten as the team began its assault on the oppressive strength of the Shinja. After a short while of futile fighting, Royce stops the action and comes to taunt Nall, revealing more about everything in the process. She never was an admin, after all, to the shock of some players. She also talked to Nall as if she knew him, and worse, that he knew her. With ease, she vaporizes Nall, and resumes the attack. The Shinja, crawling onto a pool of lava, seems to grow in power. Finally, in a burst of inspiration, the players begin to seal off the pools of lava, which in turn locked the Shinja away from its power. Nall, recovered by this time, casts a powerful ice magic, freezing and shattering the snake's armor. With its armor gone, the snake was a push-over for the team. Soon, they return to Mac Anu. With the Knights of War still parading the streets and Kamui on the prowl, they needed somewhere to hide. Nall once again has the answer in the form of a hideout. Hidden from the Admin's, the room was perfect to rest and plan inside.
5) Mac Anu --> The Return
Not long after the return to Mac Anu, the players are darting around the root town. They stock up on items and equipment, and information. A few return with others, new recruits into this dangerous plot. Once everyone is gathered, Nall quiets them and begins his story.
His story told, he asked the room who would come with him, and who would walk away. Of course, everyone who had heard the story joined in, for reasons unique to each.Nall wrote: "A while ago, I was searching a dungeon for a rare item. Whether or not you knew, I'm what is considered a rare item hunter. I search "The World" for rare items, basically the reason I play. However, in that particular dungeon I found something that I wasn't looking for. Instead of an item, I found a large crystal. I honestly didn't know what it was. It was blue, and shiny, with some sort of emblem in the middle. While I was examining it, a girl came up to me. She asked me some questions and we talked for a while about the crystal. She told me that it was a great power that was waiting to be released, and all I had to do was touch it. I figured hey, why not, and touched the crystal. The crystal changed into a sword and fell to the ground. I picked it up and indeed felt a surge of power.
However, the girl wanted me then to give her the sword. When I refused, she attacked me. We had a long fight, but she won in the end. This girl was Royce by the way, if you hadn't guess by now. I was unable to log out, stuck in The World. She took me to another server, their server. The server wasn't really a part of The World, but rather a private server that somehow is connected with the game. Anyways, there I saw something you'd never imagine. It was a group of players, not all hackers but all a part of the same group. I saw some of the players being tortured. I thought it was just an illusion, but when I noticed a player that had been missing from The World; I knew that these must be the players that have become unconscious in the Real World.
Royce dragged me inside of a castle to the top floor. In the very top room there was a man, a wavemaster. He was very odd looking; his character was totally messed around with. Royce told him that I had found the 'last one' and that she had secured it. I was totally confused about what was happening. The man spoke to me. "Heh heh heh... It is a good thing Royce was able to stop you... Even if she hadn't, though, we would have eventually tracked you down. After all, you only had one, we had the other nine!"
I was so confused; it made no sense to me. Royce tried to get me to join their group. "If you join out group we could rule together! You’d get your sword back and you can cause havoc with me!"
I of course refused and they threw me in the dungeons. However, I somehow escaped and ran away from the fortress. I had nowhere to run though... It was in a server with no apparent chaos gate and no way to log out. After a long walk I soon passed out. I can't remember what happened exactly, but when I woke up I was in the hospital, not The World. I apparently was unconscious for a long time.
Despite the incident, I logged on to The World again. When I did, I found I had this Time Bandana. From that moment on I tried to find the link to that server and tried to solve the mystery of what was going on. I met Royce quite a few times in my travels. She wouldn't try to kill me though, she enjoyed taunting me more. I also met the other Elites of the group. A couple of times I wound up in the hospital. But I will continue to travel.
6) Cursed Corrupted Pilgrimage
Nall soon leads the way to another adventure. This time it’s off to an Ice field, Cursed Corrupted Pilgrimage. A little more is explained as the players begin to feel the cold, something that should be impossible with simple goggles. Contact with the hacker altered the player’s data, allowing them to feel heat, cold, and pain. This said, the players set off north once again towards the dungeon. Through a somewhat twisting path, Nall leads them to the dungeon without encountering a portal. The dungeon is a different story, however, as the portals are impossible to avoid. The first one they come across activated and released, much to the relief of the party, ten normal monsters. They are soon defeated, as is the next group in the next room. From there, something odd happens. The portals that should be there are all activated and gone, the monsters nowhere to be found. Later, they stumble upon one more portal, which splits apart repeatedly, releasing over a dozen monsters for the party to fight. In the middle of the exhausting fight, a strange wall of ice envelopes Nall and drags him into the ground, soon disappearing from sight. The battle ends, and the party rests, exhausted. After a short rest period, they continue on, to encounter a set of mirrors. These mirrors activate, and five players of the party step out. Evil clones of them, that is. The twist being that when a clone is hurt, so is the original. Perfect copies of Kayin, Kurai, Armina, Asgard, and Gingitsune began their assault on the group. While the battle rages, something special happens on the sidelines. As Kurai defeats himself, their weapons merge into one, and a special new weapon is born: The Treeweaver. The battle ends, and with a few tricks of light and mirrors, a new person appears. A boy, dressed in the outfit of a page, going by the name of Yansin. He calls himself their guide, and leads them on their way.
7) Deadly Spider of Ice Reiketsu!? Cursed Corrupted Pilgrimage
The players step through a whirling vortex and into a room as cold as the room with the Shinja was hot. Here, they are on a strange icy platform suspended in space. On one end is a large statue of a dragon, its mouth open wide. And trapped in the middle, in a pillar of ice, is Nall. Standing in front of him is a sinister looking player. The party tries to rush to his aid, but Yansin blocks them off with a sheet of ice. Someone tried to attack Yansin, but he disappeared. The hacker, for that is what he can only be, reveals that the boy is nothing but an illusion of his creation. Nall reveals the hacker’s name, Melzas. His character design was frightening, a skeletal heavy blade with no right eye, and only a glassy golden orb for a right eye. The eye, Twilight’s Eye, grants him the power to see the future. Nall battles with him a bit and frees the group, but is frozen in the process. Melzas summons a giant spider of ice, Reiketsu, and stands back to watch it destroy them all. They spider displays several incredible moves, but the party manages to survive. Some look for a scroll Nall let loose in the water, some fight the spider. Asgard attempts to challenge the hacker to a duel. Melzas questions him, wondering why he should bother with such a weakling. After some banter, Melzas reveals more; his eye not only sees everything around, and the future, but it can read peoples minds as well. Nall is freed, but unconscious. Melzas poisons Gingitsune, and Nall comes to. The antidote is received, but Gingi is still in pain, raving and attacking her teammates. With a push and some fire, the party manages to defeat the Reiketsu. Melzas burns, but gates out before dying, while Nall inspects the dragon head statue…
8 ) Mac Anu --> New Worries
Nall, searching the dragon statue, finds a small artifact and pockets it, without the group seeing it. He then restrains the berserk, spell-casting Gingitsune, and the party gates back to Mac Anu. Departing on his own for the time, he directs the party to do whatever they felt they needed. Some time later, Nall notices a member of the hacker group in the crowd. When confronted, he disappears, but Nall notices the Chaos Gate is no longer taking players out when they log. Rather, it’s teleporting them to another server, a server separate from the normal ones. Nall does his best to gather all those remaining and tell them not to log out. Nall discovers the horrible secret to the coma victims. A virus, downloaded into the player characters, causes the VR goggles to convince the brain it’s playing, but the body it’s dead. After breaking the news that the party are all in comas and stuck in the game, and that he has been all along, he once again heads off. Three new girls, random other players who were stuck as well, join the group. Gingitsune chases someone she seems to recognize, and finds a small dragon statue. Nighthand meets a strange wavemaster with a crystal wand, while Asgard and Gingi go off to an odd field. They return, and Nall sends flashmails to everyone in the group, telling them to meet in one of two fields; Hidden Ghostly Holy Ground, and Hidden Ghostly White Devil. In both fields, the groups are assigned to find keys. They players gather and disperse to their fields, ready for a new adventure…
9) Parallel Threads: Hidden Ghostly Holy Ground and Hidden Ghostly White Devil
Events of Holy Ground
The players enter… The field is twisted. The sky looks like chunks have been torn out of it. The area itself was made up of platforms, connected by bridges. They hung low over an endless sea of water. In this distance is a large dragon head statue, like the one Nall had searched before. Standing in their way is a magic portal. There, the party meets Rayo, another member Nall recruited. They activate the portal, and more Rebuilt Monsters come out. Water Faeries, Blue Slimes, and Tsunami Titans. All obviously custom water elementals. Nighthand encounters the water and his appearance is altered. All together they manage to defeat the monsters. Here they were confronted with a puzzle to raise the next bridge. Beyond were another set of monsters, the same kinds as before. Another riddle. Another. And then, finally, a barrier to break. This they finally get past, by soul-searching for the reason they’re here.
Events of White Devil
The party encounters the same battle here as the other party. The fields are the same, the monsters, even the situations. For an impartial observer, the only difference would be tactics and characters. They, too encounter the same riddles, and come up with the same answers.
Endless Mind Games --> Hidden Ghostly 2
The magical barrier dispersed, the two halves of the group find themselves reunited with each other on the central platform they had been unable to reach before. Laughter echoes all around them, coming from everywhere and no where at once. Gingitsune spots a distortion in the air and with a quick spell reveals a new player, standing amongst them. He introduces himself as Kuja, Master of Water. The calm, confident hacker remains unharmed by the spells cast on him, and explains this is the power of his Robe of Twilight. Blades and magic pass through him with equal ease, doing not even a shred of damage. Kuja laughs again, and summons Nall to his side. The blade master, absent since they left for this quest, has apparently converted to the other side. In a flash, Nall decimates half the party. In a flashy duel, Asgard and Nall face off. Nall takes a few hits, but then casts Ap Do on himself, rending himself near impossible to hit. Even so, a concentrated attack overwhelms him. On the sidelines, Royce appears to battle Gingitsune. She reveals that she’s keeping Nall under her control. Kuja displays more control over water, imploding Rayo with its power. Gingi finally overcomes Royce, and Nall regains control of himself. But there is still Kuja to deal with…
Unstopable Living Water, Banshaku?!? Hidden Ghostly 3
Kuja seems beaten, but he’s only just getting started. All the time the party has been fighting, his monster has been analyzing their moves. For his monster is, in fact, the very water around them! The water was alive, completely under Kuja’s control. The problem being, neither one can be harmed! The players do their best to attack and evaporate the water, but it seems hopeless; the Banshaku is an ocean in and of itself. Finally, however, Nall comes to and reveals the secret of the Twilight Robe. The bearer is vulnerable to attack whenever he’s attacking. Nall finally defeats the hacker with the help of the party, performing an attack that kills him. For once, a real victory for the group! Nall picks up the cloak the hacker dropped, and they head back to Mac Anu.
10) Mac Anu --> Secrets Revealed
The party returns to Mac Anu to find the root town altered. It was dark, night time, and nearly deserted. They make their way to the hideout and decide it’s time to sleep, and let their minds rest. After a minimal skirmish for sleeping places, most players settle down and dream. Afterwards, Nall discovers the handiwork of yet another hacker, and that one of their teammates is missing. He decides to reveal some more about what he knows of the hackers.
The players proceed to worry and eat breakfast, until a knock comes on the door. At the door is Wayne, the goblin messenger for Garaa. The goblin tells of a tournament they must come to fight in, in the Yamiyo server. The goblin gives Nall a key to Yamiyo, Garaa’s server, and leaves. Asgard reveals that he is wanted by the Admins for unknown reasons, with a hefty reward sum. They discuss strategies and generally plan for the battles ahead.Nall wrote: They are a very complex group and are very organized. Their prime goal is to take over the planet by means of The World. They are using a glitch in the game to put people into comas and control their minds inside the game. Everyone that has become unconscious due to the game is in the hacker’s server, minus us. I was able to escape; however, I brought you all into comas by having you help me. You all would have probably been in coma's by now anyways and be in the hackers server.
Basically, there are eight Elites who are the strongest and run the organization. Then there are countless other hackers who work for them as well. But just because they are a large hacker organization doesn't mean all hackers work for them. Anyways, the Admins won't do anything about it because they refuse to believe in anything we say.