Explore the world of Nekket- a land full of dungeons, adventurers, and monsters.
Try to get home, or try to carve out a place for yourself in this strange, unfamiliar place. Either way, be prepared for anything!
Nekket is a world both like, and unlike many others. It is a young world, and, as with many young worlds, it is rich in magic and wonder.
And monsters.
You can't forget the monsters.
Which is why Esme was here, guarding the entrance to the Reyliar Dungeon, in early spring, in pouring rain that was only not snow because they were a few hundred feet too low on the mountain.
"Heads up!" Corwin called, and Esme straightened up, her grip on her spear shifting as she turned to look at the entrance to the dungeon. "We've got a live one!"
"A live one," she muttered, and rolled her eyes. As if there weren't at least two dozen 'live ones' a shift.
Luckily, the Reyliar Dungeon wasn't a particularly old or powerful one, comparatively, so the worst they ever had to deal with was a minotaur or two from the third floor that had managed to stumble its way up without being killed and eaten by the wolf-riders on the second floor, or the rat swarms on the first.
"I saw that." Corwin said tartly from in front of her, and Esme sighed.
"My apologies."
"Save it." He said, his voice terse, and now Esme could hear what he'd heard so long before her.
Footsteps. Shuffling and unsure.
She frowned. Reyliar didn't have an undead floor yet, (and please, Nekket, let it never get one. Undead were creepy!) so it couldn't be a zombie or ghoul… Maybe one of the minotaurs had gotten wounded? But they usually came out enraged when that happened…
"What—?"
"Oh crap…" Corwin breathed, and Esme's eyes widened as she readied herself. Corwin never swore, so even something so pale was alarming.
"What? What is it? What's wrong?"
"We've got a Dungeon Born!"
"What!?"
You are the Main Character. Your gender is:
[] Female
[] Male
[] Neither
[] Fluid
Your name is:
[] Silver
[] Desmond
[] Nin'ael
[] Lil
[] Adelie
[] Adit
[] Cecil
[] Bell
[] Parvez
[] (Write In)
You come from the world of:
[] Earth
[] Elsewhere (QM Choice)
Your species is:
[] Human
[] Elf
[] Half-demon
[] Half-dragon
[] Harefolk
[] Catfolk
[] Foxling
[] Shifter
Your age is (One d4 will be rolled to determine age within the chosen range):
[]18-21
[]22-25
[]26-29
[]30-33
Vote Results:
Gender: Male
Name: Vaxus (Tie broken by Yays)
Location: Elsewhere (QM Choice)
Species: Harefolk (Tie broken by Yays)
Age: 21
Awareness returns… slowly.
It feels like wading through mud. Like trying to think after a hard night of drinking. Like… like…
You can't think of another simile. Your brain is too sluggish.
Still, dimly you become aware of the fact that you're shivering, your fur plastered to your skin by what feels like liquid ice, despite the rough jostling of someone rubbing you down with a cloth and the warm crackle of a fire nearby.
Your eyes won't focus, but somehow, the panic that that thought should set off is a far distant thing.
"Ridiculous." Someone mutters, sounding irritated. "Can't be bothered to throw a cloak on over the poor thing, just drag him down in his altogether because they're too busy panicking over a new dungeon born. Like chickens with their heads cut off, I swear…"
"It has been a while." Someone says, slightly reprovingly, and the sharp, bitter scent of herbs hits your nose, carried by the warm humidity of steam. "Grandmother Eyari was the last, wasn't she? And that was nearly a hundred and fifty years ago."
"And the old bat's still around and kicking." The person rubbing you down says waspishly. "They're the dungeon guards. They shouldn't react this badly to a dungeon born. It's unprofessional!"
"Old bat, huh? I'll just tell her you said that, shall I?"
"Don't you dare!"
The yelp, so close to your sensitive ears, makes you flinch, and both people pause in their conversation.
"Oh he's coming around much faster than I'd thought…"
"Better than not coming around at all. I'm just hoping he doesn't get sick from the cold…"
"That's what I'm here for."
Someone touches your hands gently, lifting them, and then pressing something warm and cylindrical between them.
A mug.
The same sharp, bitter, herbal scent as before tickles your nose again, and the person nudges your hands gently upwards.
"Drink. Carefully, it's a little hot, but the warmth will do you good."
You don't think about it. You can't. Your mind still isn't quite… there.
Your hands come up, and the drink, hot and bitter as it is, slides down your throat to spread warmth from your core outward.
"Wow… He's quick." The first voice comments, and the cloth moves to your ears, pressing water out of the fur on them gently, without any of the roughness that had been evident on your limbs. "Think he'll be a caster, then? I heard that the faster a dungeon born wakes up, the more powerful they are with magic."
"Maybe." The other voice says, but there's a hint of doubt. "He's rabbitfolk, though. You know how most of them feel about combat."
That elicits something from you. A flicker of annoyance. Irritation at a common mistake, and your brow furrows.
"Oh, true." The first voice says from behind you, sounding disappointed, and your eyes are able to focus just enough to make the blur of colors in front of you resolve into a slightly plump elven woman with pale pink hair and fuchsia eyes.
"Well, whether he'd like to fight or not, I'm sure we can find a place for him here. Riona will be happy to see another rabbitfolk, at least."
That…
The furrow between your brows deepens.
"N-not…" Your voice comes out as a hoarse rasp, and both people yelp, the elven woman's head snapping up so she can stare at you, her eyes wide.
"Oh um… Not… what?"
Your tongue feels heavy in your mouth, but you force it to move. You're a hare, godsdammit, not some namby-pamby wussy rabbit.
"N-not… rabbit. Hare."
The cloth on your ear is drawn away, and someone else steps into view, tall and dark and androgynous enough that even with scent you can't tell if they're male or female.
They examine you carefully, then nod. "So you are. Well then, how are you feeling, Master Hare?"
"C-cold." You rasp, "Slow."
"That happens." They nod, and the elven woman grimaces sympathetically.
"Not much can be done about the slowness, unfortunately. It'll take some time for the blurriness to fully fade, but according to Grandmother Eyari talking helps. Let me get you a blanket, and then you can tell us about yourself."
Slowly you nod and the woman bustles away, coming back a moment later with a thick quilt which she flings around your shoulders.
Cudgeling your brain to try to make it work, you stiltedly begin to speak.
"My name is Vaxus…"
You are from:
[] The trading city of Vraka, a place where four trade routes intersect, and almost anything can be bought and sold, if you know where to look.
[] The port city of Midnes, on the Gulf of Trealve. A melting pot of cultures from three continents. While Midnes is well known as a merchant port, its main attraction is actually its food. The seafood in Midnes is cultivated, grown, and fished with near religious attention to detail and care for the creatures and plants harvested.
[] A small village in the south of Aspari called Bacon. No, no one knows why it's called that. The village doesn't even have an abnormal amount of pigs!
[] A midsized town called Keltin, on the continent of Anselterre. There is nothing particularly special or amazing about Keltin, but you lived there, and it was comfortable and familiar.
You are:
[] The son of a merchant, and learning that trade.
[] The son of a craftsman, and learning that trade. (write in)
[] The son of a guard, and were expecting to enter guard training soon.
[] A scholar, learning the mysteries of the arcane
[] A scholar, searching for understanding of chemistry and the world around you (Alchemy).
[] Other (Write in)
Your family is:
[] Large. You have many brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins. (You tend to get lost in the throng. Your one desire is to stand out and be seen as more than just another one of your parents' children.)
[] Medium. You have one or two siblings, and a couple of cousins. (You are eager to stand out, but not desperate.)
[] Small. You are an only child, and have no extended family. (There is pressure on you to succeed, and to carry on the family name.)
[] None. You've been on your own for as long as you can remember. (It's so very lonely, by yourself…)
[] Other (Write in)
Scheduled vote count started by Patches'n'Cream on Feb 13, 2025 at 11:17 PM, finished with 6 posts and 4 votes.
[X] Large. You have many brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins. (You tend to get lost in the throng. Your one desire is to stand out and be seen as more than just another one of your parents' children.)
[x] The port city of Midnes, on the Gulf of Trealve. A melting pot of cultures from three continents. While Midnes is well known as a merchant port, its main attraction is actually its food. The seafood in Midnes is cultivated, grown, and fished with near religious attention to detail and care for the creatures and plants harvested.
My apologies for the short update. I intend for them to get longer as time goes on and your character develops more.
Vote results:
Town: Port City Midnes
Profession: Pre-Guard Training
Family Size: Large
Your name is Vaxus Prasad, the seventh son of Priya and Mohit Prasad. You have ten siblings and a horde of cousins that you stumble over trying to describe.
(And, distantly, part of you is wondering if this is a good idea. You don't recognize these people. You don't recognize the building style of the room you're in. You have no idea where you are, and you can't even remember what you were doing before you'd woken up here. Even now, your thoughts are slow and sluggish in a way that screams of being drugged.)
But the more you talk the easier your thoughts flow, so you tell them about Midnes- the ships, and merchants. The caravans that come and go with constant regularity. The head sized shellfish at the markets, and the way some of the roofs in the poorer areas of the city are tiled with those same shells.
Talking about the city leads to talking about the guard, and pride swells in your chest as you tell them about your mother, the Captain's Second, and your plans to follow in her footsteps. The way you're going to surprise her on your birthing day by showing off the junior guardsmen's uniform you were going to get by signing up for training the day before.
The elven woman and the dark person listen with rapt attention, asking questions here and there for clarification, but otherwise they let you talk.
Slowly, your words grow smoother, and you grow more animated, gesturing a bit as you speak, until the dark person holds up a hand for a pause.
"You keep saying that word, 'gift', and I don't think it means the same thing for us that it means for you. What do you mean?"
You blink. A Gift is… well, it's a Gift. "It's… the magic you're born with? The magic gifted to you by the gods, and bound to your very soul? Everyone has one…?"
The elven woman winces and glares over at her companion, who winces as well.
"Ah." They say awkwardly, and one hand goes up to rub at the back of their neck. "About that… we don't have those here."
You frown. "What are you talking about? Everyone has a Gift, even if they call it something different. It's part of the way the world works."
They grimace again, looking even more pained. "Yeah… there's no easy way to say this, but… well. I'm afraid you aren't in your old world anymore. Welcome to Nekket."
The elven woman groans and buries her face in her hands.
Your reaction (wording will be altered, only the general feel of the response will be kept):
[] Ha ha, very funny, which one of my siblings put you up to this? Was it Adit? I'll bet it was Adit, trying to get me back for the pie thing.
[] What.
[] Yeah, so, you're full of shit. Why would you even try to tell such an easily disproved lie?
[] What? What do you mean a different world? Did I get caught up in some apprentice wizard's sending spell and end up in a different plane? I'd heard that happens sometimes…
Dice rolls have determined that you do not know what your own Gift is yet. At appropriate points through the story dice will be rolled to determine if you discover your Gift. These points are not necessarily during combat or high stress situations. The magic of Gifts is that they could be anything, so any possible situation could trigger the discovery.
Gifts do not indicate a talent with spellcasting, and indeed many people with powerful Gifts are otherwise content to leave the spellcasting to others.
Because your Gift is considered a gift from the gods and not something that can be influenced by situation, magic, training, or luck, there will be no vote on your Gift. Bonuses to discovery rolls, however, can be gained through omake, art, or well reasoned posts in the thread about votes.
Scheduled vote count started by Patches'n'Cream on Feb 14, 2025 at 7:47 PM, finished with 5 posts and 5 votes.
[X] What? What do you mean a different world? Did I get caught up in some apprentice wizard's sending spell and end up in a different plane? I'd heard that happens sometimes…
Vote Result:
Reaction: What do you mean a different world?
You blink.
Blink again
"I'm sorry?" You must've misheard. There are no other worlds. Unless… "Do you mean a different plane? Is this one of the fae realms?! Did I—"
"Kid," the dark person (and really, you need to get their name, this is getting ridiculous) says, looking pained. "I'm not… crap, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. Grandmother Eyari was supposed to come explain everything, but of course she can't be assed to move her scaly hide out of her den because 'it's raining,' and 'it's cold' and 'Muali, why don't you just bring them here and save my old bones a walk?' Bah." They grumble. "As if she doesn't know that waking up in a dragon's den is a surefire way to give anyone a heart attack."
You blink, then seize on the most normal part of what you'd just heard. "Your name is Muali?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah did I not…?" They grimace again. "Double crap. I'm sorry again, that's so rude of me… Yeah. I'm Muali, this is Carline. She's our village healer, I'm…"
Muali pauses, looking uncertain. "Carline? What am I?"
"A pain in my rear." Carline says promptly, her face still buried in her hands.
"Hey!"
Carline sighs, and lifts her face, looking rueful. "Muali is… essentially our village jack-of-all-trades. If you need something done, they can do it. They might not be the best at it, but anything they do will usually hold until a proper professional can get to it."
Muali beams at her, pleased as punch, before turning back to you.
"But… yeah. Sorry, kid, but you're kinda stuck here."
"Until my mom or dad can find whichever idiot apprentice was mucking about and mis-cast something too near to the residential area of the city, and get their master to plane-shift me home." You say confidently, and you don't miss it when Muali and Carline share a resigned look.
"We really should have waited for Grandmother Eyari…" Carline sighs under her breath, and one of your ears twitches. "She'd be able to explain so much better."
"Well we didn't." Muali says practically, "and it's her fault for not being here in the first place, so I refuse to get in trouble for mangling the explanation."
"To be fair, I have literally never heard of a dungeon born waking up within the first twenty-four hours of their arrival." Carline counters, "she probably thought she had more time."
"Well she didn't." Muali says, "which means it's up to us."
Carline sighs. "Jasper is going to be so upset with us…"
"He's not here either." Muali points out, and Carline shoots them a glare.
"I am aware!"
"Um." You interject, interrupting before the two can bicker any more. "Excuse me?"
"Yes?" Carline asks, turning to you with a promptness that bespeaks relief.
"So… What plane are we on, if it's not one of the fae realms?"
Carline winces, and looks very much like she regrets having turned to answer you so quickly.
"We're not on a plane in your home world, kid." Muali says gently, "this is a different world. A different planet, with different rules."
You scowl. "I'm not a kid! I'm twenty-one!"
"And I'm three hundred and four!" Muali says cheerfully, and Carline sighs, and reaches over to shove them.
"Ignore them." She directs you. "Their species ages very oddly. They're basically the equivalent of a human thirty-four year old, if you know what a human is."
"If I— Of course I know what a human is!" You say indignantly. "They're one of the species native to the base plane! Why wouldn't I know what a human is?"
"You'd be surprised." Muali says darkly.
"Some dungeon born have never seen another sentient species outside of their own, before." Carline explains carefully. "It's better not to assume, usually."
You frown again, "You keep calling me that. Dungeon born. What do you mean? What's a dungeon born?"
"Someone who was summoned from their home world, by Nekket, to Nekket, to live out the rest of their life." Muali answers easily. "They always come out of dungeons, they're always stark naked, and they're always…"
"Not there, mentally." Carline says delicately. "For some reason, the summoning process scrambles the mind a bit. The dungeon born lose about ten minutes of memory from directly before the summoning, and they stay in a dazed, suggestible state for some time after leaving the dungeon. When I was training, I think they said the average was about two days?"
You blink, then open up the quilt and look down at yourself.
Sure enough. Nothing but fur.
"Right…" You cough awkwardly, and close the quilt again as Carline's cheeks redden.
Hare and rabbitfolk might not have nudity taboos where you're from, but live long enough in a society that demands clothing as part of respectability, and some things stick, okay?
"Anyway!" Muali chirps, "That's what a dungeon born is."
"Huh…" You say, then shrug. "So how do I get this 'Nekket' to send me home?"
Muali and Carline wince.
In the end, it turns out that as far as either of them know, there is no way to get Nekket to send you home. Neither of them have ever heard of a dungeon born ever leaving, either, which means you're likely stuck here until, like you said before, your parents figure out what happened and track down someone to summon you home.
On hearing what Muali and Carline have to say, you decide:
[] You're going to be a guard. You'd be a pretty shit guard if all you did when you were in trouble was sit around and wait for rescue. Just because Muali and Carline haven't heard of someone leaving Nekket doesn't mean it's never happened, after all, and if you've inherited anything from your mother, it's sheer, bloody-minded, determination. (You will go meet with Grandmother Eyari to learn what she knows about being dungeon born, and then do what you can to go explore the dungeon you came out of. If you came out of it, then it makes sense that the way home is in the same place.)
[] To stay put. That's the first rule of being lost. If you don't know where you are, and you're safe, stay put. (You will attempt to settle into life in this village, learning what you can to ensure you aren't a burden, but otherwise doing little to integrate.)
[] They said that dungeon born are summoned to live out the rest of their lives on Nekket. That… honestly doesn't sound too bad. Granted, you'd need to look around a bit and see what life here is actually like, but… a life without the pressure of all your siblings constantly being better than you at everything? Well… it's tempting. (You will attempt to settle into life in this village, doing what you can to integrate and not be a burden.)
[] Other (Write in) [Planvote format welcome]
Congratulations! You have reached the first checkpoint!
A checkpoint is a place in the story that you can return to by spending a certain amount of points. The further away from the checkpoint you wish to return to, the more points it will cost to return to. The more often you use the checkpoint feature, the more expensive it will get.
Points are earned in the same manner that bonuses to Gift discovery rolls are- that is, omake, art, or well-reasoned vote arguments. Additionally, you earn one point for each checkpoint you reach.
Points are collective. This means that, as of this moment, the entire thread has one point. Points may only be spent if the majority of the tallied votes vote for a rollback. Ties will default to no rollback. This means that if two out of three people vote for a rollback and sufficient points are present, then the rollback will occur. If only two out of four vote for a rollback, however, no rollback will occur.
Rollbacks may be done to any previous checkpoint, and the votes, again, must have a majority consensus as to which checkpoint will be rolled back to. As well, there must be sufficient points collected to return to the specified checkpoint. Failure to have enough points will result in the rollback failing and nothing happening.
Once you have rolled back to a checkpoint, you lose access to any subsequent checkpoints. Ie, if you have four checkpoints, and choose to roll back to checkpoint two, you would lose access to checkpoints three and four, but could still return to checkpoint one.
Point totals may be checked by writing in '[X] Check Points' in any vote post. As of the time of this posting, returning to Checkpoint 1 costs 5 points.
Scheduled vote count started by Patches'n'Cream on Feb 15, 2025 at 3:48 PM, finished with 3 posts and 3 votes.
[X] You're going to be a guard. You'd be a pretty shit guard if all you did when you were in trouble was sit around and wait for rescue. Just because Muali and Carline haven't heard of someone leaving Nekket doesn't mean it's never happened, after all, and if you've inherited anything from your mother, it's sheer, bloody-minded, determination. (You will go meet with Grandmother Eyari to learn what she knows about being dungeon born, and then do what you can to go explore the dungeon you came out of. If you came out of it, then it makes sense that the way home is in the same place.)
