Who Chooses to Be a Mermaid in a Desert City?

Play, Review, Play, Review... It might be boring to do the same job day after day, but Zoey and her wife Eleanor are happy being female game reviewers in a field typically dominated by men. Their strengths shore each other up and help them get a broad viewership—Zoey likes to do the random fun things that usually end up going viral, and Eleanor enjoys min-maxing her characters to death. Between them, they'll explore new worlds, defend against all sorts of baddies, and rescue the prince or princess.

Heroes of the Desert Castle is the newest MMORPG they're drooling over, set to release during winter holidays. Which means both of them are super excited to receive pre-event download codes in May. Eleanor already knows she'll be human, but other than that she's researching all the different classes available from the beginning so she can combo the best for her epic build. Zoey, on the other hand, has already spotted the ability to be a mermaid... in a desert city. Intrigued by that juxtaposition (it's either going to bomb horribly OR be the bomb), she selects her mer options and wakes up trapped in a city well. Yay?

It takes a bit of trickery and ingenuity, but she finally escapes into the wild blue yonder. And what's waiting for her is beyond beautiful. A whole glowing world with new quests, people to meet, and villains to fight. Everything seems normal, if high spec... until the moment it isn't and she stumbles upon a secret the world most certainly isn't ready for. Yet the reviewer in her is already writing out the headlines, imagining the online discussions, even as the rational part of her brain already knows it would be best to sit on this for the next few years.

Then another player approaches Zoey with a third, explosive, option...