Chapter Text
Stanford Pines woke up to the sound of wind blowing through the trees and birds chirping happily at each other. Also, loudly. Far too loud to be outside the window—
Damnit did the gnomes break through my window agai—
His thought was cut short as he realized he was very much not in his house. Or outside of his house. Or even in Gravity Falls anymore. He was in a suspiciously perfect clearing, in the middle of what appeared to be a mainly deciduous forest, a stark difference from the evergreens and conifers which filled the valley he normally resided.
Intriguing, it seems the pendant did actually work! Wait, am I still…
He put a hand up to his neck where the gem had been, and finding it still there, held it so that he could see it more clearly.
The pendant is seemingly unchanged, but upon closer inspection, the gem now constantly glows with an otherworldly yellow light, and the clasp at the back of the chain is now missing, essentially permanently locking the pendant around his neck.
“That is a bit concerning; however, I at least will not have to worry about misplacing it.”
Sitting up, he makes another realization. That being the rather drastic change which has come to his clothing.
Rather than his button-up pajamas, which he had actually bothered to wear for once seeing that he actually went to bed at a reasonable time, he was wearing what could only be described as a rather expensive looking wizard costume, complete with a staff. A long blue wool robe, with gold embroidery, over a lighter blue tunic and grey pants, with dark leather boots and belts. His glasses were, miraculously, on his face, which was good considering he had taken them off to sleep for once.
I really need to start trying to iron out my sleep schedule, next thing I know S will… the thought gets shaken off, and Ford continues to gain his bearings.
Magically placed around his shoulder was his adventuring bag, along with his crossbow strapped to the outside of it. Strange, its exactly like my real one, it must not have been changed like my clothes.
Ford grabs the bag and roots around in it, finding his journal, a quill and inkwell, two bottles of oil, 50 feet of rope, a torch and tinderbox, a water flask, various foodstuffs, a bedroll, a large amount of fantastical currency, about 20 crossbow bolts, and another, smaller blue book, which he immediately pulled out and flipped through.
The very first page was almost extravagant in style, proclaiming “The beginning of your grandest adventures and greatest achievements!” Audacious but okay. He flips to the second page.
The second page had a two-page map that only showed the clearing Ford was in, on the very left of the page. A bit useless for a map he thinks. He flips to the next page.
The third page simply read, “Find your party members to gain quest markers!”
Party members, what does it mean by party members?
He looks around a bit, before swinging around completely to see the McGuckets, also present, still asleep on the ground a few yards away.
Fiddleford, rousing himself, stretches and yawns a bit, before doing a rather frantic double take and shouting, “STANFORD PINES WHAT IN THE SAM HELL DID YOU DO??!!??”
Emma-May, awoken by her increasingly frantic husband, also looks rather perturbed by the current situation.
“This better not be what it looks like, Pines.” She glares at him, reaching over to Fiddleford in order to stop him from ripping about half of his scalp off from the anxiety.
“I swear, I had no idea this would happen”, he starts, rushing over to try and help his friend calm down. “My assumption that the pendant would only affect the wearer appears to have been…”
“Completely and utterly incorrect?” Emma finishes for him now sitting back on her knees to inspect the damage. “At least it had the magic foresight to give us some supplies, as limited as they are” she sighs, inspecting her new clothing and looking through the magically supplied purse on her hip, pulling out a similar book to the one Ford had found in his bag. Again, the bag was out of place, being her purple satchel purse she normally carried around everywhere.
Emma was wearing what appeared to be a green linen tunic, with a large hood, some light brown pants, leather armor, gauntlets and boots. She also had a staff, although hers was less polished, with leaves and flowers still growing, despite not being planted in the ground.
Fiddleford’s attire was seemingly the most armored, being a white tunic and tan pants, with studded leather armor, boots, and gloves, as well as a chain mail shirt under the leather breastplate. He also had his canvas tool bag, though the equipment inside was rather unlike what was inside of the real life one, replaced by fantasy setting tools.
“Hold on a second, aren’t these the same supply tables used in DD&D?” Emma remarks, going through the rest of her bag.
“It seems so! It would appear that the pendant has taken us into one of the settings of DD&D! How fun!” Ford exclaims, pulling the blue book back out and flipping back to where he was.
“Only any fun when you know what’s going on” Fiddleford grumbles, before turning to look through his own bag.
Ford flips back to the third page. It now shows sketches of himself, Emma-May, and Fiddleford, along with a fourth, shades silhouette.
“Strange, who’s this last one?” Fiddleford asks, and then, the second scream of the day sounds out, further out in the trees.
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Stanley Pines wakes up to the sun shining directly in his face, despite the fact that he had expressly fallen asleep in a way that it shouldn’t fucking do that.
Shit, how long did I sleep for? There better not be anyone parked near me, I’ve still got some dignity to not loot vending machines while people are watching.
He sits up and opens his eyes, and everything is completely fucking wrong.
First problem, he’s in a forest. On the ground. Last he checked, Stanley had fallen asleep in his car, in the desert. The only way he could even consider the idea that this was possible is if he had gone on some sort of weeklong blackout bender after getting away from the old gang, and he knew for a fact that he had expressly not done that for a reason.
Second problem, his clothes are completely fucking different from what he had fallen asleep in. Instead of the old hoodie, t-shirt and jeans he was wearing, he was now in a longer, grey shirt, black pants, leather armor? Yeah, it looks like armor. And chain mail! The fuck! His red jacket had turned into a weird short cape, with the same fur lined hood it originally had, which is how he knew it was his jacket still. His boots were almost the same, being made of leather instead of the worn canvas they originally were.
Sitting up, he frantically looks around. There’s nobody here? “There’s nobody here! Is this a kidnapping? Was I kidnapped? Did I get blackout drunk again? No, I don’t have the money to get blackout drunk, what the hell? Wait waIT WHERES MY KEYS?!?!”
He’s shouting now, frantically searching for pockets, a bag or something on his person his keys could be in.
There is a bag next to him, he recognizes it as his old ass emergency backpack where he stores the random medical supplies he steals sometimes, why didn’t the bag change?
The question is forgotten as he starts rifling through it, and none of the supplies inside are the same ones he usually keeps in there. Ball bearings, a bell, candles, a crowbar, lockpicks, a lantern, oil bottles, food, rope, a lighter, and a flask? None of this is his! The last things he spots are two knives, his knuckledusters (phew), a weird book and…
“HAH, MY KEEeeys…”
Instead of the keys to the Diablo, which should be on his stupid old Spider-man keychain, is a weird shaped whistle, the same red as his car.
“No no nO NO NO MY KEYS FUCK!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK MYSELF THREE WAYS FROM SUNDAY GODDAMNNIT NO”
Before he can continue his string of angry cussing, he hears a rustling noise coming from the trees.
He immediately goes defensive, grabbing one of the knives from his bag and slinging the bag itself onto his back. As mad as he is, getting attacked and losing his only supplies, as weird as they are, is absolutely not an option here.
Turning to the noise, there’s no lack of surprise when into the clearing bursts…
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“SIR ARE YOu okaaay…? Stanley…? How did you?”
Stanford had heard the frantic yelling from their little clearing, but he hadn’t recognized the voice up until he got a look at the person attached to said voice.
Stanley? Here? HOW? Did the magic summon him? Did my subconscious summon him? Is he even the REAL STANLEY? What the hell is going on? Wait what’s…?
“St- St- Stanford?” Stanley stutters out, just as shocked as his brother, “What, how, waIT AM I DEAD?!?!? ARE YOU DEAD?!?!? FORD???!!!”
“NO NONO, WE ARE NOT DEAD!!! WHY WAS THAT YOUR FIRST ASSUMPTION???”
“BECAUSE I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN YEARS?? BECAUSE I WENT TO SLEEP IN MY- AT HOME AND WOKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST AND YOU’RE HERE??? BECAUSE MY CAR KEYS ARE A WHISTLE NOW???????”
“STANLEY! THAT’S… actually quite reasonable, given the circumstances. No, we are not dead, I was given this pendant here by some fairies after I helped them and upon activation it seems to have brought all of us here to this ‘fantasy world’. It seems rather similar to a DD&D setting Fiddleford, Emma and I played a bit ago…”
“DD&D? That nerdy math game you made me play with you once? Guess that makes sense if you were the one to activate the freaky dimension magic or whatever.”
“It is hardly freaky Stanley, if you would just… wait what’s that around your neck?”
“What’re you talking abo- wait what?”
Around his neck, in a similar but simpler style to Ford’s pendant, set with a duller, smother crystal, in the exact same colors as the gem in his own pendant. The glass was also glowing the same yellowish aura as Ford’s, and the chain also lacked a visible clasp.
“That wasn’t like that when I fell asleep. It was just a piece of sea-glass I nabbed while- a while ago, I mean” Stan grabs the pendant confusedly, before fumbling to try and take it off.
“It’s too small for that, mine won’t come off either.”
The twins conversation was interrupted by Emma-May loudly clearing her throat.
“Excuse me, Emma-May here, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON? STANFORD? WHEN DID YOU HAVE A TWIN BROTHER???”
Fiddleford also piped up, “I mean I did know about him but seriously, are ya not going to introduce us or anything??”
“What do you mean you knew about him, dear husband??” Emma turned on him, eyes narrowing.
Fiddleford paled and stuttered out, “Uhhm I just meant, uuh, ok look we were kinda drunk but Ford was drunker and he started complaining about this other college he really wanted to go to and something about a twin brother who ruined things and then-“
Stan interrupted him in a jokey tone, “Damn, pissed you off enough that you only talk about me when drunk eh? I mean me too but I’m surprised we both turned out to be sad drunks, ay Sixer.”
“Stanley that hardly count’s as being a sad drunk I- ugh never mind. Fiddleford, Emma-May, this is Stanley, my younger twin brother. Stanley, Fiddleford and Emma-May, my old college roommate and his wife.”
“We’re twins, we’re the same age.” Stan states in a monotone voice.
“I’m older by 15 minutes, and you still haven’t matured past senior year, so I will act as such.”
“I’d tell you to fuck off but you seem like the only person who knows what the hell is happening, so I’ll just say fuck you”.
“Just because I have an idea of what is happening doesn’t mean I know fully what brought you here! My best guess would be that your ‘sea-glass’ was an alternate pendant at one time, linked to this one, and it simply was lost at sea and eroded its way out of the chain setting. The magical transportation may have attempted to restore the pendant to its original state and was blocked by the distance or some other factor.” Ford started pacing, considering the different theories behind why this had occurred. How had Stanley found this? Was it really just a piece of sea-glass? Or had he lied, a likely happenstance. But that was a stupid thing to lie about, and Stan had been genuinely confused when he arrived. So was it a separate pendant?
“Before ya pace a hole into the dirt, maybe we should find a town or something. It looks like early morning still, but it’ll be bout as dangerous as a grizzly missing its dinner a month before winter if we stay out here till nightfall.” Fiddleford was twiddling his hands nervously, glancing between the other three.
“He’s right. I think I see some smoke up ahead, if it’s not chimney smoke its at least a campfire or recent campsite we can check out.” Emma grabbed her husband’s hand and then used her staff to hook the baffled twins up and push them towards the path. “We can continue this conversation while we walk.”
“Wait, the books said we would receive quests once we found all of our party members, maybe it has new information?” Ford fumbled for the book, turning back to the quest page. The text had changed, now saying “walk back to the clearing to meet the dungeon master!”
The others had now gathered around him, reading past his shoulders.
“We really did get pulled into your damn nerd game. Who’s the dungeon master, another friend of yours?” Stan crossed his arms as they started walking.
“I don’t know, again, I may have some information, not all of it.” Ford didn’t want to admit that he didn’t exactly have any other friends to his brother, and just sped up until the group reached the decidedly empty clearing.
Stan glanced around the trees, confused. “Is someone supposed to show up? Looks pretty damn empty to me.”
Just then a blast of yellow light and smoke appeared, dissipating into the shape of a tall man wearing bright yellow robes and a top hat, with a decidedly pyramidal head, which sported a singular eye in the middle of each side.
“HELLLLOOO LORDS AND LADY! IT IS I, YOUR GREAT AND HUMBLE DUNGEON MASTER! WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF GALILEAUS!”