Universe of Red Stars

Game On

I have decided to record the strange events that led to me being here. You imagine it, read, or even write about it. But never did I think I would end up here. Stuck inside a video, stuck inside Baldur's Gate 3! Let alone with two other people. As a scholar, and because it would make for one hell of a story, if elt it nessecary to write down the strange story of how it happened and what we did about it.

{~}

My coworkers always loved playing Dungeons and Dragons. They wanted me to join their campaigns sometime, but I never had the time. I also didn't fully understand it. That is, until I started playing Baldurs Gate 3. We each did a play through and agreed to do one together. It was not quite a DND campaign, but it was the closest thing for me.

The discord was set, and I was getting my laptop on. It was not the best gaming device, but it was the only thing I had. Annie had an actual computer, and Cooper played on his Xbox.

"I think we should pre-agree on who we are going to romance and one backup. That way, we aren't competing," I suggested.

"I'm romancing Laezel and my guardian," Annie immediately claimed.

"I guess I'll take Gale. I already romance Halsin and Astarion. He is easy to romanceso. i don't think I'll need a backup," Cooper stated. He didn't care much for Gale and wanted to get his story out of the way in case he was missing out.

"I romanced Astarion too, so I think we should make him off limits. I don't know if i want to romance anyone this play through... I might go for Wyll. He is a sensible choice. Was going to go for Laezel, but Annie called dibs. I'll take whoever is left over as my backup," my voice cracked over the speaker. "Sorry, bad signal."

"How is everybody going to be? I'm going to be a Teifling bard," Cooper showed his character in the chat.

"Mine is a Half Wood Elf, Monk. I know Monk is not a common played class, but I love it. Last time, I passed most of my perception checks since they have high perception. You can do just about anything with high perception," my explanation was excited. "Maybe next time, I'll try something else. What about you, Annie?"

"Tav is a Gith paladin. Got to look good for Laezel. I feel she would respect her own kind more. Make it easier to romance her," Annie told us as we could hear her mouse clicking in the background.

Everyone is ready, and we press start together. The damn power went off in my house. As did the wifi. I had the discord on my phone, so I told Cooper and Annie that the wait happened. No response. In fact, they left the chat completely! I was texting their cellphones when a message popped up that Annie's power went off, too. Cooper responded, "So did his. It was odd, but we live not too far from each other, so it could just be a downed power pole or unscheduled maintenance.

As I finished relating this, the power came back on. So I returned to my laptop. It was still loading the game... My laptop is by no means a gaming laptop, and with the power out, the game should have crashed immediately, but it hadn't. To make sure wasn't frozen or something, my sister pushed the Windows button and felt a shock. Odd again since it wasn't plugged in to charge. Thinking maybe it was just a little static off something, I tried it a pen, holding the rubber part. Since rubber doesn't conduct electricity. Still, the shock hit my finger, and the computer screen went blank. My computer turned itself off and would not turn back on.

I returned to my phone to tell the group what had happened only to see they were having similar problems. Same power shock, too... Of course, I thought it was concerning at the time. But now I know what was happening and what was about to. It was some freaky, jumanji crap!

It was midday, so when the sky went dark and my skin started to tingle, I surtain something was definitely wrong. Then my computer turned back on. Just as I was about to smash it and burn it for demonic possession, a tenticle shot through the screen, breaking the laptop and grabbing both me and my sister.

I don't remember much of getting pulled into that computer... none of us do. Just as we still don't know why it happened in the first place. We only know and remember where we woke up.