Skip to main content

ZOMBIEVERSE

A short halloween-themed Metaverse story written in collaboration by PAGEDAO Metaverse Writers Guild. It's open to anyone to contribute! We will be minting the NFTBook on Oct 31 with royalties attributed fairly to all who contributed.

Premise...

Halloween night, main character gets transported to the metaverse and is required to fulfill a quest to return home.

$PAGE Grant

The PageDAO is providing 20k PAGE to fund the creation of this project to be paid out upon completion.

  • 10,000 PAGE > Writers
  • 10,000 PAGE > Artists / Illustrators

How to contribute

  • Scroll to bottom of this page, and click EDIT to be redirected to Github page
  • Make your edits (add/edit text or graphics) in a commit, confirm
  • Make a Pull Request (PR) to be added to the live version
  • A maintainer will then review your PR and approve OR request edits

Join the #zombieverse chat in Discord here

discord

Outline

Chapter Outline:

  • Enter the Zombieverse
  • 1st challenge
  • 2nd challenge
  • final challenge
  • return to the real world

Characters

  • Protagonist: Charlie: brown eyes, adventurous spirit, brown hair, NFT collector.
  • Emily: blue eyes, competitive, brown hair. Ready to win.
  • Chris: blue eyes, brown hair, scary. His fears are stronger than he is.

Story start!

zombieverse

CH1 - Game on (or game over?)

Person is at their computer on halloween night. Got stood up for a date... there's a huge storm outside.

Group of friends get together to go out to a party, but a storm hits and they decide to meetup online.

Friend: "I don't know about going out in this weather... We should all go out to Zombieverse instead!"

Main Char: "Sure, I guess"

They're having trouble logging on with the storm going on... Then CRASH! A bolt of lightning teleports them to the unknown.

Wake up in the metavers in a rural part of town. See the lights of a city in the distance.

They could be spirits for all we know...

They start traveling. Strange sounds all around. Could they be animals?

Farmhouses... A chase scene begins... The two run to the nearest house and bangs on the door. No one appears to be home, but the porch light is on.

Knocks, knocks... "PLEASE HELP. SOMEBODY!"

(Maybe there were more than 2 people who got sucked out to the metaverse with the main char. Maybe they run into a couple others in the metaverse they don't know and make friends.)

Who all need to be in this story?

  • Main char
  • 2 friends (one gets killed off immediately!)

As he knocks on the door, behind him his friend is running up the driveway terrified. (first reunion with friend)

WTF IS GOING ON. SOMEBODY WAS CHASING ME! (there was a noise in the bushes)

IDK MAN. SHIT'S GETTING SPOOKY. LET'S KEEP GOIN. (they leave the house)

... another guy from the zombieverse appears on the road. Seems friendly(?)

The 3rd guy yells out "GUYS!". It appears to be their 3rd friend. "Can't believe I found you guys!"

Now they all go out to the next house, and someone actually opens the door!

"Here have some brains..." (not candy?? weird!)

Uh... no thanks, I already ate. We have to go to another party. (they continue on)

The Meta Host Appears

Finally they get into the city.

They meet the "meta host" that welcomes them to Zombieverse.

You only have 24hrs to fulfill this quest or else... you can't return.

Do they have to find a wizard or... ??? in order to go back home.

(they are stuttering asking questions.) "Who is this wizard anyhow?"

Maybe there's a portal they have to go through to begin the quest.

... do they go in?

They go through the portal and the quest begins.

@EZ: Is the meta host the "quest master"? like a NPC that only has scripted responses. ILIKETHIS.

@DAZERINE: Maybe they go and knock on the door and a ghoul answers. And they say “wow, your dressed as a human” think they are there for trick or treat. So they world is inhabited by zombies ghosts etc but similar to ours

@PENNYBAGS: what if they all get an ominous invitation to a metaverse costume party which they reluctantly go to or even get forced into somehow- then it turns into a murder party or some of the costumed guests turn out to be the real thing ( i.e zombie, vampire, etc) :light_bulb: tossing out ideas before we go full zombie direction

@PHILOFAUSTIN: Maybe if they were in a play murder party IRL, they get sucked to zombiemetaverse and stumble upon a REAL murder party. High stakes.

CH2: Quest accepted. 1st challenge

They blast out of the portal into a new foreign place.

Somebody comes out to greet them (NPC ofcourse)... "WELCOME! DO YOU WANT TO PLAY A GAME?"

BY @MARIAVERDE contribution made on 10/16...

When they enter the portal they arrive at the meta host parcel where they must complete the first mission to move on to the next one. Whoever fails to do so dies.

"Okay, the first mission is this: each of you must put on these virtual reality glasses. You will each see different things; three creepy things for each of you. You will have to face them and take each of them down before time runs out." They each have 10 minutes to complete the mission, if they fail they will be immortalized in a NFT that he will put in his NFT gallery. And will never know the real world again. In 3, 2, 1... The three of them put on their glasses and the journey begins. One of them had to fight wild Apes. Another will have to fight Yetis and the last one will have to fight zombies, hungry for blood and guts.

Unfortunately, the last one's greatest fear has always been zombies. He couldn't do much, he was instantly eaten by the zombies. Game over.

The other two will have to go on their way, while he spends the rest of his days as part of the meta host's gallery. In the Zombieverse there is no time for fear.

Ch3: 2nd Challenge

Ch4: Final Challenge

Ch5: Return home

BY @careverdeazul contribution made on 10/20

The friends must fight with zombies, and go through places where they will overcome challenges, a kind of labyrinth. The first participant who has to face the zombies, is with nothing but a map where he can get weapons to face one of those creepy things that the meta host assigned to them. He goes deep into the game, looking for the places that are marked on the map, the first weapon is a firearm. He still has two more weapons to go, to get to the place where he will face the creepy zombies. The player must walk a lot, climb trees and mountains to get the next weapon, he finds it in a waterfall, it is a knife. Although tired, he continues his way, until he finds in a cave the next weapon, there are the bullets of the firearm. With these things he should be ready to face the challenge. Although in zombieverse everything can change in a moment.

@MariaVerde After finishing the first challenge, the three pass through the portal to a new city, but none of them know where the other is. They don't know if they are alive or dead. They arrive in a cyberpunk city, many years ahead of its time. Technology overflows everywhere. That's when the three realize they are alive. They meet the governor, a guy eager for money and technology. He's the only human alive in that city; the others were turned into robots and Bitcoin mining machines.

Here is your second challenge -he says with a wicked smile on his face- you will have to get the first Bitcoin ever created. You will have to navigate among the thousands of robots and technology in the city. But it won't be easy; in that same search there are also the ASIC miners. Good luck, hahaha.

The challenge begins and the three of them run off on their quest. The first attack against the ASIC miners begins and they give the high voltage attack but manage to dodge it.

@dazerine The host laughes in a menacing way, clearing enojoying watching the friends scramble around to survive. They have fought terrible monsters, overcoming fears and even had to hunt down the first Bitcoin and they were now exhausted and weary. Only adrenaline propelled them on now. And the hope of reaching home alive. "So you have made it this far" the host jeered, "possibly just by luck, but let us test that theory. Your next challenge is a maze and you must reach the center. It is surrounded by high hedges with thorns dig into your skin. There are also some plants that have grown a taste for the human flesh, but this should not be a worry to you wonder kids!" On the other side of the room they were in a door creaked open slowly. It lead out into the darkness where the faint rustle of leaves on the wind could be heard. "So just a maze?" the main character asks, thinking this is all too easy compared to the other ordeals they've had to endure. "Yes, but there is a keeper of the maze also. You will have to be quicker then him to get to the portal!" He laughed again in a sinister way.

The group stepped up to the door and looked out into the night. The maze seemed expansive and tall. There was no way to climb it and no way to walk the perimeter, it seemed to stretch on as far as the eye could see. A loud thudding suddenly filled the air. Like footsteps, but louder and slower. They turned in unison to see an ogre the size of a bus lumbering toward them. "The keeper!" they squealed as they all ran into the maze. They could here the footsteps pounding behind them.

They searched and scrambled for any path, but it was all too confusing and no path or way was evident. They hurried on more to keep a distance from the ogre who never seemed too far behind. All the hedges looked the same and a cloudy night meant they could not use stars as navigation. They thought they could use leaves to mark where they had been, but as soon as they approached a hedge to rip one off, a giant mouth appeared from the plant and attempted to swallow them while. They stuck to the middle of the path form then on. The had been in the maze for what felt like ages when they closed in near the center. They could see the portals light reflecting off the leaves and hear the slow, buzzing hum of the power. But alas! They were on the other side of the hedge and were faced with a dead end. "I have an idea," main character said and he put both his hands to his mouth and bellowed loudly "Ogre! Ogre, one of my friends has fallen in some gravy!" A distant rumbling could be heard. Footsteps as loud as battle drums came closer and closer. They could also hear the breaking down of the hedges as a hungry ogre smashed through them to find the straightest line to a quick treat. They stood aside just in time to see him crash through one hedge, and he did not even see them as his momentum carried him through the next. Large holes as wide as small cottages where in the hedge grove now and as they heard the ogre continue to break through the rest, they stepped through one and into the portal

d0nim0#6749 Courageous as he thought it sounded, in retrospect it dawned on Charlie that baiting a starving Orge, the size of a two story building, was beginning to feel like a bad idea. As they tumbled out of the far side of the portal, for a moment all was dark. It was cold. It was silent.

“Ha! We made it! We are safe” cheered Chris. He picked himself up off Emily who had served as a cushion to his fall, with a sigh of relief.

“Looks like it” Emily pondered brushing herself down she looked at Chris “You are not as light as you look”. Chris laughed “I’m a full time desk jockey, what are you going to do, eh?”

They both turned in tandem to see Charlie’s face drain of blood.

“What Charli….?” Before she could even complete the word, the portal began vibrating. It flashed a bright momentary light. She turned with renewed anxiety to witness the regular sized portal morph into a giant fluid blue oval. A hand the size of the canopy of a palm tree appeared through the plasma as if suspended in mid air.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Chris exclaimed.

“RUNNNN!!!”

No sooner had the three stood and motioned back away from the portal, the hand swiped. It was close enough to snag Chris’s hoodie and enough motivation for him to leap backwards, almost knocking Charlie down this time.

The room there were in was darkly, large and cavernous. A faint cool damp breeze passed across their cheeks. Charlies trekking instincts kicked in fuelled by renewed adrenaline.

“Follow that breeze!” “It’s damp, which means there is water nearby”

The three launched themselves forward along a narrow path. Their forward sight was reduced. They used their hands to feel their way along a wall. This wall became a tunnel. The tunnel was moist to the touch: sparkly as a distant ray of light bounced upon it.

The sound of rushing water could be heard. The mouth of the tunnel gave way to bright light and bright blue sky. As they emerged, the halted abruptly. The was no more ground. The entrance ended where a sheer cliff face below began. In front of them was a what appeared to be a cascading water fall on either side of the path ahead…but there was no path. It was as if the water appeared from mid air down into a never ending distance. They could a shiny gate on the far side.

“Holy….! There is nothing here! How are supposed to get to the other side?” Charlie mused.

“Damned if I know” Emily replied “…but we’d best thing of something..fast!!” She wheeled around and gestured in the direction they had come from. A gut wrenching roar emanated from the tunnels mouth. seismic foot steps could be heard gathering pace. Time was short.

“SPLIT UP IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS!’ Charlie yelled. “…and go where? Replied Emily. “ That orge is looking for a toothpick. Track and field was never my strength, remember? I don’t run and I swear it can smell me the most!” She had faced demons, orcs and fifth level mages countless times in her time playing Dungeons ’n’ Dragons for many years…as a board game. The closet thing she had ever faced to an orge in her short life had been on the big screen during a marathon movie night.

Chris paused for a moment. As adventurous as he had been growing up, nothing had prepared him for battle with the undead, not least a house shaped orge with breathe could make steel buckle. “I’ll keep shouting to draw its attention.

“..you go left! Chris, you go right. I’ll stand here. Press up against the ledge. “I have an idea…”

The crushing footsteps were growing louder and more rapid. Nothing that large should be able to move that fast thought Charlie. As Emily went on way and Chris the other, Charlie saw two large boulders either side of the tunnels entrance. He reach behind and drew his climbing rope from his backpack. Tying it around one boulder he fashioned a mask shift trip rope and stepped it into the ground.

Barely had he made it twice around the second boulder with the rope, when an almighty roar and the orge with it rampaged from the tunnel. He pulled the rope. Just as the orge lifted his right leg, it caught the rope. Charlie leaned back hard on it, to maximize the tension. The boulder shifted, just a little. It was not enough. It held it’s footing while the orge did not. It caught the rope with its foot, stumbled forwards clumsily, turning in the same motion to see Charlie beside the rock. It had such size and forward momentum, that it could not stop in time. It fell, breaking the flow of the water falling either side of the invisible expanse. Chris looked down to witness the confusion etched across the beast face as it slowly turned in to complete fear and panic.

The orge turned as it bounced of what looked like nothing. It wheeled and spun, falling hysterically down into the abyss. It’s earsplitting shriek shrinking as quickly has the orge did. Then…nothing. Nothing but the continued rush of falling water and the pulse of beating pulses in their ear. The trio each drew a large breath, giggling at their success.

“We did it!” Chris yelled. Charlie nodded, bent over while he recovered from his exertion.

“When it fell it hit an invisible bridge” Emily pointed out. “It reminds me of the Bridge of Etheragon during one of our fire missions” “It was a bridge of faith, those that had it could pass”

Enlightened by this idea, Charlie stepped forward, sliding his foot where the bridge should be. He applied pressure and there was resistance. He turned to gave a thumbs up to the others. With renewed vigor they splashed their way over the abyss, enjoying the refreshing mist of the waters on their parched lips. When the reached the far side they collapsed under the gate.

“Could this be the final challenge?” asked Emily. “I don’t think I can take much of of this”.

“Och, we can take on anything we put our minds to” Chris replied in a tone of confidence that was a stark contrast to the convert terror behind his eyes.

Charlie stood up “…well…there is nothing like the present to find out”

With a nudge he twisted the lock and the gate squealed open to reveal the final challenge... the Crucible….