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.

Cover-Zombieverse Credit: @MariaVerde

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

LIVE DEMO HERE! https://www.loom.com/share/7b78f948a93d438e85741cb22605e761

  • 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

WIPP Discord

OUTLINE / TODOS / CONTRIBUTIONS

  • CH1: Enter the Zombieverse
    • Outline rough idea (@EZ, @philofaustin)
    • First Draft
    • Editing
    • Illustration
    • Finalize / transfer to master story page
  • CH2: 1st challenge
    • Outline rough idea (@MariaVerde, @careverdeazul, @dazerine)
    • First Draft (@MariaVerde, @careverdeazul, @dazerine)
    • Editing
    • Illustration
    • Finalize / transfer to master story page
  • CH3: 2nd challenge
    • Outline rough idea (@d0nim0)
    • First Draft (@d0nim0)
    • Editing
    • Illustration
    • Finalize / transfer to master story page
  • CH4: final challenge (???)
    • Outline rough idea
    • First Draft
    • Editing
    • Illustration
    • Finalize / transfer to master story page
  • CH5: return to the real world (???)
    • Outline rough idea
    • First Draft
    • Editing
    • Illustration
    • Finalize / transfer to master story page
  • Misc:
    • NFTBook cover (@MARIAVERDE)

ARTIST NOTES

  • CH1 illustration: Show what first Zombieverse scene would look like. (???)
  • CH2 illustration (???)
  • CH3 illustration (???)
  • CH4 illustration (???)
  • CH5 illustration (???)

Characters

@MariaVerde:

  • 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. Protagonist:

Story start!

CH1 - Game on (or game over?)

Crash Credit: @MariaVerde

(@CD) Disease had ravaged the IRL world for years and people had been forced to move their minds and their relationships to the metaverse. At first it was strange, but as the grim reaper's scythe swung to and fro - the world adapted and changed. The first year, the horrors of the non-digital world were more than anyone could bear and the time of dead souls arising and humans giddily encostuming themselves to hide their intent passed without notice. The next year, people had become awkward, they had grown uncomfortable among the breathing, living world - but they tried. The celebrants organized meet-ups and meat-ups, to eat, drink, dance and shake off the awkwardness of having to represent themselves instead of being represented by avatars and profile pics. Electrical storms rolled in to every city, not all at once, but at just the right pace to be unnoticed. There was something else afoot as well - something equally dangerous and equally unreal. On that night, friends who had never met were put on a collision course with a world they could never have known existed.

(@Dylan) Emily had always been a big fan of Discord servers, even though she'd gotten hacked once before. Ouch, she thinks, remembering what it was like to be surprised by her empty wallet. Today, her wallet held a different sort of surprise: a NEW ITEM that she hadn't even had to pay for! It had been airdropped to her by a Twitter account she followed--which meant she was a WINNER!!! She was so excited she could barely stand it. And what had she won? Why, three tickets to the scariest Halloween experience in the entire metaverse.

(@MariaVerde)

CH2: 1st Challenge

(@CD) You know that feeling you get when you think you're going to throw up but then you never do? That was what it felt like - except it went on and on until they had all closed their eyes and at that moment, they were blasted out of the portal like babies being propelled from the room to a rice paddy. It took a few moments for any of them to recover, but the first was Emily. Of course it was Emily. She always had to be first at everything.

"Charlie! Chris! Get your shit together!" She said it as if her shit hadn't of been scattered just moments before. The boys were used to her at this point and knew that if they didn't do what she said, there would be hell to pay. Of course, from the looks of things, there was going to be hell to pay anyway.

"Come on." Emily wasn't going to wait for them, she was already moving towards the only spot in this world that looked any different from where they had landed.

A booming voice stopped her in her tracks and caused Chris to fall onto the ground whimpering.

"Complete the mission, or die!" This was the meta host. It wouldn't be the first or last time they heard him.

"You will face three challenges based on each of your worst fears. You have ten minutes. If you fail, you will die but can know that you will suffer forever as a crappy NFT. Go!"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Chris was still on the ground.

"What's wrong with you man?" Charlie demanded.

"My greatest fear is Zombies!" Chris said. This created a shocked expression on both Charlie and Emily's faces.

"Me too!" They both said at the same time.

Suddenly a wall of Zombies was flowing at them from what had looked like an abandoned farmhouse seconds before.

"Run, you fools!" Emily shouted. She was past them and on her way.

Charlie helped Chris up even as the zombies got closer and closer. "You okay man?"

Chris seemed better. He nodded yes. "We better go man, they look fast, I don't know if we can outrun them at this point."

Charlie shoved Chris to the ground hard. "I'm not going to need to outrun them because I'm sure they'll stop to snack on you!"

Charlie ran away. It was a totally unexpected asshole move.

"Zombies don't actually bother me," Charlie mused as he ran. "What I'm really scare of are women."

Emily loped ahead of him, unaware of what had taken place behind her.

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.

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.

Ch3: 2nd Challenge

@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….

Ch4: Final Challenge - The Crucible

Cave-Zombieverse1 Credit: @MariaVerde

@jimhapax Go here to edit this section >> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q-MHUYYDWxXgBCQ9jfy3FYRpZazfZi3vtcPq-WdaFrs/edit?usp=sharing

Emily and Charlie, when confronted about the last challenge, go through the portal and wind up at the front of a giant cave - the Zombie Dragon’s lair.

Zombie Chris is not far behind - following them with a stupor; never strong to begin with, but the connection they have as friends leaves him aimless, not sure whether he wants catharsis and overcoming, or the brains of his friends. Emily and Charlie may need to fend him off of the hunger - perhaps squirrel brains, or anything dead or rotten scraps lying around.

The friends become more hot and humid as they delve deeper into the cave. Golds, rubies, sapphires pile up as plentiful as the skeletons of those who dared pass before. At the end, there is an opening, and an enormous sombre being sleeps.

“Hello?” Charlie utters, and the beast is disturbed from his dormancy.

“WHO DARES INTERRUPT MY SLUMBER?”

The dragon’s eyes pierce a glowing light; one near impossible to flee the gaze of. It occurs to the two that are yet still lucid that the dragon’s mouth has moved - he speaks with his mind.

“YOUR ENDURANCE TO BRING YOU HERE IS NOT WITHOUT VALOUR; I AM IMPRESSED. HOWEVER, FEW HAVE EVER OVERCOME THE CRUCIBLE.”

“What’s the crucible?”

“ZOMBIES, DRAGONS, VAMPIRES - THESE FOLK TALES HAVE SHAKEN MANY. BUT THE FEARS OF THESE TIMES HAVE DISTURBED SO MANY TODAY, THAT THROUGH DISTRACTION AND AVOIDANCE, THEY NEVER NEED TO FACE THAT WHICH SCARES THEM THE MOST.”

“And what’s that? We’ve slayed an ogre with a boulder! We’ve overcome hordes of zombies! All these accomplishments, and you think we haven’t faced our fears.”

There is a silence. And then, shaking the walls of the cave, the mighty dragon erupts in laughter.

“YOU THINK THESE ARE FEARS?”

Charlie and Emily look each other in the eyes, one last time, before turning back to the dragon’s.

“LOOK INTO THESE EYES. THERE YOU WILL FIND YOUR TRUE FEARS.”

Charlie is too dazed to see Emily dissolve next to him. Chris has already been taken up by the hypnotic gaze. Everything melts, and there is darkness.

INSERT SCENE OF CHARLIE BATTLING BEING SHY TO GIRLS - OVERCOMES IT!

INSERT SCENE OF EMILY BATTLING ABUSIVE FATHER - OVERCOMES IT!

They approach the scenes of their dark memories differently, because they have become stronger people.

They come back to reality, and see Chris fighting with himself…

The teacher mocks him in the school. The piercing sounds of laughter of the rest of his classmates.

“CAN’T YOU DO A SIMPLE MATHS EQUATION? DO I HAVE TO BRING YOU TO THE FRONT. SO YOU CAN EXPLAIN HOW STUPID YOU ARE TO EVERYONE ELSE?”

Chris is shaking. He doesn’t know Emily and Charlie are in front of him, telling him to confront his fears.

“OR WILL YOU PISS YOUR PANTS MAYBE?”

Chris shakes, and the shaking turns from fear, to apprehension, to frustration, to fury.

Chris flips the table. The teacher and the class recoil. There is silence.

Emily and Charlie look at each other. Something has changed in Chris’ eyes.

“He’s going to make it.” she says.

“And WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”

The teacher goes from malice to shock.

“You come in here, you hand out your textbooks, you pick on the quietest kid in the class, and you make them feel terrible. No-one likes you, Mrs Frumpsworth. No-one ever did. I’m sorry you have to do this the kids you’re supposed to inspire. I’m sorry you never got over the worries and problems in your life. I’m sorry you have so little pwoer in your life, that you can only make children miserable.”

The teacher sits down, and is silent.

The children applaud Chris on.

Of course, Chris would not say this as a 6 year old. But, Chris is not 6. The memory is the same; but Chris has changed.

And everything goes dark. And then two faces appear. Emily, and Charlie, in an empty cave - no dragon in sight, and a tunnel to the exit strewn with blue daylight.

Chris, through friendship of Emily and Charlie, help him overcome his greatest fears - he is and has always been the most afraid, but overcomes his fear like no-one else, and so is given the title of the highest heroism - overcoming his zombificiation, and earning some wonderful privilege!

Ch5: Return home

@EZ / PHIL NOTES (live show)

Ideas...

  • Drink the crucible, but it's like taking shrooms or acid. Super trippy
  • They have a trippy scene after drinking before they go back home
  • JIM: Emily wakes up and she's actually in a nightmare at home and the story was an analogy of her home life... face your fears, fight your demons

PTP SHOW NOTES FRIDAY, 10/22

POAP

@EZ plans to write Chapter 1 and replace my notes

@D0NIM0: Well there was a plan in my mind to have one 'pass to the other side'. Emily had a secret crush that informed a dilemma she had to make during the crucible event

@EZ: Maybe instead of killing him off right away, we could kill them later and have their death be revisited and having some sort of meaning in a later chapter.... in some way they died to give the others a chance to proceed to the next challenge

Through this journey the characters have grown closer. His friend sacrificed himself to save Emily.

What if the crucible is they have get a dragon's scale to add to the crucible and drink it to transport back to the real world.

@PHILOFAUSTIN: zombie dragon for sure.

@D0NIM0: I wanted Emily and Charlie's to have to battle Chris, where Chris has been transformed into a some devilish beast. There would be guilt, psychological conflict followed by survivors remorse

@D0NIM0: Well when they went through the portal, the claw that reached through I wanted to leave a tiny flesh wound, that would later be revealed to have coursed through his veins changing his DNA. It would eventually turn him, but he shows courage and strength whilst still in human form to help the other two friends escape. Chris becomes a fallen hero. Something like that (EZ LIKES THIS)