Chapter 156 - My SI Stash #56 - The Warcrafter by RHJunior (WormXWorldofWarcraft) (1/2)

-Another SI Multicross fic~ MC starts in Worm with plans of saving Worlds as a druid/werewolf. Next being Azeroth!

Sypnosis: ???

Rated: ???

Words: 270K

Posted on: forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/the-warcrafter.54360/ (RHJunior)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1

He floated, inert, aware but without any measurable sensation. No sight, sound, scent, texture. He couldn't even feel his own anatomy; his proprioception was completely gone. He couldn't even tell if he had arms or legs anymore. He was an amorphous shape, if that, housing a spark of consciousness.

Hello, Adrian.

”What? Who's there?” he said in alarm. Even as he spoke he felt a surge of satisfaction that he could speak.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am…. The voice paused, as if searching for words. I suppose an approximation of my name is necessary, your language sort of lacks the nuances for my full name. Call me.. hmm… call me Agent.

”Agent… right.” That wasn't a comforting nomenclature, all things considered. ”Where am I? Why can't I see?”

To answer the latter first, you are in a semi-amorphous state which has, er, left you without sensory apparatus for your environment. You sense nothing because you have nothing at the moment to sense it with. Agent sounded a little embarrassed at this. I apologize, I'm sure it's not comfortable. But you really don't have any sensory approximates for the environment you are currently in; you wouldn't understand what you were ”seeing” if you could…

Here, let me adjust a few things. The 'nothingness' faded… or rather Something faded in: a misty, featureless plain under a twilit sky. Adrian found himself looking at/addressing/facing a soft misty cloud of light hovering over that plain; he realized in the next moment that he himself was an identical cloud of light-- though how he could tell he couldn't say; he certainly couldn't crane his neck to look himself over. There, I hope that's better. It's all illusory but at least it gives you an avatar of sorts to communicate with.

”Yeah, great.” Why wasn't he panicking? Wait. No adrenal glands, no fight-or-flight response. Of course. Interestingly enough he was still capable of getting agitated at his situation. ”Okay. So my first question? Where the heck AM I? And let me throw in ”WHY” while I'm at it?”

You are in my native environment. An existential plane. Call it the Between.

”Between what?”

Everything.

That gave him pause, for sure.

As to what or who I am, I am an extradimensional hyper-advanced… though ”advanced” isn't quite the right term… well, you'd call me a ”cosmic entity.” And I have brought you here because I wish to make a deal.

”A… deal?”

An agreement, yes, an exchange of services.

And that kicked Adrian's bump of skepticism right in. Cosmic beings snapping up random individuals and offering them deals… superhuman powers, or magic green rings, for example… it was a cliche' in ninety percent of the fanfics he'd read. And more than a couple he'd written.

Yes, you are familiar with the concept.

Adrian squinted suspiciously, or at least thought really hard about squinting suspiciously at the amorphous cloud of light before him. ”Okay, why me?”

Why not you? Agent pointed out reasonably. You are well within acceptable averages for the necessary attributes. At the very least, you are familiar with the concept, and seemed agreeably inclined to the idea. Missing fight-or-flight glands or no, you would be surprised at the percentage of three-dimensional entities such as yourself who would go into either screaming hysterics or a catatonic fugue by this point.

Adrian gave a mental snort. At least it wasn't trying to pass him off as ”the Chosen One” or the like. If this was a dream or a hallucination it wasn't offending his literary sensibilities yet, at least. Of course if he was lying in a hospital drugged to the hairline then all this was coming from his own mind, so it wouldn't seem excessively ridiculous then either would it? ”SO… this deal?”

Let me begin at the beginning. As you can guess I am not the only one of my kind. We live in the interstices between the universes and planes of reality. We're timeless, eternal, immortal, vastly powerful… and rather BORED.

Ah, here it comes, Adrian thought. The old Bored Cosmic Entity Wants to Play routine. Poker Night of the Gods. Oh well, there were worse cliches.

To alleviate our ennui, we organized a series of contests and games. Each round, every participant-- each Agent-- chooses an Avatar from the more finite races, such as yourself, from one of the three dimensional universes. We spend… I'm picking up the word ”quatloos” from your mind?… ah, no, a better word there off to the side in your vocabulary, ”ch_i_p_s.” Yes, a limited pool of points or ”ch_i_p_s” on empowering and equipping the Avatar. Then we place them in a different universe, with a stated mission. If they succeed, they are rewarded, and their Agent moves up in the next round and chooses a new Avatar.

”And if they fail?”

Then the Agent is moved down in ranking.

”And the Avatar?”

Agent seemed reticent. There is no punishment for failure. We do not work like that. But the missions assigned are often… hazardous. The consequences for failure are... self-explanatory.

”Uh… huh.” So it was pass or fail, with a probably lethal ”fail” option.

You must understand something, Adrian. Our ”game” is about creating and endowing HEROES. The quests they are set on are consequent… to save a person, a family, a tribe, a nation, a world, from some imminent catastrophe. To battle an evil empire, or an overlord, or an alien horde… or just to fight for a humble cause. Any and all of those are dangerous pursuits in places of crisis, even for those endowed with extraordinary gifts they are dangerous. Failure is often fatal.

”Kind of high stakes for a GAME,” Adrian said.

We wish to make the universes a better place, Agent replied. You can't do that playing tiddly winks.

”Well, why don't you go into these, these places in crisis and intervene yourself?”

Agent gave what had to be the approximation of a heaving sigh. Adrian, we are a race of super-advanced cosmic entities. We number in the trillions. Does it not follow that we have powers, governances, authorities, laws, codes of conduct that restrain us as well? Our civilization is so complex and intricate it makes the operation of your own world's governments look like the internal politicking of an aboriginal tribe over who gets the biggest share of animal pelts. It would take years to explain the codes of conduct that restrict our behavior interacting with the baryonic, euclidean universes, and most of it still wouldn't make sense to you. He grumbled a bit. They often don't make sense to US.

The Game is, for reasons too complex for you to fathom, one of the few legal, safe, legitimate ways in which we can intervene with the fates of other worlds, even for their own good. Because in part it places the power in the hands of mere mortals to determine their fates themselves . It's THE RULES.

There's a world out there where somebody's in trouble. I am asking you to help me, to help them, and to help yourself. Will you accept?

”My reward?” he asked.

Your primary choice of reward will be: You will be returned home… or allowed to make your home in your new universe… or even pick a third… in any regard, with all your powers intact. There are other, lesser options, but those are the prime rate ones.

Adrian thought it over. Great power. Be a hero. But risking it all… maybe even his life. No guarantee of success, and who knows how much suffering and hardship.

But wasn't that what made the effort worthwhile.

”I accept.”

He could feel Agent practically beaming with satisfaction. Excellent. The contract is sealed, let us begin. The planescape swirled dizzyingly, and Adrian found himself hovering before a massive, and very familiar opening screen.

WORLD OF WARCRAFT

Begin Character Creation

”I'm going to AZEROTH?” He yelped. No way in hell… it was his favorite online game ever, but that world and its lore were messed up three ways from Sunday, and it had at least a dozen Doomsday scenarios waiting in the wings to do it in at any given moment, with Lovecraftian Old Gods being the LOWEST ranked world-ending threats. If the literal armies of superhuman wizards, warriors, paladins and whatnot couldn't handle it, adding one more dink with a plus-one sword to the mess would do nothing. Agent would just end up with his Avatar a greasy stain on an ogre's foot.

No, absolutely not.

Adrian sighed in relief.

You're getting your power set from there.

”What?” Okay, that was better. A guy with a World of Warcraft character's powers and skills could hold up fairly well in most ”fictional” universes he could think of…. ”Wait. Where AM I going? That's sort of an important question before I pick my powers.”

There was a sound of shuffling papers. I'm not really supposed to tell you your destination, if at all, until AFTER you have selected your powerset.

Of all the… ”But that's not remotely fair!” Adrian sputtered.

This is really not how we normally proceed, Agent said.

”Oh, don't try that. That's a load and you know it! A choice made without any information isn't a choice at all. It might as well be made with a flip of a coin!”

Agent's body language-- it really was adapting quickly to having a humanoid form-- was hesitant, so Adrian pressed his argument. ”Look, you talked about your society having law, and an entertainment industry, and, and mediums of exchange. That implies a marketplace of some sort. And one of the fundamentals of a marketplace is that there are certain ethical principles that have to be observed for it to function. The real biggie is that all exchanges have to be voluntary and informed to be legitimate. Making me make an irrevocable choice while denying me the information needed to make that choice? Not what I would call 'super-advanced,' or even moral.”

Agent said nothing; he simply contracted into a ball of swirling, pulsing motes. Adrian somehow got the impression that he'd been put on hold while Agent argued with someone else over his metaphorical shoulder. After a moment Agent reformed into a human-shaped cloud and addressed him. You argue persuasively, he said. It's been agreed that it would be unethical to not give you SOME information about your destination. I've been informed that I may disclose a BIT more than I have.

”Like my destination?” Adrian said.

...Um.... I can at least let you know beforehand that the Earth we are sending you to is a Superhero world.

”A superhero world?” Adrian repeated. ”Anything else?”

Agent mumbled a bit and shrugged expressively. Sorry.

There was an awkward silence. ”Not your fault I suppose,” Adrian finally muttered. ”Better than nothing I suppose... ” Superhero world. Adrian chewed his lip nervously. That was still a lot of variability. It could mean anything from Justice League to Watchmen.

Agent made a staticky noise that might have passed for a sigh. For the record, we are not in the habit of forcing people to make utterly blind choices. It's just that most of the entities we negotiate with are normally brought here in the midst of... a cataclysmic moment of some sort. Usually something that would or should have resulted in their deaths. They tend to arrive here... disoriented. In a fugue, or dreamlike state, or other state of not-quite-compos-mentis. It's often rather like trying to get someone in an ER after a gruesome traffic accident to fill out hospital paperwork. Some form of assent is needed, so we resort to broad brushstrokes and vague entreaties and explanations... and our procedures have evolved accordingly.

Adrian nodded. He could understand, somewhat. He had a mental image of the scene in Disney's Aladdin where the Genie was desperately trying to get an official wish from Aladdin even as Aladdin was drowning. The Entity gave a Gallic shrug. I apologize for my earlier reticence. I'm not some Jerkass Genie, Adrian. I'm not going to trick you into becoming a woman, or turning into a black man and drop you into the middle of a Nazi rally. I want to win this as badly as you do, so I'm going to do everything to make sure you get the best deal possible. I will try to... be more forthcoming from here on out. Forgive an old Being his bad habits.

”...Right. Sorry,” Adrian apologized. ”I do get that there has to be some element of chance or risk. I just want to know what lotto ticket I was writing the numbers on.” He looked the Entity over. ”You know, you're sounding a lot more human than when this conversation started.”

A cosmic entity with nigh infinite resources and control over time and space, learning things quickly. Imagine that.

”Touche`.” Chastened, Adrian turned back to the screen and proceeded with his dicey choice. He flipped through the options-- he had hands!--- and watched as the screen flickered between races, classes, appearances…

If it helps, Agent hinted, most of the… limitations, I'd suppose you'd call them… on the various races, classes and such you recall from the game are not in effect. Those are the products of gameplay-- programmers putting in things for the sake of design and balance, not the actuality of how such powers work in Azeroth.

”Really.”

Yes. Think, do you think in real life that a gnome would run as fast as human? Or a human would be as physically strong as an orc? Or that a worgen, after the cutscreen, is suddenly unable to claw or bite anymore? Many of the limitations found in gameplay, you can disregard.

”Well you'd better baby-walk me through it then. I don't want to miss an advantage I overlooked because some programming doink in Blizzard thought it wouldn't make for good 'game balance.' ”

Very well. Oh, and you'll be starting out at maximum level, so to speak. So don't worry about learning curves for skills or talents. Thanks to the implanted memories, though you may need to practice a bit with your skills and abilities, your knowledge base will be fully updated from the start, so it will be more akin to brushing the dust off old skills than struggling to learn new ones. Also, you will be in peak physical condition, akin to your species' version of an Olympiad. And you'll find that maintaining that state will be nearly effortless.

”Seems overly generous...”

Fair's fair. You're getting dumped into a superhero 'verse, where a ridiculous percentage of the natives have the physique of Greek gods.

Adrian mulled over the screen. He hemmed and hawed, but the choice was inevitable. ”Species: Worgen.” he clicked.

May I ask your reasoning why? Agent was looking more and more humanoid; he tipped his ersatz eyeglasses in Adrian's direction.

”Innate abilites. Stronger than human, faster, presumably accelerated recuperation and healing from the metamorphic ability, both bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion, natural weapons, and going by the cut scenes, incredible leaping and climbing ability. The ability to change back and forth to a human form means an instant disguise option, too. Even a baseline worgen will be pretty kickass.” Adrian shrugged his ghostly shoulders. ”Plus werewolves are cool.”

A good choice, and good reasoning. Two notes: contrary to game lore, your worgen ”curse” is not contagious. It is innately genetic. As if the night elves would be so foolish as to leave INTELLIGENT werewolves with a contagious curse, he muttered in an aside. All it would take is one contagious sociopath and Azeroth would end up like the final reel of the Omega Man...

Anyhow, this does however mean that your Worgen form is your default form, the human one is essentially a shapeshifted disguise. If you violently lose consciousness -- say you are drugged or concussed-- you will revert to your 'natural,' that is your Worgen, form. Try to avoid such circ_u_mstances when among hostile entities.

”Yeah, important safety note. Thanks.”

Agent waved his hand. The screen filled with a side-by-side image: to the left, a young, dark haired, athletic man, caucasian with some hints of something exotic, about sixteen or so if Adrian judged correctly. To the right, a black-furred wolf-man, powerfully built, sleek and deadly. ”So that's me?” Adrian asked.

Yes. Acceptable?

”Better believe it. I haven't had abs like that since never.”

And now… class?

Adrian browsed the options. ”No warlocks or Demonhunters, I see.”

Certainly not. Agent's voice had a shudder of profound revulsion in it. One of the differences between the gameplay version of Azeroth and the real one is that you will find no collaborators with demons or demonic powers among those of the Good. Warlocks are hunted like the vile traitors they are, and absolutely noone outside of the most desperate or depraved is mad enough to think they can use a Demon's powers against him... those that were fool enough to try did not become some dark charismatic antihero with diabolic powers-- instead they almost instantly ended up as some Demon's lickspittle. Trying to use a Demon's power for anything other than what the DEMON wants is the equivalent of trying to beat mice to death with a live cobra. It's not going to end well.

Adrian shuddered. ”Kind of glad to hear that, actually. I get kind of sick of the edgelord 'evil is kewl' kiddies.” Adrian looked over the screen. ”Druid.” He clicked. The two figures were now carrying staves and wearing Celtic-looking robes… an odd change from the original game's raven-wing-pauldron ”druid look,” but he could roll with it.

Ah. And again, why this and not any of the others?

Adrian had the strangest suspicion that Agent already knew why, and that it pleased him. ”Flexibility. Dunno where I'm going or how I'm going to arrive, so I'd better pick the powerset with the most options. Azeroth druids have that in spades. Multiple forms for land, sea and air, and they can opt for melee, ranged attack, defensive, stealth or support. I figure whatever you hit me with, a Warcraft druid will have an option that can cope with it.”

Agent nodded. Definitely pleased. Coincidentally, you get full access to your classes' specializations, including all the druid forms. Another little plus I spent ch_i_p_s on.