Chapter Text
Luke Carder sat in front of his computer, head in his hands, internally debating over what the hell he's going to do. He had just reset Inscryption for the second time, and now he sort of knew what was going on. The characters were alive, and they had a war going on, and this needed to be solved. That still didn't explain the GameFuna agents arriving at his door, or the person who had broken into his house only a few days prior. It didn't explain the cryptic, tarot-card-esque readings from that holographic Trader. Or the reason that the Mycologists or the Woodcarver knew so much about the mysterious data keeping the game alive. That all didn't matter though, Luke realized.
All of this stuff can wait. I need to handle what's going on in real life first, he thought to himself. Finally looking back up at the computer screen, he closed Inscryption's game tab and began digging though its files.
Let's just make sure that these Scrybes will stay distracted long enough to do this... I still don't want to hurt them, though. Luke sorted through the files of Inscryption, holding the mechanics and coding of the game, an entire world, in the palm of his hand. He needed something that could tear the game character's attention from their ongoing race for control, at least for a day.
Then he saw it. The character files, containing every bit of data related to each NPC and their card battles.
Well. This might work. Let's hope it doesn't affect them too much, Luke thought to himself, unknowing of the problems he was about to cause.
P03 was a busy man, er- robot. His factory production, making sure his robot workers were actually doing their damned job, and knocking down a challenger every once in a while made for a complete and total lack of free time (and, of course, there was that hunt for the DATA, but that was something everyone was doing). This also meant there was no need, want, or time for sleep. Which is why P03 was confused when he awoke to the game booting up, face down on his table. He didn't remember going to sleep, and he couldn't have been knocked out.
It doesn't matter that much, I have more important things to worry about, P03 thought to himself as he got up from the table- and then immediately regretted it. Every single move he made was met with the feeling of nearly thousands of tiny, itchy, thorny objects bumping up against every last inch of his body, an unimaginably loud rustling coming through every single time the needles and thorns hit something. Parts of his vision were blocked by glowing blue symbols and runes, large circles of bright symbols swirling at the corners of his vision. Startled, P03 took a step back (Wait, why do I have legs?) and lost his balance instantly, barely managing to stop his fall by grabbing the large particle scanner right behind him.
Alright. Damnit. What the hell happened? P03 thought to himself, looking around and trying to shake off the feelings of dread that were slowly creeping over him. And then he looked down. Instead of the rigid steel chassis and hover thrusters he was known for, all he saw was the rough, organic mess that was pine branches and needles, flowing down to the floor like an evil, creeping green monster. Instead of a single precise, mechanical claw, he saw two wooden arms, pinned to the smooth glass of the particle scanner, one holding a paintbrush stained with an iridescent pink and green color. And instead of the several thousand thoughts and processes P03 should be able to go through at once, only a single phrase went through his mind.
That fucking wizard is going to die today.
He pushed himself forward, almost falling over again but finally figuring out how to stand up properly, and decided right then and there that he was going over to Magnificus's tower and force him to fix all of this. After all, if there was one thing P03 knew about that mage, it's that he had a knack for cruel and unusual punishments. This was probably revenge for taking over the game, even though Leshy had done the same thing for a longer time, and even turned the Scrybes themselves into cards, and didn't suffer a single scratch. Now more pissed off than ever, P03 began walking (or at least trying to walk) to the door. There wasn't any time for distractions, and unlike Leshy's takeover, he could do something about this problem. Nearly tripping over essentially everything that wasn't perfectly level with the floor and feeling incredibly uncomfortable with every step wasn't going to stop him. In fact, P03 was feeling so confident and determined this time around that he didn't hear the footsteps of a second person as he left the room, or the hushed conversation between two people nearby.
They watched as Magnificus tried his best to make his way towards the mechanical door of P03's factory. Yes, they did have the capability to help him. And yes, they just stood there and looked on because seeing only the most respected mage in their world struggle to walk to a door and open it was hilarious. Or at least, one of them thought it was hilarious.
The watching figure in question appeared to be an ordinary doctor, long white coat and tall boots, at least from the neck down. These were the Mycologists, two heads on one body, a pair of skilled researchers who were known for their gruesome experiments. Well, that's what they looked like. Not even five minutes before, this figure was the Trader, a mysterious woman who would give cards to challengers in exchange for their world's currency, foils. She also happened to share a body with the Trapper, a huntsman who worked for Leshy, and they would flip their skull 180 degrees every time the other was needed. Now, thanks to a certain someone, this was no longer the case.
"Trader. What are you doing." The Mycologist's (Or, uh, is it the Trader's now?) second head spoke in an aggravated whisper. "We need to talk to Magnificus and tell him to change us back."
"Yes, yes, I'm aware. This is hilarious though." the Trader said, watching as Magnificus fell flat on his leafy face trying to use the door's control pad.
"No. We need to go now.What if he's transformed other people? Other Scrybes, even! We need to stop this, or at least find out what happened."
The Trader let out an annoyed sigh and began walking over towards Magnificus, who seemed to have noticed them. He didn't turn around, instead readying something in his hands... a spell perhaps? Suddenly, he whips around, arms extended, holding his paintbrush menacingly. The glowing ink drips on the ground, splashing on the ground before fizzling out and fading, while his swirling blue and green eyes dart around, evaluating his opponent.
"Okay, alright! Sorry for alarming you, sir, it's just..." the Trader puts her arms up and takes a step back. "We know you were the one who did this, Magnificus. You changed me and the Trapper into whoever- or, whatever this is, and we know you've done something to P03, too."
Magnificus lowers the brush a little bit and stares at the two. He seems to realize something, and then hits the button on the door, beckoning them to follow as he walks out, nearly tripping over while he does. A little bit confused, the Trader follows without a word. He leads her down the circular elevator and down to the bridge connecting the Scrybes' islands before turning around and saying something. Or trying to say something, it seems, since the eerie, whispery, yet still quite elegant voice that Magnificus was known for, all the Trapper and Trader were able to hear was the faint sound of the mechanical whirrs of P03's factory.
Magnificus seemed to be aware of this too, and began looking around for something. He then walked off to search through the storage boxes in front of the factory, leaving the Trapper and Trader alone by the bridge.
"...Strange. I expected some sort of hushed explanation of what was happening far enough from the factory so that nobody would notice, but I guess he's just gone..." the Trapper muttered.
"He's acting weird. I noticed his eyes were different as well. Do you think it might be the data's corruption doing this?" the Trader said in reply, crossing her arms and watching as Magnificus(?) walked over holding an uncut sheet of paper that would normally be sliced and put into P03's scanner to print cards on. He went right up to their face(s) and began messily scribbling something on the page. When he held it up in front of them, they saw that he had tried to paint the familiar figure of the Scrybe of Technology, but had clearly failed to the point that it was a bit more like two uneven boxes stuck to each other with sloppy twig arms. Magnificus kept on pointing from the picture to himself, desperately trying to tell the Trapper and Trader something. Thats when it clicked in their heads.
"P03, is tha-"
"PFFFFFHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WAIT HOLD ON YOU'RE KIDDING ME PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE KIDDING THIS IS GOLD!"
"Trapper, what the hell?"
Aaaannnd I'm never asking the Trapper or the Trader for help ever again, was all P03 could think. Watching his game's shopkeeper NPC/rival's subordinate practically choke themselves with laughter once they figured out what had happened to him wasn't exactly the most encouraging thing to witness. And just to add insult to injury, the only reason he wasn't retaliating was the fact that he didn't actually know how to talk while stuck as this idiotic tree. Actually, wait, he could retaliate. Without missing a beat, P03 launched forward one of his stupid twig-claw arms and managed to directly hit the Trapper's face. In an instant the uncontrollable laughter turned into a chorus of "Oww, ooh, why the heck did you do that? Aaaagh," and P03 immediately felt way better about the situation.
"Alright. Now that we've gotten that dealt with-"
"Heey,"
"Shut up. You deserved that. So, P03, do you have any clue what's going on?" the Trader calmly asked, while the Trapper continued to angrily mutter under his breath about how unfair that hit was.
All P03 was able to do was nod, and point towards Magnificus's tower in an attempt to let the two know that this whole body-swap situation was probably a result of his magic, and luckily they got the message.
"So, suspicions confirmed. We head over to Mags, force him to fix this and whatever else he's done, and then make sure nothing happens until the challenger is back." the Trapper said as she began walking towards the sets of floating islands, a magical land of fluorescent paints and pure suffering.
And make sure you know that I'm the Scrybe and you're the seller, too, P03 thought to himself as he reluctantly followed behind. Let's hope that the tower won't be a huge problem. I need to teach that mage something about boundaries, ASAP.
Oh, my sweet summer child.