Quincunx Vol 3

Volume 3 of the collected serial. The earlier chapters are on Scribble Hub (see below) or here on itch.

I'm Nathan. I'm a paramedic. I woke up in a world that looks a lot like an old-school computer game, except minus most of the monsters. My new friends can only think of one way to get me home, but it means visiting five special sites in turn. I really didn't expect the first one to give me a non-human form I can switch to and some neat healing abilities I can only use in that form, but, cliche as it is, it got weirder from there. Also, turns out that I'm not the first newcomer, and there are at least two other people from back home here with really powerful magic. For some reason they don't want me to get through the entire Quincunx. My friends are great, and I love aspects of this world and the acceptance of off-the-rails diversity. I wish I could stay but I miss my family and my job is who I am. How do I help my friends with the poison from my world and get home?

Vol 3: This is turning out to be a longer journey than I was hoping, although I can't say I'm not enjoying the chance to appreciate the world I'm currently in and to spend time with new friends I'm starting to really care about. If it weren't for my family, I'd probably just give up on this whole quest and settle down here quite happily. Well, happily except whatever is going on with this world's two nightmares, and whoever or whatever is rewarding me for victories against them. Seriously, do those two not have something better to do with their time?

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Dedicated to all the first responders and medical workers out there who are putting their lives (and then some) on the line for our sakes. Thank you. Stay safe.

Content warning: The antagonists are an environmentalist TERF woman with delusions of divinity, and a gamer-bro with some *phobic and sexist attitudes and a tendency towards bad language. There's an involuntary collective consciousness (milder than Star Trek's Borg), occasional but rare physical violence, and some discussion of life/death/undeath/reality. The main character is a paramedic and medical first-response situations do come up, in clinical but not graphic terms. If you need a warning that this is very LGBT-positive (note the T in that), you won't like anything I write.

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Running as a M-F serial on Scribble Hub, starting 18 Nov 2024. Volume 3 includes chapters 58 through 97. Also available on Patreon  in my shop (maybe better for UK folks, since for technical reasons itch charges VAT on all projects).