The thing about Cerealia is, there really isn't any nature to be found here. Sure, you can go outside the walls of the city and explore the land beyond but who wants to risk a terrible, horrible death just to sniff the flowers? Not you, that's who! CERES understands that, CERES sympathizes, and sometimes CERES decides to take action when such problems arise. As part of the company's current "Healthier and Happier YOU" initiative, they've decided to let everyone get back in touch with nature a little.
Via ViViD.
Of course, this being CERES, the nature they've sent everyone to is more of a swamp. The place is disgusting, a real marvel of ViViD ingenuity and it smells like the dead. There's strange rustling among the leaves from creatures that may or may not want to eat you, and random pits that open up right under your feet with the goal of sending you straight into the marsh. It's not really that fun. There's no welcome sign either, no nothing except for swamplands as far as the eye can see.
Welcome to ViViD!  This is Mosley. One of our programmers forgot to include a welcome greeting for the level this time. How incompetent can you get? He's been fired now, it's fine. Instead, I will greet you today. Lucky you! You've been invited today to participate in CERES's "Healthier and Happier YOU" level where we've combined both physical exercise and relaxing meditation into the ultimate ViViD experience. Isn't that fun? You can... go camping and stuff. Or whatever. I don't... know...
Honestly, I don't even care. Have fun.
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PHASE I [ 6 00 ] Welcome to your new healthy living training ground! What does a swamp have to do with healthy living, you may ask? Absolutely nothing! To make up for it, CERES has outfitted all players with the proper equipment for their new healthy living lifestyle. They also may or may not have let you keep your shoes based on how benevolent the ViViD gods were being at the time. (Not very.)
Oh, and all newcomers will have something additional on their fancy new yoga shirt. It will be displayed loudly and proudly all over the front and back of it. And if you're one of the few not wearing a shirt, it will be on the back of your pants. As in, your butt. It will be on your butt.
What’s ViViD trying to say, anyway?
Regardless, it probably doesn’t matter as much as finding your way through the swamp. Some sort of dry land would be really nice right now, wouldn't it? You'll have to watch out for the mud that will suck you right down under the marsh, and the creatures with lots of teeth that will never surface from the mud but won't hesitate to snap up an unwary foot or two.
CERES is sure you'll be fine. Totally and completely fine.
PHASE II [ 800 ] Eventually, if you try really, really hard, you’ll make it to a house. Actually, it’s more of a shack, really. If you clamber your way out of the mud and the gunk and the marsh into said shack, you will find it to be empty aside from a table. A table hosting a huge pile of... well, health drinks. See, there's totally a health theme in this level. CERES would never make a ViViD level that wasn't thematically appropriate. Never! Health drinks of all sorts and types and sizes can be found here and there’s even a sign too; it simply says:
Take one.
Well, that seems safe.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to leave said shack until you do take one. And drink it. The door will lock shut and cover itself in more swamp until you do. Yay. Depending on your luck, the drink may do the following to you: ➟ Cause your ViViD experience to glitch. This may involve phasing through walls, seeing everything in 8-bit, or hearing really annoying old video game music everywhere you go.
➟ Cause status effects. This can include suddenly moving incredibly slowly, being turned to stone for a period of time, suddenly being on fire, suddenly being poisoned, etc etc.
➟ Be healthier. Mmm, kale and hummus smoothie. Taste those veggies. If you try to take more than one, that’s fine too, nobody will stop you, but you probably won’t get lucky more than once.
PHASE III [ 900 ] And back you go, out into the swampy wilderness. Don’t give up! Keep going! Eventually, you’ll find the end of this level. Probably.
Eventually, though, you may stumble across something in the mud and the muck. It’s... a little doll?
In fact, it’s a little doll of one of your most important people (or, alternatively, of someone you absolutely hate). It might be someone in Cerealia currently, or someone who isn’t, but either way, the doll is there and it’s clearly them (covered in mud and all). Be careful, though. If you toss it aside, you’ll suddenly see that important person being tossed aside. If you cut the doll, you'll suddenly see that person bleeding. Even if they aren’t present in Cerealia, whatever happens to that doll, you'll see it happening to them. Is it a hallucination or are they actually there? That's a little more up in the air.
And if they are present in Cerealia, well... doing things to that doll might very well hurt them too -- for real, this time, though.
Be careful! Or don't. You do you, as CERES would say.
PHASE IV [ 1200 ] And then, eventually you reach a quiet, swampy area. Not that the rest of the swamp isn't swampy, this area is just extra swampy.
There’s very little happening here in this swampy place; even the birds are no longer squawking. And for a long moment, everything will remain quiet and peaceful, a place of reprieve... until the swamp begins to bubble. Then suddenly, a new friend will burst out of the swamp, showering mud and gunk everywhere.
Without warning, that creature is going to try to grab for the nearest person (it might be you!) and let out a mighty roar when they have them. Then, they'll hold them up to... read the nutrition facts on their shirt? What?
Of course, it will try to gobble you or whoever else it grabs if it finds, say, the salt content to be acceptable (the monster is watching their carbs). If it's not, then they'll just fling you away and move onto the next snack. For those without a handy nutrition facts label on your shirt, well, it might just take a gamble and try to eat you anyway.
Great. A health-conscious monster. That's just what this level needed.
BONUS [ xxxx ] Finally, you’re free of the game. Without warning, you’re dumped into Cerealia properly and you’re able to scrub the mud and gunk from your clothing (wait why did that come back with you and where are your normal clothes?). You're able to then make your way to your new place of residence (or old) and...
There is a tiny tree there waiting for you. Isn’t it cute? And if you take care of this tiny tree, it will eventually bear fruit! Tiny fruit. Itty bitty fruit.
Depending on which tiny tree you get, it will be one of the following: a tiny dildo tree, a tiny bacon tree, a tiny kazoo tree, a tiny carolina reaper tree, or a (dumb) tiny hats tree.
Everything will, naturally, be tiny. Enjoy your new healthy CERES gift!
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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OTA
[A teenager is standing amid the swamp, holding the hem of his stylish new shirt and staring down at it with an unimpressed expression on his face. Probably because of the label it bears. Floating beside him is a sword that shines golden and strangely enough it appears to be talking. Whoa, is that thing ever wrong! You're WAY more salty than that!
In response, Magnus Chase lets go of his shirt to glare at his friend the talking sword.]
I can always count on you to know what's important, Jack.
Phase II
[Confronted by bottles of free drinks, Magnus sniffs a few of them suspiciously. Unfortunately that doesn't particularly seem to help him at all. After trying to exit to no avail he finally grabs one and chugs in one quick decisive moment. After blinking a few times he merely shrugs.]
I've ingested worst.
[The sword knocks over a drink, perhaps feeling left out? Then it spins in the air uncontrolably. How can something that can't ingest anything get the status effect?? The world may never know. But whatever the case, Jack seems to be freaking out. THE COLORS, MAGNUS
Magnus takes several steps back, hands in the air in a PLEASE STOP sort of motion.]
What the hell? You're going to put my eye out!
[YOU'LL GROW IT BACK!]
BONUS
[Mud covered Magnus and his slightly bloodied floating sword are on their way home. Wait.]
Where do I even live now.
B-B-Bonus
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The boring non-sword present sighs as he watches this.]
Your first sentient sword?
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[Tugs his arm away gennttllyy. Meanwhile Jack the sword audibly huffs again. DON'T TALK ABOUT ME LIKE I'M NOT HERE.]
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I can't change his mind. He'd get all sensitive and insecure if I encouraged you to grab hold.
King of the Pirates?
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He's a shy sword huh? shishishi And yep! The King of the Pirates is the freest person on the sea! I'm gonna do whatever I want whenever I want and see everything I want! It's gonna be awesome!
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[IS A NO GOOD NO BRO SWORD SWAPPING PIECE OF SH--]
Traded him to a friend.
Huh. So it's not a political position just a no one can touch you position? Well, good luck I guess. I'm Magnus. You're the first pirate I've met.
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1/2
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1
Nico steps out from the cover of some trees, ready to hold his hands up placatingly if the guy looks defensive.]
Nice sword. Something from home?
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[Not going to compliment me on my nice human? Guess he is on the unimpressive side. Magnus, you need to start lifting, bro! Magnus seems to be ignoring that comment aside from a quick glare]
You new here too or...?
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Unfortunately, no. I've been here for awhile. Not here in this swamp, but stuck in this city under CERES' rule. I'm Nico di Angelo. And you're... Magnus?
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[Gives a nod of acknowledgement rather than offering a hand.]
And you've met Jack here too, of course. Jack, why don't you chill for awhile? I'll bring you out when things get exciting.
[grabs for the sword and transforms it into a simple small rune, about the size of a domino. Magnus pops it onto a chain he wears around his neck]
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[He brings his attention back to studying the guy curiously.] So you just got here? Are you doing okay?
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But not much to do for now except go with it and figure this place out, right?
[Runs a hand through his hair and makes a face, clearly frustrated by his situation.]
It's what everyone else here is doing.
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Right now, you're in a game system called ViVid. Once they decide to let us out of here, you'll be in the city of Cerealia. At least, that's what usually happens.
[Nico's peering at his features as he talks, noticing the blond hair, the grey eyes... The last name of Chase... It's a long shot, but he can't help but ask.] This might sound strange, but do you know anyone named Annabeth Chase?
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[When Annabeth's name is mentioned, Magnus nods. He doesn't seem too surprised by Nico bringing her name up. Probably because he's heard the name Nico di Angelo before.]
She's my cousin, yeah. And you're one of those Greeks she's mentioned. She gave me the whole story. You guys have had a hell of a time.
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II
[DANGER DANGER SPINNING SWORDS. Ene shrieks and ducks, covering her hands with her head and trying to get as far away from the out of control blade as possible. She'd just come in here to play the game and now she almost floated headfirst into a shanking.]
Turn it off! Turn it off!
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[Grabbing Ene by the sleeve and ganking her behind himself. He doesn't mind being a meatshield. Well, he does but he can heal pretty easily so it seems the better idea. Jack doesn't answer yet, spinning and hollering a few more times instead]
When did you even get here?
[Meanwhile, the sword is now stabbing at the array of health drinks which. Isn't helping it's condition. WHO EVEN LISTENS TO THIS KIND OF CHIPTUNE NONSENSE! IT'S LIKE A BAD YOUTUBE CHANNEL STUCK IN THE 80S IN HERE!]
You're overreacting and scaring people! Including me!
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[Well this is. This is still weird and scary and Ene doesn't particularly like people meat shielding for her, she'd much rather jump behind them on her own when she's playing her reactions up. But at least he's looking out for her? Some kind of safety? This just means she has to watch out even more the guy.
But how are they going to stop the sword?? Talking sword??? Why can't the sword be a person like all the other swords around here????]
If we play music other than chiptune will you stop?!
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[I WANT THE COLORS AND CHIPTUNES TO END! NOW! HOW DARE THIS WORLD MESS WITH ME, THE SWORD OF SUMMER! AT LEAST PLAY SOMETHING COOL AND PUT ON THE EDGY RED FILTER INSTEAD OF THIS RAINBOW NONSENSE! There goes a few more health drinks split across the floor. But it seems the flailing is dying down a bit. Still the occasional erratic swing but less the crazy spinning from before.]
I'm going to have to grab him and he's going to slice up my arms. That's what's going to happen here. Damnit, Jack.
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[That is a BAD PLAN Chase! She doesn't know if changing things in this environment will work in a smoothie drug induced haze, but it's worth a try calming him down, isn't it? Ene is going to hack into the code of this room and get that red filter he wants, THERE, EVERYTHING IS RED]
Any requests for songs, oh great sword of summer?
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Jack, you were in the river for like a thousand years how do y--were you watching Youtube with Halfborn and Mallory?
[The sword ignores the question. Let the bodies hit the floor! Let the bodies hit the floor!]
I'm so sorry for my sword's taste in music.
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Ene pats Chase on the shoulder sympathetically, shaking her head.]
There there. We just have to embrace the sweet sword rave.
[With a wave of her hand, the music starts]
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[Takes his pat without complaint, watching his sword kind of do a floaty prance across the room as it screams along with the lyrics.]
Thanks for your help. You hacked in or something?
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