Before the Looking Glass

"Wooooooww" spoke zephyr slowly, enchanted by the atmosphere around him, stopping to take in the detail about what little they were seeing already.

Itsjeff laughed lightly. "Oh, don't go getting impressed yet, we purposefully came through a side route to let you see the best view of the city first."

Edgar chimed in with a somewhat too cheerful tone considering the message "Mind you, the critters in this area a re a bit tougher than those who hang around the main entrance. so keep your heads up or they might overwhelm you."

Mogar was quick to offer reassurance though. "Don't worry. If you bite off more than you can chew we'll step in and save you. The whole point of us being here is to save you guys the bulk of the long grinding and life/death cycle we had to go through."

It all may have gone over better if Kazu had not brought to mind a more prevalent point. "And either way, our party if overleveled for this area, just having us here will probably scare off the regular mobs who like to pick on new flesh."

"Trueeee." said Edgar pensively, which seemed to draw knowing and/or worried stares from the other jaegers.

"Anyways," cut in Itsjeff, eager to change the topic from whatever was setting the mad genius' gears turning, "like Lindsey said, we're not likely to actually come across much resistance, so let's head to the lookout first, and then to meet the whoever it was that dehlacreep wanted us to work for."

"Works for me!" agreed Mogar, and the other Jaegers nodded in approval.

Thus, the elder players led their new recruits down a side path and down a narrow alley way between two gray cobblestone buildings that they had to go in one by one. at the end there was a door that led into another building, some sort of fire escape at the back of a mysterious establishment. Filing in, he group was met with a wide stairwell with concrete walls and artificial lighting in the form of harvested stones that they had seen embedded in the architecture, arranged as torch-like light crystals mounted on the walls. The space now allowed the group to fall back in their rough formation with Kate and Zephyr following at the back, but with Kazu trailing along with them in case something did happen to sneak up behind the party. The remaining gents led the group up the stairwell, up several flights and past several more doors marking floor levels they could have entered in. This was the first time now that Zephyr became consciously aware of the intended differences programmed into his avatar state versus his actual body. He didn't consider himself particularly out of shape but neither was he an athlete, and yet here he was passing the 6th floor without so much as a laboured sigh. He looked to Kate and saw the same with her. He found himself thinking first that it was mildly jarring but then quickly settled into it when he realized how pointless simulating fatigue as part of the hypnosis in this kind of game would be, it was actually a smart game mechanic when he thought about it.

He was brought out of his consideration when the group stopped at what seemed to be the top floor, the unmarked 7th. Kazu turned to the two with an eager smile.

"Okay, so! This is the really cool part! But you two have to hold your hands over your eyes so you don't spoil the view when we step out! Me and Mogar will move you two in position, so be sure to keep your eyes covered until we tell you to look okay?"

While what she said had technically been formulated as a question, it was apparent through her eagerness that the two didn't honestly have much choice in the matter. Oh well, at least she was polite. Zephyr turned and shared a muted look with Kate. He could tell she was slightly worried about this, she tended to worry a lot, but he just shrugged. and smiled. "Sure,"he turned his attention back to the senior female jaeger. "Sounds fun."

He complied and shut his eyes, putting his hands over them as instructed. His partner must have trusted him and done the same since Kazu made a sound of delight and he heard her quickly shuffling to his side, getting behind Kate. Mogar moved behind him and put his hands firmly but not harshly on his shoulders to guide him. He heard Edgar and Itsjeff open up the doors in front of them and the two newcomers were made o move through them. Even with his eyes still diligently sealed, Zephyr was surprised to find he could immediately figure out why the 7th floor hadn't been marked. The breeze that brushed against his skin indicated to him that they'd come out on a roof of some sort. The two were led forward a few feet and then made to turn to their lefts and stood side by side, all through diligent reminders to absolutely not peek. In position, Zephyr felt the other player's hands leave his shoulders and a few seconds later he hears Itsjeff begin a count down.

"Okay ready! 3.... 2.... 1... Look!"

Zephyr opened his eyes wide with expectation, and his face instantly scrunched up in confusion "wha-"

Before them was a wall, and on that wall hung a painting. And incredibly realistic, accurate, and well-done rendering of Jeff, real-life Jeff and not his avatar Itsjeff, as a sort of regal figure looking down on them.

From behind them came laughter called out teasingly "How do you like the view? Personally it's one of my favourites!"

Confusion soured to annoyance, underplayed with disappointment. "Seriously guys?! This is what you got us all, wooaaaaahh-" the words died in an awed gape. He'd turned around to confront the pranksters only to see they'd purposefully positioned themselves so that when he turned around he would look over the balcony across from them, and out to a view that practically showed him the entire city. While the buildings were mostly small and humble in the area they currently occupied, they could see that the small city wrapped itself entirely around the circumference of a perfectly circular lake with a diameter of well over a kilometer. As hinted earlier, the majority of the lake was a vast, deep blackness only distinguishable as water by the fact that boats could be seen sailing across it. About an eight of the lake, however—a sliver hugging the western edge of the lake—shimmered a silvery white (at least, he assumed it was west, it was to his right from his point of view, but in that direction he could see a milky white sun risen over the horizon, painting the sky a pastel blue). From this position, the lake certainly lived up to its name and made a convincing facsimile of a newly crescent moon.

Zephyr was left speechless by the display and moved up to the railing that marked the edge of the rooftop lookout they'd been brought to, looking out at the majestic lake and equally impressive city that wrapped around it.

Proud of his bait-and-switch reveal, Itsjeff proudly continued speaking. His arrogant tone may have been annoying if the view hadn't been legitimately impressive. "Welcome to Magecraft boys and girls, killer of the modern American youth!" he declared with comedicly exuberant drama.
"Or at least their social lives!" added in Mogar with cheer.

"Definitely their social lives" agreed Edgar.

"Dude, I thought you said this was the staring area." said Zephyr, looking out at how large the small city seemed in front of him. The Magical Academy itself had seemed quite grand to him with its arcane and regal, yet also futuristic and sterile architecture, befitting it's title as a place where science and magic were one and the same. But this wide open space that stretched out in front of him simply could not be registered as 'game area'. He had heard that these MMO simulations were like stepping into a new world when Mike had described them earlier, but he had taken this as an endeared fan using exaggeration to express his enjoyment of the game. He had not expected to be given small cities worth of content to explore. What could the rest of the game be like?

Itsjeff laughed at his question and corrected him, having heard from Mike that these two had never bothered to experience games like this before and expecting the confusion "No, I said that the starting area was in Moonlake. This game has been in active development for like ten years and a bunch of the areas are almost 100% player-constructed, including most of what you're looking at now. Every time they release an new expansion, they're giving players a new way to pretty much live entirely new lives if they wanted to."

"Whiiiiich some kinda do." admitted Edgar with a mildly embarrassed chuckle.

"Oh please, people have been getting their lives wrecked with MMOs since the days of freakin' EverQuest, probably earlier. Some people just don't want to be in reality. We're proof that you can play this game consistently and still enjoy it without getting obsessed over doing literally everything you possibly could in it." chided Itsjeff

"Plus, while it's true that some people do kinda spend too much time here, they're also the ones who tend to make the coolest stuff for us." added in Kazu, ever the one to bring up the positive.

"and most of those guys end up getting jobs as game admins anyways, so we can't judge them earning a living off this game like we do." Seconded Mogar.

"Yeah, but we make a living releasing play reels, and this game's just one of our series. It's not our lives" contested Edgar.

"Exactly," rebuked Itsjeff "It's not our lives which shows we're totally capable of keeping in line other life priorities even when we're monetizing the game."

"Eh, fair enough." shrugged Edgar with a smile, not one to nag at arguments with his leader, and mostly having been playing to ruffle at his feathers anyways. It was fun to be annoying, it was dangerous to be a bother.

"Anyways, point is you don't have to worry about seein' everything here kids," said Itsjeff, returning the conversation to the attention of the new recruits. "We're here to see an NPC so he's not gonna be in one of the player-built districts anyways. Just wanted to give you two kids a nice view before we got down to business."

And a nice view it was. Which was likely why Zephyr hadn't looked away from it all throughout the others talking. He listened to what was said, but visually took it all in for a moment before turning back to them and nodding with a smile. "Thanks, if I hadn't been excited to play this game already I certainly would be now."

This area of he city was known as Cathedral Burg, and was considered the final stage of the 'introductory course' the intended beginners section the Moonlake town had originally been designed as. As such the NPCs that inhabited it matched the noble architecture and were all people of high class in some respect or another. Itsjeff commented that it was painfully expected that the creepy professor's acquaintance would reside here of all places. Though the surrounding NPCs did not seem in any way hostile or belligerent towards the party, the club leader maintained an odd animosity towards 'the snobs'. Edgar quickly and discretely filled the two new recruits in on the fact that the esteemed leader had flubbed a couple of the early quests pretty badly, over-estimating his ability to out-play the NPC AI. As such he had retained a distaste for the place which the rest of the club member mostly found comical.

Zephyr found it strangely fitting of the boisterous young man he'd known only shortly but whose brash and outgoing personality had already left a strong impression on the new player. Inside Jason found himself... surprised by all of this. Not just the high detail of the projected reality he was immersed in, that awe had somewhat subsided as he was making his way around. He was surprised at how easily the pretending came. The names and facts and words were fake and rehearsed. But the feeling of camaraderie, of enjoyment, of budding friendship, all that actually felt real. It was... so weird. For all intents and purposes, he was a surviving child soldier. He hadn't really thought he would be able to feel like a normal kid, as much as he'd wanted to.

His processing of this strange realization was interrupted as they arrived at their destination, a home of fittingly grand architecture with muted and modest design to pass by completely unnoticed in the aristocratic burg. Itsjeff held his hand out towards the gate that separated the house's front yard from the street and it seemed to scan him for something. Whatever it was looking for it seemed to find, as it gave a beep of approval and the gate of cerulean metal slid back into the architecture (seemingly absorbed by it), granting them access.

They made their way into the front yard, luminescent fountains on either side, partially blocked off by neatly trimmed hedges with iridescent blue flowers blooming inside that bordered the short walkway towards the regal home. As they approached, the door opened for them and they were let in by a man servant of some sort with a completely shaven head. He was dressed in long pale blue robes, with a mauve overcoat that left his sides bare. There was a gold lining running along the inside of the overcoat in the front, bordering the cloth until it came ut to his shoulders, spreading into an intricate design reminiscent of roots or vines through his collar.

He looked at the party with dusty red, pupill-ess eyes, seemingly impassive and serene in contrast to the rather distracting golden piercing in his left nostril. A matching dozen or so bordering both of his slightly pointed ears. All this on top of his arguably more distracting plum coloured skin.

Zephyr had to blink a few times to realize he was looking at somethi- one-.... thing(?), program, that was real. Something actually talking to him instead of a proje- oh, it was talking, he shoudl probably listen.

"You are the ones sent by the professor," the servant spoke, stepping aside as the party made their way into the manse. The inside decor easily matched the outside in class if not in scale.

The servant who let them in stood only slightly taller that Zephyr, which made him shorter than Edgar and Mogar, but while his alien features were smooth and fair, one still had the distinct impression they were looking at an adult. More than anything he stood with a reserved firmness that gave Zephyr the impression that if they had not been expected, this NPC would have been an impassable guardian.

Withe everyone in, the servant closed the door behind them and moved to lead them through the manse. "Master Idun will be pleased to know of your swift arrival," he stated calmly, leading them up a flight of stairs. "He has been most put out by this business, the sooner it can be put to rest the better."

"Oh, don't you worry. No job's too tough for the Jaegers." intoned Itsjeff confidently.

The servant made a noncommittal sound to acknowledge what had been said. "Your reputation has not preceded you." replied the servant neutrally as they were now being led through the west hall of the second floor. Itsjeff shot him a look of annoyance and disgust but the servant, leading the way, did not see.

"Of course, should you perform well in this matter, I can expect that to change amongst myself and my own associates." stated the servant in his same diplomatic tone before stopping in front of a polished mahogany door. "Here is the Master's parlour," he announced automatically.

With two short knocks they were announced and promptly a voice bade them entry. The servant motioned to Itsjeff that they could proceed and the club leader opened the door, leading his group in. Once everyone was inside, the servant had closed the door behind them. There was no sound of any mechanisms locking them in, but somehow the new player still took this as a foreboding gesture.

The parlour was, as one would have expected, decorated in a luxurious but masculine and conservative way; the walls painted an earthy beige to immediately attribute a feeling of quiet to the place. There were two book shelves filled to the brim lining the left walls, with a smaller one placed on the right side of the room, similarly over encumbered. Opposite to the entrance was a fireplace lit with an iridescent white flame flecked with rainbow speckles. The light it gave off radiated the mesmerizing and slightly ghostly aesthetic shared by much of moonlake's sights and designs so far.

In the center of the room was a long ivory couch looking to be made of soft, cushiony fabric. There were two armchairs on either side to match, and a rectangular stained teak table in front, between the couch and fireplace. Several more books were piled to varying levels of neatness on and around said table. Sat in one of the chairs, with one more book open in his lap and a glass of what appeared to be some form of liquor in hand, was their quest giver.

Unlike the earlier servant, the man looked completely human and for the most part unassuming. He was an older gentleman, likely in his later fifties, but his affluence had earned him a distinguished look that let him age gracefully so far. He was dressed in a simple pair of slacks, a white shirt, and a brown vest on top. He stared at the group pensively for a moment, then with a small sigh closed his book and placed the brandy on the end table beside his chair. Or rather, on two books sitting closed on top of the end table.

"Gee, I wonder what this guy likes to do on his down time." mused Mogar sarcastically, earning a chuckle from Kazu and Edgar.

"Ah, you have come," said the man, sitting up from his chair. The features on his face were drawn with lines of worry. While he held himself with the posture of dignity one would expect of a man of his stature, it was evident whatever was transpiring had him loosing sleep by the bags under his eyes. "I see that my old friend is ever quick to dispense aid. I trust you are already aware of the situation?"

"Actually, all we know is that this has something to do with a 'disappearance'," responded Itsjeff casually.

"Yeah, seeing this place it's pretty easy to imagine there are a few things you'd get worried over losing," stated Mogar, taking in how the quality of the room's furnishing spoke of the owner's wealth. "I'm guessing we're doing som thief-hunting?"

The older gentleman sighed lightly at this. "Well, leave it to Mercure to be discrete. While he was right about this.. problem being in regards to a disappearance, it is of a person, not an object."

"Holly smokes, we're investigating a kidnapping?" asked Kazu.

"Well... that is the official story..." started the man, clearly upset over what he would have to divulge in order to have the Jaegers fulfill his request. "You see... the matter concerns my niece, Katrina. She has run away, and she is likely in grave danger as we speak. She is..." He hesitated again, chewing over what he had to spit out "... mad, to state it plainly. It is something that unfortunately is rather common in the women of our family, as her late mother would attest herself. She is normally well as any other, and with medication we have managed to make her condition so manageable as to avoid news of it to be common knowledge. I am sure you can understand, the noble name of our Trunell line would not suffer well should it become common Knowledge that our women carry some form of genetic defect."

"You said she was normally fine," continued Itsjeff, ignoring the man's prattling about lineage, "What happens when she isn't?"

There was another hesitation at this question on Idun's part, but as he had already begun telling the story anyways this time it was quickly pushed aside. "She has visions. I can only guess as to what, but during her 'episodes' she will become convinced that she sees and hears things that cannot be there and becomes impossible to reason with. Fearful, panicked, and violent, she is a danger to herself and to others during these bouts of madness. I've had to defend myself from her attacks several times while administering aid to her..."

"If you don't mind me saying, that doesn't exactly sound like a 'managed' condition."stated Itsjeff calmly, unaware of the sudden tension that overcame Zephyr behind him. "It also doesn't sound like a very stealthy state either. I'm assuming that since you're telling us this, she ran way from you during one of these bouts of madness, right?"

"Yes that is correct," acknowledged the noble, caught unawares by the young Mage's sudden deduction.

"So then, how is she escaping retrieval by your own guys to the degree that you'd hire a group of outsiders to come look for her?" continued the club leader.

"Well... to begin with we only discovered of her departure several hours after the fact. As I have said, we have had doctors come to examine her, and with medication we had gotten the fits under control. They were still as violent, but they only happened a few ties a year as opposed to their more frequent rate when she was a child. I thought we may even be able to cure her with enough time... but she had a fit several months ago, one of her worst yet..."

the man looked down with a sad expression, and turned his head away lightly as he pulled up one side of his shirt and vest to show a nasty red scar in his lower right side, healing but still slight swollen, enough to tell of a worse injury when it was first made. "Where she bit me... After we had sedated her and she later woke, it seemed as if things returned to normal as always. However, things between she and I were strained, she seemed uncomfortable in my company. I thought it may have been guilt over the wound she inflicted on me, and left her to compose herself however she could... Now I know that she had been led away from me."

"Led away?" asked Itsjeff, curious as to these circumstances, but also rather annoyed at how long the old man was taking to explain himself. He hadn't expected a quest from Delacroix to be simple, but he didn't expect to have to listen to an entire backstory first. Oh well, at least these quest tended to have the best rewards.

"Yes," nodded the noble gentleman solemnly. "Shortly before her last episode she had come into contact with a young man, a mage like yourselves. I am unsure of the exact nature of their relationship, but she seemed unhealthily infatuated with him after meeting him only once. To my knowledge the two had only spoken the one time, though he had been caught sneaking around the area more than once. Katina was never short on suitors, so i had assumed him a charlatan who didn't knwo his stature, but I now believe he was somehow in communication with her and has turned her against me. I found Katrina's bedroom empty three mornings ago, her window wide open and a piece of her nightgown caught in the frame and torn off. She had run ff in the night under that mage's manipulations."

there was a slight pause in the room as several of the Jaegers came to the same conclusion but none wished to speak up. Kazu broke the half silence as soon as she realized no oen else would.

"Uhm, sir Trunell... Speaking as a young woman and a mage, this doesn't so much sound like mind manipulation as it sounds like she's eloped with a new boyfriend."

the noble gave a deep, slightly impatient sigh at this. "Do you think I am an old fool? That possibility also occured to me, however i am convinced that trickery, whether magic or not, was involved in this. and here is why."

He turned around and drew out the drawer from his end table. From the back of the compartment rolled out a small glass container. He retrieved it and, sliding the drawer back closed, turned back and walked to Itsjeff, handing the leader the small jar. Taking it and examining it more closely, Itsjeff saw that it was filled small, translucent, red rhombuses no bigger than a centimetre across.

"That, is her medication," explained the noble. "The one that has allowed her to live a semi-normal life over the last five years. She should have been taking two of those crystals with every meal and one bottle lasts her a month. Considering this one has not ye been opened, it is clear she has not taken her medication since the last episode. Finding this in her room when she disappeared, along with the fact that we have lost all trace of the young mage who was 'courting' her since her own disappearance, convinces me that he has somehow taken advantage of her. Either through is own magics or through her own mental weakness, he has convinced her that her home is dangerous to her, that her medicine is poison, that I am her enemy!"

The man was growing more and more worked up. Initially it seemed he had been irritated by Kazu's remark, but it is evident that it was now only the spark that ignited a three-day old gunpowder barrel of waiting, anxiety, and managing the situation to desperately ensure his family name was maintained and that secrecy reigned throughout. "If harm comes to her then I will never be able to face her mother! If she is used against our family name then I will never be able to face my father! I need to have her found. Quickly, before anything happens to her, if nothing has happened yet."

While the female jaeger shrunk back for her blunderous comment (even knowing it was on the tip of edgar, and mogar's lips too), the leader simply sighed and gave the old man as compassionate a look as he could muster. "We understand that sir. We have every intention of bringing her back to you safe and sound, and there'd be no point in paying for Mages if we couldn't do the job quietly. I just want to make sure we have every detail we need to make this search and rescue go by as quickly as possible."

This assurance seemed to calm the man somewhat. He remembered his decorum and smoothly recomposed himself. "Yes... you are right. I apologize for my outburst, i simply... She is not well without this medicine. She is a danger to herself as much as to others... I had my own men do some digging with this, they have identified where the Mage resided before disappearing. It appears he was temporarily lodged in a vacant home in the southflow burrows for the last two months."
Notifications went about as the players' maps were all updated with the next objective location

"My investigators tell me he used some form of magical totem to keep his presence in the home hidden during his stay. However they were unable to discover any other item in the house by their own means. I would suggest you begin your search there. With any luck your magics will be able to determine something about his whereabouts that they could not."

"Sounds like a plan," nodded the club leader, knowing that would be all the relevant information he;d get out of the old codger. "You can rest easy Master Trunell, we'll find this creep and have your niece back to you before you know the difference."

With that the group excused themselves and made their way out of the parlor. Zephyr was last to turn away, giving an unreadable look to the NPC before following the group out of the room. They were then escorted out of the manse by the same servant as before. Outside the group stopped in front of the gate and discussed the quest.

"So, he said she was 'kidnapped' by a mage." recalled Edgar. "Obviously it can't be a player or we'd have heard about it through the academy. So either he's crazy or lying."

Itsjeff gave a sigh. "No... no, that would be too easy." he turned to the two new players and offered an apologetic sigh "So, uhhh, listen. I know this quest was supposed to introduce you two to the game and everything, but if my hunch is right we're about to go toe to toe with a wild mage." There was a collective realization among the more experienced players that seemed foreboding to the recruits, but the lead continued as if it hadn't occurred. "So if that's the case, you guys are not gonna be a match for him yet. We're going to bring you guys along on this anyways, but unless you want to get your ass kicked i suggest you stay behind us when this guy inevitably struggles."

Jason understood the look in her eyes well. It's not like he could have missed all the obvious similarities and he could only imagine what they were doing to Rue. But just like her, those similarities woke something up in him, the old child soldier who had just started going to sleep. If Brewster really was involved in all of this somehow, not only might it be in their best interest to find out how they have integrated themselves in this massive game, but turning tail and running now might even single them out and draw the administrators' attention. The chance was small, but growing up in brew taught Jason to never underestimate the insidious ability to disguise psychological conditioning and monitoring as a games and exercises. Until he was sure if these really were just coincidences or not, he'd have to tread carefully around this game.

He opened his status screen and quickly checked on something before closing it again and answering Itsjeff. "That seems fine, that way we'll get to see some high-level play and get an idea of what thing will look like once we're done mastering the basics. Just to let you know, Belle and I have a previous engagement to get to later today, but we should still have an hour or two before we need to get going."

"That's the spirit kiddo!" replied Itsjeff with a smile and a pat on Zephyr's shoulder. "That'll give us plenty of time to go over to the mage's place and do some investigating. We can wrap up the rest of the quest-line the next time you guys join us for a play session."

"Actually, if we cut through the waterway levels we can get these guys their first taste of real combat before going off to play detective." suggested Mogar, ever favouring of the game world's more active pastimes.

"That sounds like a good idea actually, I'd like to see how good I'll be at using those spells you guys taught me in the academy out in real combat." agreed Zephyr enthusiastically. Even if they needed to continue investigating this questline, distracting themselves with something else before jumping into it would probably do Rue nerves well.

As the boys began outlying the immediate plan of action Kazu had discretely opened her interface and sent a 'whispered' message to Kate.

"Hey, are you okay?"

When the firedancer saw that she had the startup enchantress' attention she offered a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, no one else hears this, it's a whispered conversation. I'm just asking because you seem put off by what happened in there. Just remember to treat all this like a walk-in movie okay? I remember when I first started playing this game, there was this one quest I failed involving a little girl and her pet Murlap. I was really heartbroken by having to tell her that I lost it, and the avatar cried and everything. But a week later that same little girl was giving the same quest for the Murlap she'd 'just' lost, and I honestly felt kinda silly for getting so invested. It's easy to forget that it's just a game but that's really all it is, so remember to have fun with it okay?"

Quickly thereafter the party got moving again. Again the elder members led while the recruits were left to follow and take in the scenery; though neither found themselves quite as invested in the lavish details of the burg as they were previously.

They were brought to a sort of fountain square, with several boutiques lined around a circular road that fed into five different streets including he one they'd come in from. Of course a fittingly regal cascading circular fountain decorated the center. While the roads were used by vehicles here and there, the vast majority of the players and npcs abound were travelling by foot. Resultingly even the vehicles were going at a slow cruising pace that gave others ample time to clear way while they rolled by.

Rather than take the newcomers down any of the other streets or invite them to look in any of the boutiques (which, to be fair, likely sold items wildly out of the newcommers' price range), the Jaegers instead took them to the fountain itself. Rounding down to the southern bend they saw three large crystals suspended in the air, hovering over a glowing magic circle from which players were routinely stepping into and out of, disappearing or appearing out of thin air within.

"There's the teleportal we need to grab." stated Itsjeff as they approached. The magic circle on the ground was segmented by three lines that divided the portal into equal sections underneath each floating crystal. The crystals themselves were colored green, blue, and red and the sections designated to each gave off a similarly colored aura.

Itsjeff had the party line up in front of the blue section and when they stepped in they were all enveloped in a blue-tinted multicoloured digital light.

On the way down from the Trunell estate the elder members had given Zephyr and Kate more information as to their next destination. As the original Moonlake base grew larger and larger from players settling there, it had become evident that new players had to go farther and farther out to fight the mobs that would spawn more and more rarely in the area (and the rare spawns that appeared in the city itself would never satisfy the loot and levelling needs of the surrounding player base). As such, the more advanced worldcrafter players re-purposed what had originally been proposed as a purely aesthetic underground sewer portion of the growing city (the projected reality left out such related biological features so that if players felt such they would know they needed to pause the game) into a network of grinding paths for players looking to get some levelling done without having to journey out of the city.

Hence the Waterways were crafted, and from the onset divided into three distinct sections: Green path, Blue path, and Red path, each being designed to hold increasingly dangerous and versatile mobs who could spawn in this section of the World. All of this in order to provide training for a wide variety of players who would frequent the ciy.

Just as Moonlake continued to expand and develop around the titular lake, the waterways continued to snake around underneath and keep up with the expansion topside. More than anything else the metropolis was proving that while The World of Magecraft may have been brought into existence by the developers, it was the players who breathed the vibrant life into it that at first mesmerized the new players.

After a brief sensation of travelling weightlessly through a multicolored stream, the players saw the world materialize around them as they appeared to materialize into it. The waterways were true to their names and featured wide aqueduct corridors with high ceilings and studded grate flooring designed to prevent slipping in the damp atmosphere.

While it was possible to traverse the network by foot or Light Steed -using high metal bridges to cross the flowing water at certain points and intersections- it was far more time efficient to travel by ferry boat. The boat would speed them along the canals of starlit, translucent, opal blue water (all light in the aqueducts came from the water itself as innumerable small white and yellow lights drifted along in the currents) and drop them off at specific checkpoints where they could get a few rounds of combat in before getting onto the next ferry.

Regardless of how the new players did against these mid-grade monsters the elder players would step in and ensure that no more than thirty minutes be spent getting through the Waterways.

Already debriefed on the plan, Kate and Zephyr followed along as the club made its way onto the large ferry that could accommodate them all. The ferries themselves, at all sizes, looked like they had all been carved out of a single piece of silvery wood each. Their smooth and curved designs (had Jason been exposed to tolkienesque fantasy, he would have described said designs as 'elvish') made the 'starlight' reflect off of them in mesmerizing patterns. Those who sped by with passengers already on board seemed to move with the waves rather than through or atop them.
Once they had all gotten aboard the aquatic vehicle seemed to sense by magic (which was probably exactly right) that they were ready to get underway and did so, cruising smoothly along the waterflow.

"Alright you two," said the club leader, addressing the newcommers and snapping them out of their resumed appreciation for the amount of effort Moonlake consistently put into continuing its celestial theme. "You did well in learning your beginner spells, but you're going to learn quick that even as mages you can't rely on magic for everything this early in game."

"At least you couldn't." chimed in Mogar with a grin.

"Shut up mike," replied Itsjeff flatly and without missing a beat. "Not everyone runs steroid builds like you."

"Yeah! And you're all suckers for it because they're so fun!" laughed the warrior.

"At this point I feel like I should tell him to stop being an ass..." started Kazu, looking at her boyfriend with a smile.

"Buuuut as a firedancer you're basically no better." finished Edgar with a smirk.

"Well!" started Kazu, feigning indignation, "that might be true if I was actually good at it!"

Itsjeff sighed "I swear this band of idiots." he smiled and continued regardless of the trio. "So I hope you guys are ready to put your weapons to the test."

They were greeted by one Undyne, two Star Children, and one Moon Child as their first encounter in the checkpoint. The former was a humanoid water elemental who looked fully human in body save for her hair made of gravity-defying water. She was dressed in robes of blue, white, and aquamarine and levitated three spheres of water in a slow, diagonal revolution around her leisurely. She offered a deceptively serene smile to the players as they approached for combat.

The Star and Moon Children were the Imp equivalents in the region. Small, naked humanoids devoid of genitalia with clay-like, grey-blue skin and what appeared to be giant masks made of bone on their heads, though no eyes or mouths could be seen behind the eye and mouth holes (though occasionally firefly-like lights would illuminate eye holes for a few seconds and then fade away; sometimes both eyes at the same time). The Star Children had 'masks' in the shape of a five-pointed star, whose carved-in expressions were that of a malicious smile. They wielded short spears made of stone and tipped with glowing crystals. The moon child's mask was shaped like a crescent and seemed to feature an expression of shock with a slightly oblong circle cut in as a mouth. It dragged a huge pointed piece of non-glowing crystal along with it as a crude one-handed club.

While the monsters seemed to be entirely aware of the player party's presence, they seemed to be waiting for the players to move closer before engaging them in any way. Zephyr took note of the enemies in front and quickly devised an initial battle strategy. He materialized his Academy Spear and instructed Kate without taking his eyes off the opposing party. "This group has numerical superiority and better range than us, we need to fix that. I'll run in first and draw their fire. Use your talismans to boost your defence first, then your speed if you can, and then immediately run after me. I'm going to draw the little ones back so you rush past and close the distance on the elemental, she'll switch her fire to her and I'll be free to counterattack the Children. Keep your shield up, dodge what attacks you can, and block the rest. We'll go on the offensive when we can take her on two at a time."

As he spoke he measured the distance between his opponents and himself and imagined how he wanted to initiate the battle and, more importantly, which spells he wanted to use to do so and why. The in-game computer that could register his thoughts and translate them to accurate movement was also capable of understanding the desired applications of its magical system and provide accurate feedback on the mana that would be required from the player in order to execute such a performance. All rendered in a non-intrusive visual HUD that materialized a player's stat, equipment item information to them as per their needs at the moment. He cycled through a few plans of approach mentally and in the upper left corner of his vision he saw a blue bar representing the entire mana control he had at his disposal, with a yellow bar of varying length overlaying it, representing how much of his control he was going to eat up. By the time he was done talking he'd settled on which approach to take and took a low stance with the spear pointed at the ground behind him, his weight resting on one leg bent forward while his other was extended backwards in a straight line, parallel to the spear.

He channelled the necessary amount of magic and then sang out in the game-created magical voice of his chosen nature.

"Maa~Fus!!"

Two sigils of the word for 'forward' appeared at the soles of his feet, and Zephyr shot forth like he was on rails, quickly closingn half the distance between him and the enemy party, more than enough to trigger the combat encounter. At the end of his magical dash he jumped forward, letting the momentum carry him the rest of the way to the enemy party. At the crest of his jump he switched positions and aimed the spear down in front of him, letting gravity bring it and himself back down right on top or the moon child. The masked imp was obliterated into an explosion of cubic light particles underneath the spearman, who followed the dive up by quickly making a spin and swinging his spear around him to force the star children to jump back. The revolution itself blended seamlessly into him then taking the spear and making it spin in front of him, the weapon hovering in the air as it revolved like helicopter blades and blocked one of the Undyne's fired water spheres. He dodged the second with an acrobatic flip to the right, grabbing his spear out of its own revolution in the process, and landed on his feet facing the Star Shild standing there. He immediately sidestepped to his right again to dodge the imp's pear and then turned around to block the last water sphere with another spear spin. With the water jet blocked he re-took his spear and started running back towards Rue. The Undyne began chanting to re-create her water orbs an the enraged imps predictably made chase.

Jason couldn't have replicated a single one of those movements himself in real life, but he'd learned during the training missions that controlling these player avatars was less about what you could actually do and more about how precisely you could visualize your character moving. Proper visualizing had been just one of many skills they taught pretty much any young psychic trying to learn to control their powers.

When Kate rushed past, Zephyr knew that the simplistic enemy AI would get caught in their plan. He skid to a halt and turned around to face the pursuing star children and saw that only one was still charging him, the other having turned its attention to the enchantress who just rushed past. He'd figured that one of them may 'de-agro' from him as he'd learned about in the training and seize it's opportunity to catch Kate in a pincer, he knew he couldn't let that happen. While he'd adopted a defensive stance in facing the charging star child, he did not use his spear to block it's own thrust like the game anticipated. Instead, at the last moment, he dematerialized the item and twisted his upper body to the left, letting the enemy;s weapon pass through thin air and making the star child stumble forward as it did not meet he resistance it expected. In the same, fluid motion, the young mage grabbed the monster's spear with two hands and thrust the butt of the weapon back into the monster's own belly, causing it to gasp out in simulated pain (though this only caused the enemy to become stunned, as the game did not allow players to deal damage o monsters using their own weapons unless hey had learned a skill to do so). Zephyr then thrust the spear's blunt end between the imp-creature's legs and used the spear as leverage to toss the starchild in the air.

Quickly discarding the monster's weapon Zephyr then channelled mana through his voice again even as he pulled his fist back into a tight ball. The symbol for 'Forward' appeared over his fist and zephyr swung forth, catching the falling enemy with a powerful right punch and activating the magic just as his fist connected. The magical strike sent the enemy flying like an arrow, it's path causing it to crash into the other starchild for massive damage to both. The first celestial-themed imp, having also taken damage from the initial strike, exploded into light cubed upon collision while the other was simply thrown to the ground. Rather than use more mana to dash to his enemy, the mage sprinted as fast as he could to close the gap between himself and the downed enemy before it got back up. Just before reaching it he equipped his academy spear again, and thrust its tip through the back of the starchild's mask as it was getting up from is knees. The monster froze for a fraction of a moment as the damage was calculated by the game engine, and the immediately burst into particles like it two brethren. Now there was only one enemy remaining.

Zephyr turned around to see the elemental create more water for itself in preparation to attack Kate, though the enchantress quickly interrupted the casting by throwing a destructive talisman at the elemenal's feet. The undine had to focus on not losing her balance as the for burst, cracked, and shifted violently underneath her. The caster wasted no Time and rushed over to the undine while she was distracted, thrusting his spear forward and stabbing her from the back. The woman gave out a synthesized scream and retaliated with a wave of acidic water that forced Zeqphyr to jump back. The monster was too powerful to be taken out with a single hit, but a bright, luminescent, white gash was left in the lower left side of her abdomen where his spear had run her through. Zephyr had learned that the 'wounds' left behind on an enemy strong enough to take multiple hits were a way to measure its remaining health, as they would glow brighter the closer he enemy got to 'death'. The undine couldn't have more than one or two his left in her at most.

the Undine faced him with a furious gaze, but she wasn't about to forget kate behind her, and summoned three more water spheres to rotate around her horizontally, spinning much faster than her original tree and daring either of them to try and get within striking range.

Off to the side, mogar whistled a long note to indicate his impression. "man, these kids are clever."
Edgar chuckled "No kidding. The caster in particular can really move. But neither of them look like rookies."
Itsjeff smirked "Well, guess i was smart to chose the Blue Path for this little trip."

While Kate had done an exemplary job of drawing enemy fire and tanking damage, Zephyr took advantage of the distraction to discreetly circle around the Unidine. While Kate doubted herself constantly, Zephyr knew the true capabilities and strengths of the girl playing her. He left her to handle her task, knowing she would be able to handle it herself, and focused on not drawing aggro again as he moved closer to and behind the water elemental, not until he was ready. Simultaneously, he reached into his pocket and produced a small blue phial, a healing potion granted to him by the senior members.

Stopping directly behind the undine, he caught Kate's glance over the elemental's shoulder and saw the silent question there. He only smiled confidently.

You've done enough already.

He crushed the phial in his hand, activating the healing energies. Rather than let them enter him, however, he threw out his hand and redirected the energies like the magic he was already so used to casting, though this time without the accompanied lowering of his magical power.

The stream of green energy shot towards the Undine and only nearly missed her head, streaking past and drawing her attention to the fact that someone had manged to move behind her. The potion's power washed over Kate and tended to her wounds and energies with the biology-defying speed and efficiency affordable only to a world of magic made inside a world of numbers.

Realizing the danger of being pincered, the water elemental twisted two of her water spheres into a torrential liquid lance. Her sophisticated AI had already taken note of the lackluster casting speed of the low-level spellcaster. For all his efficiency and intelligence in using his spells, he was still limited by the mechanics of their world; at his level, he would never be able to out-cast her even with priority.

Unfortunately for her, zephyr had no intention of wasting his remaining mana power on finishing her off. As soon as she turned around, the Undine was greeted with the sight of zephyr with his arm pulled back, spear in definite lance-throwing position. Committed as she was to her Torrential Lance spell, the feminine AI could only look in generated surprise as the mage snapped into action and sent his weapon rocketing forward. She was pierced through the heart and, after time seemed to slow briefly to punctuate the killing blow, she too burst into a shower of light particles, the water with which she wanted to blast away Zephyr breaking apart and splashing down to the ground.

Had there been remaining enemies, the young mage would have had to walk over and pick up his weapon manually. However, with the battle completed, he was able to instead just hold out his hand and summon his academy spear back to his inventory.

The Game engine played a jovial little victory jingle to the victory and the dynamic h.u.d informed the two new comers about the rather sizeable loot and experience bonuses they received for the single fight.

"Geez, one fight and you're already down a potion?" called out Itsjeff teasingly, promptly receiving a punch to the shoulder from Kazu as a result.

"Jeff, stop being an ass!" protested the firedancer. "They did great!"

Edgar laughed along with this. "Indeed. Our recruits are going to need to learn a bit more conservatism with their resource management, but they're showing an incredible amount of teamwork and co-ordination."

"Yeah, that's as good as you could expect two rookies to have handled that fight," added-in Mogar with a grin.

The alchemist in the group sent the club leader a cocky sideways glance. "Still think they aren't ready for a temple run?"

Itsjeff chuckled at all this, not willing to outright give props simply for the sake of playing devil's advocate/'terrible' boss. "They're off to a good start."

Zephyr laughed lightly at the group's usual antics, finding himself able to deliver the laugh a bit more genuinely now that he;d been given teh chance to work out some of his unease. Hr turned back to kate and gave her a warm smile. "Good job, I knew you'd pick this up quickly too."

Zephyr glanced to the side, noticing that the Jaegers were currently caught up in another one of their completely off-topic and nearly out of character discussions. Deciding to seize the opportunity, he turned back to kate and opened a muted channel.

"Hey sweetie. Look, I know you're not too into these games, but I want to thank you for coming along and making a good impression with these guys," he said, keeping in his out of character character. "I'm definitely going to be coming back later; I'm interested in all these familiar mechanics, as well as the kinds of quest-line the game has to offer. 'Course, I won't mind if you don't want to come along for every session."

He knew very well that the 'privacy' of this mode of communication was an illusion, and that all he was saying was still being recorded for the game administrators to use if need be (and he wasn't entirely sure that these admins and brew's were all that different). Still, both of them were good enough at speaking in code that she should understand his message all the same. There were too many coincidences for him to ignore, but she didn't have to subject herself to it if she didn't want to. Even if there weren't all the overt similarities to remind her of unpleasant things, it's not like it was a lie that he was more into video games than she was.

Zephyr seemed slightly surprised that she said she would stay, but his expression quickly faded into a warm smile.

"That's great to hear sweetie. It'll be fun getting to enjoy this with you then." he replied happily.

He knew 'enjoy' was not the right word to use for what rue would go through, but he was grateful that she had his back on this. A leader was nothing without his team and the Jaegers were nice and all, but there was no way he could trust any of them with what rue and he had been through.

With their powow done, the to newcomers returned to the group and the party resumed its procession through the waterways. The group came up to three more enemy parties before arriving to their destination. The first was again handled by the two newcommers with only slightly more difficulty than the last group. However, the second monster party required the intervention of the senior players halfway through when the two newcommers had expended their entire magical reserves only getting two Abominations (essentially really fat, poisonous, slime monsters) to quarter health. The final group of enemies was fought with the whole party from the get-go, allowing the new players to get a feel for coordinating with more teammates (though, of course, they had no problem adapting to that structure either).

Finally exiting the aqueduct system, Zephyr and Kate were greeted with the experience boost of discovering a new location. The Southflow Burrows kept with the cosmic theme expressed by the rest of Moonflow, but was easily the most oppressive and depressing area the group had seen yet.

It was similar to the area they had first seen in Moonflow's outskirts, with many small houses lined up along narrow, cobbled streets. However, the houses in this area were dilapidated and run-down, most of them abandoned and more than a few with holes in their roofs and/or walls. The few that showed any sign of habitation—some lights flickering behind foggy windows and closed curtains—would go dark as soon as the party approached. The luminous gems from the first area were also present, but similarly corrupted. Whereas the previous luminous stones had given off calming light in blueish and white tones, the ones here glowed sickly and eerie shades of yellow and green, casting unnatural shadows on their surroundings. Dark purple vines could be seen clinging to most surfaces around the group, and in areas where the vines were particularly highly condensed, what appeared to be giant, blue mushrooms grew from the purple masses. The mushrooms had caps that were completely white, almost translucent at the edges, and slowly faded into pale blue and then gold towards their crown. Their cyan blue stalks slowly pulsated with an indigo light which shot up from the roots to the cap. Their size ranged from slightly larger than one's head to big enough for their caps to serve as a house's roof, one such specimen looking like it was doing exactly this, having burst from the ceiling of a house which had been, by this point, completely overrun by its tendril-like 'roots'. Every so often, one would shiver as if cold, and luminous spores were released like corruptive stardust on the breeze.

"Tch, is it that time of year already?" said itsjeff in annoyance, looking at all the mushrooms around.

"Alright kiddies, so looks like we're going to be taking the scenic route," he continued, quickly consulting his mini-map, "Those mushrooms are a real pain in the ass. They feed on corpses, so the spores they release attract-"

Bone-chilling screams, or perhaps they were roars, rang out in the distance. Far enough to not be in their immediate surroundings, but sounding close enough to make everyone uncomfortable.

"... monsters." finished itsjeff with an expression that clearly communicated that the irony of the situation was not lost on him.

"Yeah, and it doesn't just attract them, either," continued mogar. "Makes them super aggressive too so that they kill anything or anyone they come by and give the fungi plenty to eat."

"And, of course, the biggest mushrooms attract the biggest monsters, and those house-sized ones are all in a direct path around the house we need to go to." concluded itsjeff, inputting a few strokes into his minimap and sending an update to the party. "So, we're taking some detours to avoid the biggest trouble." he said as their maps were all updated with his suggested route.

Kazu turned to the newcommers with a concerned expression. "and make sure that you guys don't breathe in too deeply, and try to dodge clouds of spores if you can. Come into contact with too many of them and your character could become 'berserked', which will not be good for your spell casting."