Triple Life [3rd Life SMP]

1. Arrival

A rush of sensation, and Grian opened his eyes to... a nip in the air, a sharp breeze that rustled uncomfortably through his feathers. He immediately shivered, the patches of feathers on his arms and chest puffing up to trap warmth, and he drew his wings around himself to minimize heat loss. He was standing in a snowy plain and he could see mountains not too far away.

He looked around to see several people, all of whom were familiar, standing in a circle with him. He quickly counted, there were seventeen others. That was a little more than usual. He struggled to remember what had led to him once again deciding to take part in one of these games, but as usual his memory of the events outside the Life server were faded. It was inconvenient, but a condition that was agreed to when one signed up for a game. At least he could clearly remember his previous three games.

He couldn't recall what the unique twist was supposed to be this time around, all he knew was that it was going to be interesting.

He gave nods to the others, who nodded back. They were in a circle around a blazing bonfire, which provided welcome warmth against the cold air, and soon everyone moved closer. There was a lectern as well, which Grian knew would explain the rules and the quirks of this particular game.

"Should I read, then?" Grian asked the others, and they agreed. He was usually the one that ended up explaining the rules here. He flipped the book open, took a deep breath, and began reading. "Hello everyone, and welcome to another game on the Life server. An especially warm welcome to any first time players who may have joined."

"Thank you very much," Doc said.

Grian knew Doc was the only first time player here. The rest have gone through it before at least once. Grian's gaze lingered on Doc for a bit, taking in his appearance. He knew his name, which meant he knew him outside of here, but it was so hard to remember... a Hermitcraft member, perhaps? Yeah, that seemed right. Doc's presence was comforting, so Grian was certain that they had a good relationship in their home server. The more animal part of his mind picked up on Doc being a creeper, but he could smell that the other was calm, not a threat. Grian returned his attention to the book.

"The rules are simple," he narrated. "Each of you have a total of three lives. You start off as a green life, and can simply survive as normal. Make friends, form bonds, gather resources and establish homes. Upon your first death, you will become a yellow life. At this point you will need to be more cautious, as one more death means you will be a red life, at which time you are expected to attempt to hunt down and kill the other members of the server. All alliances will be forfeit, except for a particular alliance that will be explained in detail later."

That got some interested murmuring, people coming closer, wanting to make sure they heard everything.

Grian continued, "If you die as a red life, that is the end of the game for you. You may choose to leave the server and return to your regular life, or persist as a 'ghost' so that you may see out the end of the game." There were nods, everything seeming standard so far. Grian turned the page. "Alright, there's some special rules for this round. We can't make our own enchantment tables, just like last time. Instead, a single table has been provided for us and-" He inhaled as he glanced ahead and saw where it was at.

"Where is it?" Scar asked, a little too eagerly.

Grian flicked his eyes over to him, and a pang went through him as he thought about how things had ended for them last time, but he forced himself not to dwell on it right now. He looked back at the book. "We are also forbidden from creating our own Nether portals this time. One has been provided as well. And it's in the Ancient City."

There were groans and fearful expressions all around him. No one had a particularly pleasant Deep Dark experience last time, and even those who hadn't taken part in Double Life were familiar with the places by now, and knew the danger. Though Grian noticed Doc seemed quite relaxed about it, just chuckling and shrugging in casual acceptance.