Death by Design [Vexx - Hacker Event]

The SCCO liked to make sure that the weather was pleasant for the release of their new products. In spite of the snow which had recently fallen from the winter algorithm, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining high up in the sky, a merry twinkle of light amid a sky that was perfectly blue. Below, on the ground, the streets had been swept clean of snow and proprietors who were non-player characters and actual people alike mingled on the streets vying to sell warming concoctions of every variation.

Conspicuous notices on the message boards showed grainy, glitched images that were impossible to make out. Wanted posters for the hackers that had shown up a year ago and had since gone silent.

Then, an innocuous glowing blue door opened in the sky.

The figure was high enough in the sky that it was easy enough to miss, but a few noticed. Looking upwards at the sky at the right moment was all that was needed to notice him. A six-armed individual was distinctive and unusual enough to garner attention, particularly given that he was floating high enough in the sky as to be indistinctive.

He wasted a moment to look at them all. All these players who had come to have a good time at the event. Those that were going to buy the expansion and those who were just enjoying the festivities. None of them with a clue as to what was about to happen.

It was a beautiful day.

But not for long.

Death left his tiny little abode for the first time in months to venture out into the world and see what all he had missed in the interim.  Between all of his studies for the past year or so and working on being able to summon his Naga more than once without being mentally and physically drained, Death had little time for the goings on in the world.  However, even in his remote location, he heard word of a new world being discovered and merfolk showing up.
Death went through the process of summoning Norbert after getting outside.  He knew that Norbert would de-materialize long before he reached his destination, but still liked to have her around to talk to while traveling. "So, what do you think about the prospect of having me becoming a merfolk to look more like you, Norbert?"
"...grrwwrrlllrrrwwrrrlrrwwrrllllggggrrll"
"I'm not pretty enough!? Have you looked at yourself?"Death asked as part of the Naga's forearm fell to the ground in a lump of rot and decay till dematerializing.
Norbert looked down at her decaying body and swept off a few loose chunks of flesh before making herself look prim and proper, "gggrrrggggllllllrggllrgllrrrrglll...." Norbert paused deep in thought for a moment and followed with, "grrgglrlrglrgrggglllllgrrglglrgl!" and crossed her arms and kept on slithering.
"Yanno, Norbert... It's times like these that I am happy I have no idea what you're actually saying..." Death lamented.
 About two summons worth of Norbert came and went before the fairgrounds came into sight.  There seemed to be some discoloration in the sky, but other than that, it was a beautiful sky.

PartumsoL slouched as she examined the small details of the game. She walked along the side of one of the buildings, frowning. She scoffed as she mumbled under her breath. "This'll be annoying to fix" Opening an in game chat window, she began typing. Her fingers were lightning fast, hovering over the keys like an expert pianist. After just moments, she closed the chat and opened a log, typing the exact message again. Throwing the log back into her pocket, she walked forward further, cursing the clipping textures.

Standing up somewhat straight, PartumsoL arched her back and stretched. Audible cracking could be heard, even through her mic as a sigh left her mouth. Looking around, she gave the area a quick once over. She tugged at her hair as she thought, only to stop at the announcements board. Walking over, she sighed again. Checking the board, her eyes seemed only to be drawn to the images on the wanted posters. The grainy image of floating figures stepping through doorways made of light.

Turning around, she sighed. Leaning back, she attempted another stretch.  She was stopped halfway through the process by a small black dot at the top of her vision. Squinting, she couldn't seem to get a good look at it. Opening the chat and the log once again, she filed the visual error before lifting the headset.

The dim desktop displayed her recording software, as Sarah sighed. The small office was cluttered with papers and the blinds were drawn shut. She stretched again, the crackling of her bones still audible in game, but the sigh of relief signaled she was done. Ending the recording, she began uploading the file to one of the many external drives running from the computers. Putting her headset back on, she switched back over to Savior, she began reading through the logs once more, doing her closing checklist before she could log off.

There was a shimmer of light in one of the courtyards that coalesced into a mermaid.  She stood there for a moment as her players consciousness filled her for the first time.  Her purple hair hung loosely down covering her pale blue shoulders and almost hid the ring of horns rimming her head.  Gold flecked blue eyes blinked and then saw the world for the first time.  They opened wide and she stared around the courtyard before looking down at her own hands.  She examined her arms and hands before rubbing her hands down her side, touching the royal purple scales that started around her waist.

Someone bumped into her from behind and she had a sharp intake of breath in surprise.  She spun around, looking at the person who had stumbled.  "I FELT that.  I..." she grabbed the passerby's hand, and her eyes opened wider.  "I feel this too." she looked up at the person who was starting to form a bewildered expression still holding on to their hand. "THIS IS Soooooo Cool!"

She hopped on her fin, dropping the other person's hand and spinning back around to face the direction she had started.  Her breathing had gotten heavy as she gulped in air and looked around the courtyard, eyeing each sight as if it was a brand new treasured item.  Her gaze swept around the courtyard before it centered in front of her and then focused on something that nobody else could see.  Her breathing leveled out and she used her hands to smooth out her skin again, trying to center herself.

"Right.  Tutorial."  She focused on something right in front of her that only she could see.  She nodded to it several times before moving slightly forward, hovering just above the ground.  She looked up then down, left and right, not really seeing her surroundings.  She then opened her inventory and started pawing through the newbie items within.  The drudgery of the tutorial however couldn't wipe the big grin off her face.

For a moment, standing above the world and looking down, he took a moment to view the beauty and complexity of what lay before him. The grand boats in the dock, the unique change that each avatar underwent before they embarked upon the ships. Not all of them had chosen to become merfolk, but a fair number did and it was interesting to watch the stalls that offered previews, or to watch them become what those stalled only offered as a temporary status.

There, walking down the street idly was a distracted woman with blue hair talking seemingly to herself. Not far away from her, was another woman, this one with lavender hair who it seemed had bought the expansion because she logged on with the body of a mermaid. A new character if her lack of armor or equipment was any indication. There was even a naga wandering down the street, dripping bits of itself on the ground probably following the necromancer that had summoned it though from his vantage he could not see the person who had done so.

For all of them, things were about to change.

Suddenly, he descended until he was hovering at the level of the rooftops. He stopped there, his robes fluttering in the wind. Then he spoke with a voice that boomed out across the intervening space with an ominous tone. "You have been told by the SC.CO that there are no hackers. That this world is safe for you. They speak only lies."

He lifted his six hands and looked out at the people now staring at him with surprise on their features. "They can not protect you. They do not care about you. Behold."

His arms folded across his chest, all but one that pointed ominously at one of the random players. The girl with the light purple hair. He almost picked someone else, but it was meant to be, so he doomed her with FATE. The hack would work quickly, draining her of a random amount of her life.

Death began to peruse the wares that the rows of little shops had to offer when he heard a vaguely familiar voice from directly above him.
"You have been told by the SC.CO that there are no hackers. That this world is safe for you. They speak only lies."
Death looked up to the sky and realized that the little discoloration in the sky was this same jerk that caused the ruckus last time.  Only now, instead of a discoloration in the sky, he was hovering just above Death's head.
Norbert had just dematerialized as he reached the rows of vendors, so he had to summon her again if he wanted a chance at getting that super monster that he almost got last time!!
"Let the souls of past enemies give themselves wholly unto me that they may do my bidding," Death began chanting silently while rapidly moving his arms, hands and fingers into contorted shapes, "Norbert, I call "They" you from "can" your "not" eternal rest! "protect you." Come forth and aid me in my endeavors." "They do not care about you. Behold."
In front of Death, the form of a Dark Naga began to rapidly take form from particles on the ground and in the air, all swirling around like a spiral galaxy, coalescing into it's final shape.
Death whispered to Norbert as she was almost finished forming, "Shhh... we need the element of surprise this time!"

The call from above was a shock. Looking up, PartumsoL gasped. The small dot that had been resting at the top of her vision had taken form of a almost skeletal figure. Squinting, the figure didn't become any clearer, but rather a bit fuzzier. Looking at the announcement board behind her, PartumsoL couldn't believe her bad luck. Of course he had to show up just as she was getting ready to log off.

Removing her headset, Sarah's fingers flung towards the keyboard. Her fingers stumbled over the keys hastily as she tried several times to press the three hotkeys she had set to start recording. A soft chime came from the speaker once she finally managed to type in the correct input. Checking on the recording window, she confirmed that the small red dot was blinking, before putting the headset back on.

Looking up at the figure of death, PartumsoL realized he was already halfway through a speech. "They can not protect you." PartumsoL rolled her eyes. Not another terrorist attack. What is with these assholes?

She opened up the staff log on her wrist, glancing at the advanced logging, she began reading the spam-like messages flashing down the screen. She angled her view to make sure that the recorder was reading it, so she could go over this in half speed later.

Among the blur of variables and data, she noticed a ability activation, something called fate.  PartumsoL took a brief moment to chuckle at the inventive name, before worrying what powerful affect such a named skill would have. Glancing at the eight limbed creature, she saw him pointing to a new member of the game, still nodding to the tutorial screens.

Rushing forward, she made her way down the street. She wasn't very nimble or quick, but PartumsoL just hoped that she wasn't already too late to help the merfolk.

A scream of pain echoed throughout the courtyard as the majority of Cordelia's hit points drained away from the fate hack the skeletal figure had used on her. She stopped focusing on the tutorial as her gaze swept the crowd in front of her. After a moment of scanning the crowd her gaze went back to the tutorial screens that only she could see. "No kidding Captain obvious, of course I just took damm... Oh." She reached forward to where the screens she had been manipulating were and pulled a red potion out of nowhere. She eyed it for only a moment before drinking the concoction.

The purple haired mermaid then turned her attention back to the crowd around her, but only for a moment. Her attention was quickly diverted over to her side, addressing someone invisible again. "No mom.  I'm ok."  ...  "I took some damage. It just caught me off guard."  ...  "Yes mom. I'll try to be more quiet."  ...  "No, you don't need to turn up the parental controls. I just got surprised." ... "No, it won't happen again. I promise."  ...  "Love you too mom."

Her gaze returned to the crowd, scanning slowly from left to right all the people in front of her. She extended her hands down to her sides and splayed her fingers wide on each hand while arcane energies crackled from fingertip to fingertip. "Ok. Who did that?"

As the mermaid's scream pierced through the air, other players hastened to get away from the hacker who finally was landing on the ground not far from the girl he had targeted. His impassive lich-face offered no guilt for his actions against her. Nor did it suggest that he would show anyone mercy. Those that didn't run, simply logged off, and he counted that as success.

One of the other players dashed forward, putting her body between his and the mermaid's even as the mermaid started to understand what had just happened to her. Rather than logging off or running though, she seemed to be gearing up to fight him.

Blue flames narrowed on the woman in front of the mermaid and Monstero started to form from the earth around him. The gigantic summon encased him in bone, its own empty eyes gazing around for any sign of danger even as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Log off. Disconnect and you will be safe. Otherwise..." His fingers swirled in a tight weaving motion as he changed TIME. Everyone would move at half his speed now. Fangs snapped and he grinned morbidly at the players that yet remained standing before him. Particularly the one protecting the new player. She, he stared down with all the intensity that his undead face could muster. "You will suffer."

His words were emphasized by a dark, creeping music that rolled outwards from him like a black tidal wave.