[SD:SC] Got Any Water? - Chapter 10

Gem wakes up to a world that is slightly swaying and with a dull ache across their back and arm. Which is good news. Pain means they’re still alive and not sent to respawn. Though the fact that the pain remains despite presumably being healed?

Well, that’s bad news. So Gem guesses things balance out. The pain either meant they didn’t have the time or Mana to fully heal them or that the damage was so serious that just healing the damage wasn’t enough to remove the pain debuff, however that works.

Gem rubs their hand over their face and open their eyes to a bright light. Looks like they were put on one of the group’s few wagons. Though an open wagon and not one of the covered. Which to be fair, the covered wagons are for things like the perishables and such. Things you generally don’t want someone bleeding on.

There are trees overhead and people next to the wagon. One of said people noticed that Gem is now awake. They gesture for someone else to come over and say something, though Gem realizes they’re a bit too out of things to make heads or tails of what they’re saying.

A person, maybe June? Walks up to the wagon to check on Gem. Then another person arrives and casts something. They make mouth noises at each other, before presumably calling over a third person. This third guy casts yet more magic on Gem, though this spell knocks Gem out again.

Gem wakes up to a world that is slightly swaying, a dull ache across their back and arm, but their head feels clear. Which brings how cotton stuffed their head felt the last time they remember waking up. Though it isn’t any darker? So either they slept an entire day and night, or not much time has passed.

Which, since they aren’t in town yet, points towards the second option. Then June is next to the wagon and Gem’s eyes focus on her.

June smiles, “Good! It looks like you’ve recovered from the shock. Not often someone can survive being that close to death. You were literally forcing your body to live there at the end. Which normally would require a lot more power. Good thing your shapeshifting abilities were enough to keep you ticking till the healing arrived.”

Gem licks their lips and realize how dry their mouth is. “Got any water?”

June reaches into the wagon and grabs a water skin from behind Gem’s head. “Here, take a sip. I guess it would be inevitable you’d be a little thirsty after losing so much blood.”

Gem gets a mouthful and swishes it around before swallowing. “Much better. Now, why do I still hurt? We seem to still have magic to heal with, so I have a guess.”

June nods, “Your guess is likely right. Too much trauma means the system has decided you get to hurt for a while. The damage is gone and now you just have to deal with the penalty.”

Gem thinks this over as they take a few more sips of water. “So. What was up with those idiots? Are they actually just butt-hurt over people getting to digitize?”

June’s face sours, “Basically. One of the mega-church pastors, or whatever they’re called, didn’t like that people weren’t tuning in for the daily services as regularly. And this? The excuse they used to turn their zombies against us.

“Of course, when people are that far gone they’re not going to give up on their entertainment. So instead we get this. Seems we just got unlucky as most places didn’t have enough idiots to go full bandit group.”

Gem, “Blarg, that bodes nothing good. Their actions irl are already nasty. To think they’d bring it in the game as well. And not that I blame the admins, but nothing is going to be done outside of the game to stop this unless they actually break the rules.”

June shrugs, “Not much we can do without riling up even more idiots. At least this turns their violence to somewhere that the damage is easy to fix after the fact. Though I’ve been checking the chats and it looks like more than a few, such groups ran afoul of the rules anyway and got punished. Otherwise, the game just treats them like any other bandit group.”

After that, Gem spends ten or so minutes sipping water until they feel good enough to walk.

June helps them stand up at that point, and Gem notices Fresco off to the side of the wagon.

Gem smiles, “Fresco! You’re alright! Come over here so I can pet you.”

Fresco tilts their head to the side before cautiously approaching them.

Gem tries to bend over to pet them, but their back says no and so they crouch down, keeping their back straight, instead. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!”

Which given they can keep up pace with the wagons once they get walking, goes a long way towards assuring the sheep monster. Though Gem keeps their right arm tight to their side.

Gem tries to ride on Fresco, but the pain prevents them from shrinking enough. Which they think sucks because a nice fluffy place to lay down on sounds lovely right about now. Instead, Gem wanders back over to where the rest of their party is located. Along the way, the various cattlekin and sheepfolk all cheerfully greet them. Though some travellers aren’t as cheery.

Back with the others, Gem has to ask, “What is up with those players?”

Samuel, “The blame lies with you. Someone found out you were one of the uploads.”

Emrys smacks him, “Nah! Neither of them are to blame. There’s nothing to blame on them. They’re just being themselves. The only ones who might be of blame are those passive-aggressive wimps.”

June sighs, “We aren’t one hundred percent certain they know about you, though they certainly know I’m an SAI. I’m not sure how they found out, but then again, it could have been anyone who was around when we mentioned it.

“We are not the only ones being targeted. They’ve dug up a bunch of people, including many who ended up digitized because of an immediate threat of death.”

Gem, “So if there is a list, why don’t you know if I’m a target?”

Emrys laughs, “They’re not that organized yet and the SC are doing a stellar job of swatting them down. While lists exist, none cover even a twentieth of the names. Though it certainly helps that the SC are whacking down any such attempts to gather with the various rules about harassment. Well, that and the fact that way too many companies use, if not LAI, then complex algorithms to automatically fulfill takedown requests with enough proof.”

Gem laughs, “I bet they’re taking them down before most people can even see the posts! It was confusing to hear that they didn’t have a full list, but not being able to share it easily? Yeah, that would do it. Though it would be safe to assume that a complete list does exist somewhere. Simply not on the open net.”

Emrys, “Meh, with or without a list I’m sure things will clear up. While not all SAI are seen as the ‘Creators’ by the locals, they still won’t take too kindly to people screwing around.”

Samuel, “Things won’t be that easy. This kind of uprising never is.”

Gem laughs, “You’re both wrong, of course. No, this won’t clear up. Even though this world’s creation deities not only exist, but still interact with the locals, that doesn’t mean everyone is okay with them. There will always be those who want to fight the heavens.

“And this will actually be easy. Give it a month and the lines will be drawn. I’m not sure how this will shake out, but religion will do as religion does. There will be cults springing up based on irl religions, instead of the local deities. Which means they’ll be marked. No sneaking around and pretending to be something you aren’t. Just like bandits get marked, we’ll likely soon see these idiots being marked.”

Emrys, “Bandits get marked?”

June nods, “They get a red mark on their face.”

Gem laughs and slaps their knee, “Boy do they! And the unlucky ones? The mark ends up on their nose! Those unfortunate attempts at banditry are referred to as clowns for obvious reasons.”

Emrys, “But I don’t think towns require you to show your face to enter? Well, as long as you have a recognized ID like from the Adventurers Guild or a Kingdom.”

Samuel stops walking and stands up straight, “The Law is more powerful than a piece of cloth! Any bandit attempting to sneak in like that will find that official guards can see the mark through any obstructions!”

Gem points at him over their shoulder with their thumb, “Yeah, what he said. Even the smallest town, as long as it has someone officially recognized as a guard? Said guard can see the red mark as well as how much of a troublemaker the person is. Which we can’t tell, sadly. The mark only exists or doesn’t.”

Samuel shakes his head, “There is a second stage of the mark, but it isn’t related to what you’ve done. Or rather, you can only gain it in a single way. If you devote yourself to banditry and such? You can turn the mark into a full face mask of sorts. Though that locks it in as a permanent thing. This is, however, limited to those who are non-Good and non-Lawful.”

Emrys looks back at Samuel, “How do you even know all of that?”

Samuel raises an eyebrow, “Really? You’re asking how someone devoted to the Law knows about how to recognize those who break it?”

Emrys, “Ah, fair.”

The sheepfolk who helped Gem finish the bandits walks with a smile. “Gem! Hope you’re feeling better. That was a jolly good fight! I do not often get to sneak around like that. Anyway, we’re getting close to our destination.”

Gem, “Any news on what was up with that from your side? We’ve obviously heard some news from the traveller side of things.”

The sheepfolk makes a face of disgust, “Bluegh. Religious nonsense boiling over. It happens. From what I heard, most of our info comes from your side of stuff as well. Kind of hard for it not to. After all, we aren’t exactly plugged into the traveller communications.”

June, “It would be tough, but you guys should have some channel to gain information. At least of the sort that applies to you guys.”

The sheepfolk shrugs, “Eh, we’ll see how this shakes out. Anyway, Gem, you probably want to prepare some for when we enter town. You seem to be a known quantity.”

Gem throws their hands up, “Really? Like, we assumed something was up, but really?”

The sheepfolk nods, “Yep, yep! We have a few insiders feeding us info. Seems they confirmed you got digitized.”

June frowns, “Locals know about digitization? Please don’t tell me they’re also going to do something crazy because of it.”

The sheepfolk shrugs again, “Eh, it isn’t a surprise to us. You guys can digitize and we can be uplifted. Though I guess the cultists will use it against you guys. Like, clearly you digitize a lot more than you uplift.”

June grimaces, “Yeah, that is true. There is a reason for it though.”

The sheepfolk roll their eyes, “While there aren’t that many travellers, we know there are a lot more of your people than us locals. So yeah, we’re hearing about a bunch of travellers digitizing. But the actual number? Not that many, especially if you think about how many have been uplifted compared to our own population.”

Gem turns to June, “Wait, you’ve had more locals uplifted than there are people being digitized? I thought awakening was super rare?”

June, “For a local to join the SAI, to be awakened or uplifted, however you want to call it? We actually had a bit of a glut with the launch of SoulDive. Though it is similar to digitization.

“There was a freeze on uplifts as the Makers got ready for the introduction of travellers. So, just like there was a buildup of those willing to digitize, there was a buildup of those ready to awaken. Though we also don’t have any ideas on how the numbers will change.”

Gem sighs, “Is there an age restriction on digitization?”

June looks up, “What?”

Gem, “I guess it would be better to phrase it differently. I’m assuming that the mental issues that are more normal to crop up among the elderly, do not digitize well.”

June looks away, “Oh, that. You didn’t hear it from me, but digitization doesn’t fix that. Err, more correctly, purely physically based problems will be stopped, though not reversed. The more mentally based forms of decline may slow, but. Hmm. Yeah.”

Gem shrugs, “Yeah. Anyway, what I see happening is most people feeling they can wait till they’re older. Then accidents will take some. Others will find peace at the end of their lives and peacefully pass on. Some will keep putting it off and end up not waking up. And of course, more than a few will end up with some form of mental decline.

“Very few people will be like me, choosing to digitize.”

Ouch - Chapter 9

A Little Training - Chapter 11