The thought "You know, I've seen enough anime that I should have known where this was going" flickers through your head and you laugh, but only because the alternative is worse. Say what you will about busting your ass for a convenience store, at least that's safe - this is a world with dragons and monsters where an adventurer's dayjob is getting together with a mercenary company for Crown-sanctioned murder.
You might be hyperventilating a little as you check for your equipment.
You do see your backpack a little further up the beach, and your stuff hasn't scattered to the four winds yet. Part of you suspects that Sylphan wouldn't let it, if you're one of His favored here, a thought that only sort of bothers your culturally Jewish sensibilities while you rifle through your own stuff. It's a regular backpack, not a Marvelous Merchant's Pack - not yet; you do recall that you get that from the quest line with Tayeb (you know, the Jovial Merchant) so you're less bothered by the loss than you would be.
Right. It's all starter equipment for a Cleric going down the Monk subclass tree. Not ideal, but not terrible.
You're just in the high fantasy equivalent of a (very necessary, you realize with a blush) sportsbra and shorts, and apparently snapping your fingers and saying a catchphrase like the Champion of Stars from Dreaming Of Questing Country doesn't start a transformation sequence, so you spend some time equipping yourself. First you don the layered Shaolin-ass robes, gold over teal and magenta over that; you find your prayer beads marked with the tail of Sylphan (useful for focusing your spells and also acting as a ward), you strap on those knuckledusters with the clawed knuckles. You're not unarmed on the Shores of Awakening.
You experimentally throw a punch. It feels good. Proper, even; it felt solid and graceful, and this body apparently knows how to follow through, doing a set of dance steps you didn't realize you absorbed from playing Deedee with the haptics on. It feels right, feels reassuring, and you're not entirely sure why.
Going back to your stuff, you also seem to have rations, waterskins, potions and... incense, perfumes and almond oil? Oh, God, that's right, 'laying on hands' during extended rests means exactly that. That's not gonna get awkward at all, nope nope nope.
You look through the rest of your stuff, and just find another icon to Sylphan, a blank scroll with some charcoal, and a very light purse with only a few copper coins marked with a sheaf of wheat. All basic starter equipment.
Then you hear a scream. Your ears twitch, swiveling towards the sound (and that's WEIRD, even if it's HELPFUL) - it's a feminine scream, hitting that soprano note - and then after it, another scream from the same throat that then pitches down into a valkyrie's war cry or a samurai's kiai.
You find yourself bounding towards the sound of the fight before you can stop yourself - with a start, you realize that no, it's actual bounding, you're bouncing around like you've got wires strapped to you, Sylphan's winds rushing around you and lifting you up; and you laugh and whoop at a physical sensation you never felt this keenly and that your fat ass would never be able to do IRL.
And then you realize what it is you're hearing.
Another Adventurer.
Another player.
Like you.
Your last memory before coming here was logging on to try out the new DLC with the rest of the Free Company.
You check your (furry, triangular) ear midflight and to your relief, your earring with the sendjewel is there. Everyone else in the Free Mercenary Company Dungeon-Crawling And Chill was there for the Pepper, Silk, Gunpowder and Rum expansion release party, knocking back virtual ale and vino at The Dragon's Flagon in Viacruz. And if they're here too, they might have a better idea of what's going on.
With a simple hand gesture, the 'address book' of the sendjewel unfolds, and you confirm - with mixed feelings - that they are online. That way too many of them are online. Raldulf left early, like he said he would - something about a sociology paper in the morning - but most of the others are around to respond. You immediately call your best friend in the guild -
----
Vote for one. You'll meet the others soon enough. The person you're heading to the rescue of is none of the above.
[] Alesha Herezhade, Human Auroran Paladin, social worker in both worlds and company strategist.
[] Hikaru Aoisora, Pixie Wizard, tactical thermonuclear potato, admin of the AWO wiki, and codeslinger.
[] Sekhmet Clanclan, Ubastim Rogue (read: knifecatte), your IRL roommate Jules and the company quartermaster.
