Jack wakes up on a street made of gold. He feels a tugging "this-way" sensation guiding him off to one side, and a somehow less familiar feeling in the opposite direction.

After "waking up" Jack takes a moment to look at his arms and legs. Well, apparently being shuffled between universes has no sort of rebirth effect, he was actually still an adult? Looking back and forth, he makes sure there are no riders coming, and that the area is safe before he starts to take further stock of what has happened.

He hasn't even begun to try to make sense of her explanation of how and what had happened. There's an evil Jack out there?

Moving in the direction of the pull, he glances around.

Hazy remnants of Jack's detection spell reveal (everywhere) high levels of magic present in the same vapor he saw earlier. The effects of the detection spell fade away and things appear as normal.  Perhaps. Other than wagons without wheels floating meters above the ground and traveling faster than horses, high artificial cliffs filled with windows and people inside, and people dressed like royalty everywhere, it seemed ordinary on some level nevertheless.

He first finds the helmet he was given off to his side. Just as he grabs it, the one beggar on the street pushes a metal cart with wheels filled with blank books into him. The beggar shouts at him, "Writers control you! It's the end of the world, probably! Better than one in 10000 chance. And it'll be Jack's fault! Aw crap, it's 100% now! Jack! Jack! Off with Jack!"

The beggar wanders off, picking up a blank book from the ground.

Suddenly Jack flashes back to the incredibly shrinking universe bubble of death and remembers the images he saw when he first put on the helmet: an empty book, a cartoon... something, and two or five more images.

((OOC text will appear in these double parentheses, feel free to interact before any section))

The pulling "that-way" sensation stays in front of him as he goes until he finds the things he had in his room or on campus back home. What did he find?
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:58, Fri 01 Apr 2022.

Jack stares at all of the wonders of magic around him, and the frankly absurd wealth of this place. It must be some sort of magical empire that is deep in a period of prosperity to be able to build so many wonders and dress so interestingly. He watches the beggar wander off with the book, and decides not to interfere. That man seems like a bundle of crazy wrapped in some sort of oracle talent, probably drove the poor bugger mad. But at least his presence suggests a touch of a lack of wealth among some.

Picking up the helmet, he puts it on, since he has nowhere else to put it at the moment. Wearing his school robes, he makes his way in the direction of the pull. Not casting anything at the moment because the laws in this place could be different than back home. He’d rather not get strung up for being unlicensed, though at least he doesn’t fear they’ll view him as some sort of witch like in some backwaters.

Picking up his compass, which can discern and help chart the methods behind various magical effects, his wand, and the amulet of defense. He has the core three items that all wizards should need. The compass can trace effects, the wand amplifies attacks, and the amulet anchors defenses for a more permanent arrangement.

When he puts the helmet on, he sees numbers above the heads of people, most are between 1 to 3, but babies are 0,  about 20% are 4-8, and less than 1% are 9s. Odd, that. Otherwise, there is a readout that seems to indicate temperature, and a symbol of a compass is flashing slowly beside it.

After a little further, (the tugging sensation remaining in front of him), he finds anything else he would've considered important and his own from his homeworld.

He notices a humongous banner with a moving picture of... his face. Suddenly it dawns on Jack that people had been giving him funny looks.

The other Jack speaks (not loudly, but audible at close distance everywhere), and everyone stops to listen, "It seems they've done it again, folks. Traitors have abducted another version of me from God-knows-where with God-knows-what diseases to spread havoc in our beloved city. Shame on them! Declare your freedom from the tyranny of the minority, and tell your friendly neighborhood spidermen where you last saw the fake-Jack."

Fortunately, the helmet has an opaque visor, and Jack isn't the only one hiding his face.

A Wizard calls to Jack from an alleyway with a wave and a stage-whisper, "Hey! Follow me if you want to live, Mack."

Jack makes sure that visor is in place and makes sure to shuffle away from the area where he’d been seen a bit faster, even taking off his robe and sticking to his tunic. Better to not be associated with that outfit for the time being, in case those people were about to notify the constabulary. The numbers over people’s head really has him wondering and at one point he pauses to try to spot his own number by looking at himself in the reflection of one of the many windows around him.

When fake-Jack starts talking from that banner, he also stops, mostly out of shock but also because he looks so handsome. Spidermen. Must be part arachnid species, or perhaps it’s a spy organization? Could even be both!

Looking at the man he has already decided is a Wizard, he nods and walks over toward the man, “Do I know you, sir?” he asks.

When he looks at his reflection, he sees:
  ??? ... recalculating ... ???
blinking regularly.

The Wizard replies to Jack, "Mack, look, I've got all my eyes open." He points to his forehead, closes his eyes and reveals hidden, now glowing, tattoo of a third eye on his forehead.

"So, Mack, if you catch my drift, follow me. Did you notice the 9 over my head?" Jack notices.

The third eye. A sign of wisdom and a power to see through veils, though he'd never actually seen anyone who actually had such a thing. It was more of a theoretical and philosophical ideal than something anyone actually had. Jack glances at it and nods and then follows the man.

He glances up at the number over the man and then asks, "What about it?" in a way that neither suggests he doesn't know what it is or anything of the sort. More just not sure what to make of the question.

Part of him wonders if he shouldn't be wary of this man like he'd been wary of the woman, and had failed to trust that instinct. Now he had died or been sent here at least, death didn't really seem to fit.

"Emperor Jack brought them helmets here from what he called a "videogame universe". They're supposed to assess a character's relative level and probability of success. There's some debate about what the exact probability is, but usually a 3 wins against a 2. A 6 might get lucky against an 8 or a 9. Once I saw a 1 beat a 5, but no one believed me."

The Wizard led Jack down into a subterranean hallway, closed a door and put a key into the door. Returning the key, he opened the door onto a moving train interior. He gestured for Jack to enter.

*Roll*
Jack notices the number above the Wizard suddenly drops to a "3/3" and then a "2/3" for a moment, before returning to a 9.

Jack gets a good feeling about getting onto the magically moving train.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:43, Sat 02 Apr 2022.

“They’re quite strange,” Jack decides as he continues to use the helmet to look around, he finds the idea rather odd, but well, everything about this ‘universe’ is odd. Following the man through the door into the extremely long moving carriage he looks around and then looks back to the Wizard.

He wonders about the change in numbers when the man gestures him through, and whether it bodes good or bad. But he can’t learn if he only runs away, and so far he hasn’t had any reason to suspect something about the

“And what is your name?” he asks.

The moment Jack steps through the door into the moving carriage, he senses the tugging "that-way" sensation narrow, become weaker and move to the other side (it had been behind him, now it's above and to the side).

The Wizard replies, "I'm Djaymi. This is Dotter, she's in charge here. I'm going for lunch now. I'll be back later. Would you rather rotisserie falopy or kalkine? Nevermind, you'll have kalkine." Djaymi walks back out the door, closing it behind him. The moment the door closes, Djaymi and the hallway disappear, replaced by the local terrain.

Dotter, who also seems to be a Wizard for some unclear reason, says, "Welcome, Jack, to the resistance. Shortenned-long-story, our first Jack showed up about 3000 years ago with all sorts of advanced technology and never before seen magics. He lead a group of rebels against the nationalists and overthrew the oppressive regime. For about 100 years, he was a fair ruler, but then the second Jack showed up. He had different technologies and magics, and teleported directly next to our Jack and killed him. Noone figured it out for the first 300 years, but the tyranny of Jack increased. The spidermen were created, and one day original Jack reappeared. Original Jack and second Jack entered into a battle Royale with automatons, golems, teleportation and all manner of casualty causing calamity.

"We eventually figured out what he was and learned the whole backstory, but we had long-since become the victims of this multiverse surfer - this verser. His rule became even more intolerable than second Jack was. He keeps the power and preaches about democracy. He claims to rule on behalf of the people, but anyone who disagrees is shipped off to an unnamed planet out in the middle of intergalactic space.

"That doesn't even include the people he kills in secret. Last year, 10000 people suddenly disappeared at the same time that Jack teleported from one side of the planet to the other. 10 years ago 100000 people suddenly burst into flames on an ice planet. Jack had just used his magic to cool the temperature on a desert planet he was visiting. He knew about both before anyone else, and he didn't admit anything or apologize. It is interesting that the people who disappeared were all in political opposition to Jack on one thing or another. It is interesting that the ice planet had just declared independence from Jack's Empire.

"So we fight for our freedom, and you're our best chance of success. You were brought here as the last act of our sister-in-arms. Her ghost used the projectors in that helmet you're wearing to open the portal to your world. The only people who ever came close to freeing us were other Jacks. Help us! Oh be one k'nob'y, you're our only hope!"

Behind her there is a wall of video feeds of different atrocities being committed by Jack. Everything from sexual predation to brutal torture and murder were recorded and are being shown.

"Anyway, there are two doors before you." There are two doors on the carriage, one red and one blue. "Go through the blue door and we drop you off on the streets of Jacktown where you just were - you can do whatever you want. The Red door leads down the Rabbit Hole, and into the rebellion. Make your choice."

*Roll*

Jack feels certain that the choice really is his to make. Fate may decide what happens, but he is being given an open choice.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:55, Sat 02 Apr 2022.

Jack listens to the whole tale, though he thinks the illusion wall that shows these horrendous crimes is sort of over-the-top. He didn’t need to see these things to understand them, and anyone who can create such realistic looking illusions has the skill to fake them as well. Folding his arms over his chest, he finally hears the two options he is being given and raises a finger.

“One. You realize I’m barely even an adult on my homeworld, and you want me to fight a wizard who could kill thousands at once, hundreds of years ago, and used golems.”

“Two. I don’t know what a lot of those words you just used mean, and I’m assuming they’re important, so that’s also not a good sign.”

“And three. You hijack me and bring me here and then my option is either to go back to where I’m wanted by these spidermen people and a doppelganger, or to do what you say? That doesn’t really seem like a fair choice, and definitely not an informed one. Where does the Red door lead?” he asks.

Dotter listens patiently, then responds, "One, grow up a little, please. You have no idea how powerful you may be in comparison to him. You might be weaker, but the magic from your world is different than his - it could be vastly greater than anything he's ever experienced. Plus we have the Rabbit Hole.

"Two... " She explains any terms he's unfamiliar with using audio, visual, and tactile as necessary - ((mention any words you the writer are unfamiliar with and I'll define them)) - except the Rabbit Hole. That term is specifically left undefined even if he asks directly.

"Three, that's a fair point. There is also a green door which will send you away from here to someplace completely different - totally away from the reach of Jack or any of the rest of us. Any information you ask, I'll do my best to help you since you really are our only hope against Jack for now. We don't have enough power to pull in more than one Jack at a time into our universe."

Jack notices the tugging "that-way" sensation begin to widen and strengthen slowly.

"Okay," Jack decides and doesn't ask any more questions after he has found out the meaning behind a few of the words Dotter had used. Turning then, he walks over and walks through the Red door. He doesn't say goodbye or anything, because like he'd said, this was a sort of rude way to hijack someone, and it doesn't sound like they're going to stop doing it even if he says no.

Plus maybe this could be interesting, maybe he could find out more kinds of magic and bring them home. He'd be famous! He has no interest in ruling like other Jacks apparently do, he just wants his research and to be powerful enough to do his research unmolested by hijackers on long carriages.

Jack goes through alone. The Red door opens into a literal hole in dirt. As soon as he's through the door, the tugging "that-way" sensation seems to go away. Down the dark hole angled like stairs, red lights illuminate a dangerous looking cave that opens up further in. He quickly find himself in a vast red-lit cavern. A voice echoes all around him, coming from a 20 foot tall rabbit which slowly appears before him, "Time to get suited up, my friend. This is a special dream-like place. Anything you imagine, I'll make. It'll be mine, so you won't be able to take it with you if you die, but if I can make it, and I probably can within reason, you will have it."

Meanwhile, Emperor Jack stops flying through space in his starship to scream in frustration, "FFS! RAWR! STAND STILL, JACK! How am I supposed to steal your lifeforce if you keep running away! Navigation, find him!" An automaton hears and obeys.

“What marvelous magic!” Jack exclaims in good-spirits that he hasn’t been killed. He isn’t entirely certain why he keeps going with these people and their whims, but it hasn’t exactly steered him wrong so far. Though he still sort of doesn’t like that the first woman had used her pretty face to lure him and then ‘killed’ him.

Looking at the rabbit when it starts to speak, he looks a bit surprised but manages to school his features as he thinks on the offer.

“I can’t take it with me if I die, but I am keeping my knowledge when I die. So, knowledge would be good. I am imagining a spell that lets me learn things more quickly and improves my memory,” he proposes.

((I totally knew it was him!))

The rabbit snaps his creepy human fingers and Jack experiences the following 5 things at once and simultaneously:

1: Nothing. Absolute lack of sensory information, memory, identity, spacial awareness, gravity, imagination, the passage of time, everything is just gone for an eternity, or possibly only a moment.

2: the rabbit literally pokes a finger around in Jack's brain after turning his skull to a dribbling mush. The rabbit notices something and pulls out a green gem, "Hmm, yes, this will work." Meanwhile Jack wriggles in unbearable pain.

3. The rabbit's creepy human fingers split into 2560 appendages, each long and intricate. The excessive dexterity draws magical threads from the distant edges of the multiverse and weaves them into a complex headscarf of thought, emotion and imagination which he wraps around Jack's head. The scarf absorbs into his skin like hydrochloric acid.

4. Jack suddenly has a fully immersive flashback of his death in the incredibly shrinking universe bubble. The edges contacted as fast as the speed of light, but the speed of light had dramatically slowed. Even though the nerve signal from his cells didn't have time to travel to his brain, his awareness experienced the unrelenting pain of being crushed on all sides by his own self bent completely in on itself by the curve of space. He felt his heart stop, and his brain cease. He felt his spirit or something leave his body and saw the whole universe as his warped and twisted remains before it all popped like a pimple. He felt his awareness soar at unimaginable speeds through fractal patterns just before something snapped and his body reconstituted cell by cell within a moment in Jacktown.

5. The rabbit says, "Ignore all of that - the effects of this mind magic spell have side effects. Any magic you observe, if you try, you will have a pretty good chance of learning how to do it. Your chances improve if the person doing the magic wants you to learn it, and dramatically improves if you are meditating on it later on. You'll only get one chance for each display of magic you witness, so choose wisely which way you'll try to learn it.

"Are there any other things I can get for you? I've exhausted my power to provide spell knowledge."

Jack is used to some very strange sensations, but this by far takes the Cauldron, and he does his best not to resist the workings of the rabbit whose powers seem so excessively powerful. Could he do such things one day? The thought! When he comes back together and his brain only feels a little bit like dribbling out of his ears, and steam rolls off the top of his head, he only really locks for a moment on the feeling of the fractals involved with projecting him across the multiverse. To Jacktown.

He thinks about it, but doesn’t try to absorb it. Knowing that there is a difference in how he approaches these things, perhaps he can learn how to do what the helmet had done, later.

“I see, I’ll try to learn it from those who are willing to share it, then,” he decides and only try to learn it from witnessing it, if he absolutely has to.

“Other things? Like what? And where am I? And who are you, by the way?” he asks, realizing that the frequent run-ins with temporary acquaintances had made him forget his manners, and he is terribly curious.

"My name is Stella." The giant rabbit shapeshifts into a woman shining so brightly, her features are hard to see. I died but with the help of my living selves we created this microverse as a place for me to live. In here, I am like God. My will is certain, and anything I imagine, I can do. But the matter of this universe cannot exist more than a short time in any other universe - and that includes me.

"For other items (not myself), I've learned ways to extend that time into days at a time and in rare cases even hundreds of years, but most items created here can only exist a few hours elsewhere. This place is called the Rabbit Hole now, but was originally known as Anima. That seems like another lifetime, now.

"In any case, my imagination is impressive, my skills are limitless, and my intelligence is limited only by my imagination. If you want any magic or technology item to help you fight your enemies, now is the time to name it.

"I believe Dotter and Djaymi are going to be requesting your presence soon. I can show you a selection of wares if you'd prefer that."