The World

*Fortunately, items are instant, so Monudon manages to catch up with them before the other witch casts a Rue Kruz on him.*
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Euryale: Come here & we'll explain it. Please.

*Aroma shrugs, & walks back over to them.*

Luna: You shouldn't do things that other players can't do. It's against the rules of the game.

"Yes, and breaking the rules is bad," Sab said.

"I do not know what it does," Hector said. "Please, tell me."

*Cactus stares at him.*

Zalera: A Fairy's Orb searches the map for hidden objects. It can find Magic Portals, Symbols, Grunty Food, you name it. It also reveals the contents of the dungeon. It can't find Wandering Monsters or other parties, though. Because they move, I guess.
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*Aroma frowns, looking distressed & a little scared. She begins wringing her hands, fiddling with her opera gloves.*

Aroma: Does that mean I'm bad? But I didn't mean to be! I didn't know, how could I have?!

"No, you aren't bad. You're only bad if you do bad things while knowing that it is a bad thing," Sab said, trying to fix the situation.

*Monudon stabs at the witches*

*That implies he's using a stab attack, which can only hit 1 thing. So now a wounded witch & a healthy witch are running past him.*
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*Aroma scratches her head.*

Luna: Just do what we do. Don't do anything until you've seen someone else do it. If you aren't sure, ask, & say you're new. If people ask you questions about your personal life, say you'd rather not disclose too much.

Aroma: Why?

Luna: You should be careful about sharing information with people, unless you are very familiar with them.

*Monudon again attacks the wounded witch*

Noct nodded along with what Luna was saying, and Sab let out a sigh of relief, thankful Luna stepped in.

*Aroma is deep in thought.*

Euryale: Okay, I'll get the Fairy's Orbs, you guys go take Aroma to fly kites. We'll meet back up at the Recorder.
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*The witch drops to the ground, vanishing. From far away, the wounded witch catches him in another Rue Kruz.*

"Alrighty," Sab said.

"Okay, well, we should get one of those sometime," Hector said.

Zalera: You usually have to buy them. I wasn't thinking about it when I planned this whole thing.
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*So, while Euryale heads to the shop, Luna leads them further down the bridges.*

Luna: There is a staircase near the Grunty Corral. We can use that to access the lower parts of the city.

*As they are walking, a samurai-themed Heavy Blade with brown-&-red clothes & long, brown hair tries to pass them. Later, a Wavemaster in blue robes with a tophat & a staff like a twisted stick also does.*

Everyone just follows along.

*Monudon retaliates by stabbing at the witch*

*The spear is about 10 feet too short for this to work. Even if he runs forward, he is caught in another Rue Kruz before he can take too many steps.*
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*The Grunty corral is a large building with an empty stable & an NPC. Luna begins bringing them around back, where the wind occasionally blows aside the grass to reveal a staircase carved in the mountain rock.*

Aroma: So...why do we have to go down there to fly kites?

Luna: There are only certain places where the players are allowed to disturb the kites of Dun Loireag.

Aroma: You keep saying players, but what is the game? Who is playing it?

*Someone on the other side of the Grunty Corral yells that they all just lost the game.*

Aroma: Oh darn, we lost already.

Monudon:[Darn it!]

*Monudon runs around to where the remaining witches are*

Noct looks annoyed, but Mortal and Sab both looked confused. Noct shook her head, "No, he was talking about another game."

*When he catches up, the wounded one tries to run away. The non-wounded one casts Rue Kruz on him, bumping him back into critical.*
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Thiera: The Game is a mental game where the objective is to avoid thinking about The Game itself. Thinking about The Game constitutes a loss, which, according to the rules of The Game, must be announced each time it occurs. It is impossible to win most versions of The Game; players can only attempt to avoid losing for as long as they possibly can. The Game has been variously described as pointless and infuriating, or as challenging and fun to play.[1] As of 2010, The Game is played by millions worldwide, although in theory, the whole world is playing it.[1][2][3][4][5]

Luna: Thank you, Captain Copy-Paste.

Aroma: None of this answers my question.

*The staircase is narrow, so they have to descend it pretty much single-file. They are approaching a flat plane that you could fit a few small houses on. Situated around the area are Grunty statues with kites tied to them. There are also bridges radiating off in several directions, to other mountain peaks & staircases.*

Monudon:[I'm going to waste all my recovery drinks on this fight.]

*Monudon drinks a recovery drink then chases after the wounded one, stabbing at it*

"Well, when we finish here one of us should buy one," Hector said.

*While he's running, the healthy witch, which he ignored, casts Rue Kruz on him from behind, freezing him in place while the other witch dashes further away & immediately casts another Rue Kruz.*
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Cactus: But we have to find the Magic Portals somehow in the meantime.

Noct let out a sigh and shook her head as Thiera explained it, effectively screwing everyone over by introducing them to the game. When Luna called her Captain Copy/ Paste she let out a small giggle, then tried to answer Aroma, "The game we're talking about is called The World. Everyone you see, except for NPCs, like shop owners, are playing the game online."

"Well, then," Hector said, resting his cutlass on his shoulder. "We should start looking."

Cactus: Yeah, which way?

Zalera: We could go in the direction of the Dungeon or the Spring of Myst. There are often Magic Portals near those places.
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Aroma: What are you talking about?

Luna: Forget it, it's too hard to explain right now. Just understand that most of the people of The World are players in a game.