An Old Acquittance, An Older Solution

Nermeria felt panic swell in her heart. She had to get the hell out of this area. If she touched another item on accident, what would the next 'progression' be? What idiotic other items could be pulled from the ether and strapped onto her body? Fleeing as fast she might (just below a walk), she heard Jermia and Maggie yell her name from the stables. Apparently, however, the game did not allow the three other maid NPCs to leave the area, because they did not give chase.

It took what felt like hours. Days. Years. Truthfully, if the sun was any marker, it probably only took a few minutes to make it back to her home. However, every second outside, near adventurers or guardsmen filled her with a bit of paranoia.

Her heart rested, and the paranoia flowed out from her body once she sat on the couch of her humble abode. Before anything else, she refreshed herself with a bit of food, then a quick wash, putting on one of the few safe outfits she knew: the Teller's uniform.

Right. Locked front door. No way for anyone to get to her. Nermeria rubbed her brow, and considered her situation. How much funds did she have? That question took a bit to answer, and Nermeria ended up settling it after tracking down every single copper down in her home, even those hidden in the bosom area of clothes.

250 copper pieces. That was worth two and a half silver coins. God damnit. That was very little in the grand scheme of things. But...it was still nice to know.

Next came her plotting: Who would have a surgery skill of 101? Her GUI was no help, with the section on vendors being locked; that meant she'd be **** to find a surgery expert, or a Piercer/Enchanter/Surgeon herself. Of course, she could always attempt find her (semi)-friend in the city, or head to the library to research this Argathus character. Those were her three choices.

As it turned out, one of those choices led Nermeria to another. Having headed to the Royal library, she slipped in unnoticed, and drifted towards the magic section; spotting a very, very, _very _vaguely familiar face sitting surrounded by a stack of books. He was one of the few friends she'd made at the start of the game, someone from a forum she frequented. They'd talked maybe two or three times, if Nermeria recalled correctly.

What was his name? Jermson Gard in the game. But....anything else slipped Nermeria's mind. She approached him with glee, perhaps he could help?

"Jermson. Jermson." He ignored her, flipping the pages on his book. Waving her hand in front of his face, he looked at her with confusion on his character's face.

"May I help you?" He asked.

"Listen. I know it says my name is Rose Johnson. But it's me, Nermeria Longlif from One-Shot-Forum!" She said, words spilling forth as she explained her situation to the bookish character; his character being classed as a Researcher fit him well. He listened intently, and once she was finished, took a second, opening his GUI, and checking his friends list. After some information only a forum user would know, Nermeria had convinced her enough.

"Nermeria! I do remember you!" He said, finally closing his book. "So you're basically trapped in this game? How does it stop you from logging off?" He questioned.

She explained that subject, and everything related to her curse. Hope was building in her. Finally, she had made some progress!

"Hm. Interesting." He briefly thought over her words. "Do you want me to report to the dev's to get you booted out of the game?"

Nermeria thought over her situation. She was sure they'd ban her for hacking in the game. The (greedy) side of her that had to pay thousands to get such an advanced Full-Body machine for the RPG begged her not to go down such an easy solution.

"N-no. They'll ban me, most likely." Nermeria replied.

"You're right." A smile flickered across the pudgy character's face, and he traced his finger over the cover the book. "This is a mystery, then! We have to figure out how to get you from those impenetrable bindings, without help from our mysterious overlords." Nermeria could tell he was starting to get involved with her case.

"C-couldn't someone unplug me form the machine in real life? Maybe you?" Nermeria wondered out loud. Her relief was making her trust Jermson, a stranger, more then she usually would. He nodded.

"Yes, very likely that is the best solution." He pushed his glasses up. "I think the expense in game to free you from the bindings would be too ****, most likely in the thousands of gold, maybe even platinum level. Real-world solutions are preferable, I surmise." He sounded oddly disappointed, like a detective who had an interesting case stolen from him.

"Where do you live?" He questioned, getting Nermeria's general location. He shook his head. "I don't even live on the side of the globe. Do you have any neighbors who know you, maybe who have a house key?"

Nermeria shook her head. No one around her. He grimaced. "Hmphm. Your landlord, then?"

She didn't remember her landlord's number, but she did think that was a good idea. Sure, a complete stranger would be in her apartment, but it would at least be someone to yank her from the game. After a bit of back and forth with Jermson about her exact location (with the usually private Nermeria being **** to hand over her address, down to the apartment number), Jermson smiled and nodded.

"Hold tight. I will make a phone call, so I'll be AFK. Anything you need before I go Amy?" He asked, with Nermeria feeling a bit off put at having given her real address to the man.

"N-no." Nermeria replied, as a giddy wave of relief rushed over. Before she knew what she was doing, she hugged Jermson tightly, squishing him with her chest, happy to not only be near freedom, but also to have talked to another human being. He stuttered out welcomes and then went AFK. Nermeria occupied herself by pouring over the tomes he had been studying.

Skill Check - Major Failure! Due to intelligence below 1, you are unable to read this book.

---

The words looked like alien symbols from a galaxy that never existed. Shifting and swimming on the pages, Nermeria tried her best to slowly read out each and every symbol, with no success. By the end, she had only earned a headache and nothing more. Jumping a bit when Jermson came back, she listened to him eagerly.

"So, your landlord was super confused at what I was saying. An old man. But...." He paused dramatically. "...he said he was going to check on you. I told him where you'd be exactly. Said he'd be in over within the next 15 minutes."

"Jermson...I....can't thank you enough. I know we only know each other from a forum. Bu-but...thank you..." Nermeria replied, feeling her eyes water. Was she really going to get out of this fake world? It felt like something had to happen. Something had to be stop her. Her luck had been horrid enough, it wouldn't surprise her.

As she talked with Jermson, she felt the world shift a bit. His words crackled for a second, and then everything went dark; the last thing she heard was Jermson speaking about his studies in the game.

"You there, Miss Chase?" An old man's voice asked, shaking Amy Chase. "Do I need to call ya a Doctor?"

Was this real? After the third shake from the elderly man, Amy Chase finally opened her eyes, stepped out of the pod, and shook herself off.

Looking around, she blinked at the bright light, and eventually responded to the old man's words. He asked her about the odd phone call he received, and seemed confused by the complicated answer she have him; eventually, their conversation ended, and he smiled at her.

"Well, I'm glad I could get ya outta the pickle you were in." He replied.

"How'd you do it? I mean, how did you get me out of the machine?" Amy asked, expecting a complicated answer.

"Just unplugged the power cord. What I used to do with my consoles back in the day, figured it would work." The old man said with a smile and shrug. Amy laughed bitterly to herself, and eventually her conversation with the old man ended, not before she thanked him profusely.

To think all that had stopped her from freedom was a cord plugged into the wall......

That humorous thought stayed in Amy Chase's mind over the next three days, as she made up for the lost time in the world she'd be kept away from. Her investments were okay, and scarily, not a single person had noticed that she'd been gone. It made her realize perhaps she needed to reach out to people more, and she did.

Especially to the forum user who had saved her ass. He was the first to receive a message, replying that it was nothing; she still felt indebted to him, and kept up a conversation much longer then the Amy Chase of just a few days would've. He vowed secrecy regarding the matter, and even seemed to enjoy the fact that someone had exploited the game.

She enjoyed the world (she imagined) like a prisoner freed from jail might, and did not plug the pod back into its place. For the first two days, she didn't even think of ever going back into the game; by the third, she felt a tug to perhaps go back in. Amy reached out to her family, she'd talked to perhaps a dozen old colleagues. Surely, it might be safe?

Still, she kept her desire at bay for close to a week. Nermeria Longlif and Rose Johnson were on her mind, but she focused on other things to fill the gap from the game.

After 8 days, a message telling Str8Sh00ter (Jermson) to find her if she didn't reply with 12 hours, Amy Chase plugged the pod back in. She was **** for entertainment. Eager for it, even. After all the money she'd spent, the time.....surely she could find a way to escape her current predicament that wasn't just giving up?

Another part of her was angry. She was Nermeria Longlif, Rogue Magician. If anyone could figure out how to escape, it was most certainly her! Hmphm. She was not to be outdone by a few digital bits in a Fantasy setting....

One thought dominated her mind as she plugged it back in, pulled the helmet over her head and prepared herself. Pride made it her central focus:

Only one type of person would give up on trying or playing after a bit of problems -

A Sucker