An icy wind blows through the small, barred window of the interrogation room threatening to put out the only torch illuminating the small cramped space. The sound of dripping water patters to the ground in uneven drops as the icicle that had formed under the torch's sconce hours ago melted from the heat of the flame. It was an almost defiant sound as the water refused to return to it's icy prison. It was this battle of the elements that seemed to add to the tension of the small room. Across the table from you were a pair of guards clad in plate and chain mail. One of the two bore a full helm that he never removed. Part of you wondered why. With the temperatures so cold, it must have been incredibly uncomfortable to wear ice cold metal over their head. Or perhaps the helmet was slightly stuffy as most of the man's breath would be contained within the helmet thus keeping it warm. The sound of something slamming into the table pulls you away from your thoughts. "I'm telling you. We know as much as you do!" Irene shouts as she glares daggers at the two men in front of you. The two of you had been in detainment for about an hour or so after the fight. The guard directly in front of you, a rather serious man who was clearly at the end of his patience speaks up once more. "And we're telling you that it makes no sense that two foreigners, who just recently arrived, immediately find signs of heresy in our city. So we can only assume that you might have had something to do with this." He says, his arms crossed and hands tugging irritably at one of his sleeves. Irene throws her hands up in the air. "What more do you want us to say? That we're here to kill the High Priest? Maybe burn the whole city of Valford and it's surrounding towns to the ground?!" Irene shouts back. "We've told you already! We're just travelers!""You'd do well to keep your servant in check, sir. Her outbursts look poorly on your house." The guard grunts out through gritted teeth. "I'm not his servant! I'm his teammate! He's not even a noble!" Irene continues to shout. The two of them had been arguing in circles for quite some time and it seemed that the only thing you and the other guard had in common was that neither of you seemed to have the opening to speak up. Part of you found it very amusing and another part of you found it rather fascinating. Irene was never like this outside of the game. She was always far more calm and collected. As a matter of fact, you don't think you'd ever seen her angry at work.
"I'm getting nowhere with you. Clearly you have some kind of predisposition to subvert the truth!" The guard finally snaps and shouts back. He jabs a finger at the table as if demanding order like some kind of judge. "I recommend that you speak truthfully good sir as I've rather lost my patience with the two of you and your games. For starters, you could actually give us the name of you and your house, maybe how you're able to shapeshift. ">What do you say?>Stick with the name you gave him from the start. The Traveler. >Give him your real name. John Doe. >Say your in game name. Regal_20. >Side step his question. Say you'll tell him what you're doing here in exchange for information regarding the heretics and dragons. (What do you want to know?)>Write in.
>>6274857>Stick with the name you gave him from the start. The Traveler.We’re back.
>>6274857>Say your in game name. Regal_20.
>>6274857>Stick with the name you gave him from the start. The Traveler.say that we saw this sus guy in the bar and that he seemed to recognize us because he suddenly started runningwe suspect he was a spy, possibly one of manyhe could have been working for the same group or individual behind the wyvern attack on the airshipoffer them our help
>>6274857>Stick with the name you gave him from the start. The Traveler.
>>6274857>Give him your real name. John Doe. Normally I'd vote to stick with Traveler but this is funnier.
>>6274857>Say your in game name. Regal_20.I feel like John Doe would be the more classic manhwa answer, so let's do a little different.Have they not yet found out that MC stopped the last dragon attack?
>>6274863>>6274878>>6274885>>6275297We have a code name and we're sticking to it. >>6274952They have not. The story is being circulated by players but it's only been a few hours since then. Compounding the fact is that your pseudonym is The Traveler which is easily confused for "a traveler" so the original tale is told with you and your name as the hero/leader but subsequent tales get a bit muddled and sometimes just substitute you for a generic traveler. Not someone who goes by the moniker. On the plus side, no one is finding out you were the God of Battle or the one who got server first.
You hold your hands up in a gesture of peace. "As my companion has mentioned. I just go as The Traveler. Like it or not, I don't have a name anymore." The helmetless guard's eyes bulge and for a moment you fear that they'd simply pop out of his skull. You make a placating gesture and quickly add, "However, it's like we said. We arrived here on a whim after hearing that this place is famous for it's technology and mixture of magic. Unfortunately, what captivated our attention was not what your city offered but what it suffered from. On my flight here my airship was raided by wyverns, some bearing actual riders. If it wasn't for the fact I was flying with actual adventurers then I'd probably have been dead." The guard in front of you stares at you but glances at his partner. The silent man's helmet tilts ever so slightly in what you estimate to be a nod. With the guard placated for the moment you continue, "It was because of this we became curious of what was going on in the city. We've never heard of anything about dragons or heretics before. But it was getting late and we decided to take shelter from the cold. At the tavern we were in, we noticed a suspicious person. Before we could call the guards or tell anyone, he noticed us and proceeded to run so we went after him. After that, he transformed and we only defended ourselves. I don't think there's anything suspicious about that." You conclude. "See? It's like we told you before. We haven't done anything!" Irene argues, folding her arms tightly across her chest. The two guards look at each other for a moment making it the most movement you'd seen from the silent one. The silent guard leans down and seems to whisper something to his partner. As if in defiance, Irene does the same. "Think they believe us?" She whispers. "I think they're getting it. We're being pretty persistent with our story and it's not like we changed anything up." You whisper back. "I think they're gonna have to come to terms with the fact we're telling the truth.""That or they'll just throw us in jail." Irene mumbles as she goes back to sit up straight. Another cold breeze blows through the small room and the torch flickers menacingly. Eventually, your two counterparts seem to come to a conclusion and you speak up once more."It it means anything. We are willing offer our help. We have...umm...experience with a few things due to our travels." You say. It was rather difficult to keep up the facade of not being an adventurer while offering to help with things that is usually taken up by adventurers. Still, you couldn't deny that it was very funny to see how people reacted. The guard before you rubs his temples. It was clear that this was not what he had in mind for his shift today.
He stands up, "I need to get in contact with my superiors..." He half mutters half grunts and he walks out. You and Irene sit there a bit awkwardly whilst the remaining guard remains as immobile as ever. Eventually, restlessness begins to settle in and you start to idly tap on the table. Irene quietly traces shapes on the table using the water that was dripping from the bottom of the torch. Just as your boredom starts to reach it's highest point, a loud noise reverberates throughout the hallway outside. Too far to tell what it source was, you can only confirm that it was not something to take comfort in when it sounds out once more, slightly louder, and a clear roar echos throughout the halls. Instinct and years of playing kick in as you and Irene immediately get to your feet and with weapons drawn if you had any on hand. Only a split second later, the silent guard also gets to his feet with a mace and shield in hand. You hear the noise once more only this time it was far clearer. The sound of something being forcibly broken or perhaps an explosion of some kind. "I don't have my weapon!" Irene says as another explosion rings out. By now you can hear the shouts of guards and other prisoners running around. The door rattles as someone attempts to open it but when it fails to open, you hear something being slammed against it in an attempt to break it down. >What do you do?>Take a step back and let the guard take point. Right now you need to focus on getting Irene a weapon.>Throw the door open and take whoever is behind it by surprise. >Take point and wait for the door to be broken down then attack. Escaping is your priority.>Write in.
>>6275376>Take a step back and let the guard take point. Right now you need to focus on getting Irene a weapon.
>>6275376>Take a step back and let the guard take point. Right now you need to focus on getting Irene a weapon.So I guess the cost is for the town to bother with
>>6275376>Throw the door open and take whoever is behind it by surprise. *Sigh*, we'll do the heroic thing, I guess
>>6275376>Take point and wait for the door to be broken down then attack. Escaping is your priority.
>>6275413>>6275434>>6275442>>6275516Sorry about no updates yesterday, work had me beat. We'll let the guard tank for us. Writing.
You shift to the side and let the guard take the front. "Where do you have our weapons?" You ask. For the first time all night the man speaks up. "Guard quarters. End of hall." He says, his voice measured and brief. The door rattles once more as something strikes it with more force that bare hands could muster. Another strike hits it and you can hear the wood crack from the impact.. Once more and the guard raises his shield higher as the hinges rattle and become loose. A third time and you see something pierce through the center of the door, glinting in the torchlight. The sound of cruel laughter slips between the missing chunk of door and you see the head of a hand axe embed itself into it. With a shout the guard rushes forward, shield up and mace at the ready, and slams into the door. The weakened door breaks apart on impact sending whoever was behind it flying. You rush forward just in time to see the guard block a sword with his shield. He sidesteps, allowing the sword to slip harmlessly off his shield and building momentum to swing his mace right into the attacker's side. There's a sickening crunch and the man falls to ground clutching his side. Another inmate rushes forward with a dagger in his hand in hopes of scoring a surprise hit. "Stick close!" You shout to Irene as you step forward to parry the attack at the wrist. The drive your fist into the inmate's gut, knocking the wind out of him, and following up by a straight kick to the chest. The blow sends him flying backwards a few feet and allows another to take his place. You pull Irene between you and the guard. "We got a live one boys!" One of the inmates shouts. "An a pretty one too." "We have to start working towards the guard station. If we hold our ground we'll just get swarmed." You say, ducking under a swipe and punching your assailant twice in the face. You think you hear the guard make a noise of approval but it's difficult to hear over the din of the shouting. Even so, he begins to move towards the end of the hall. You half walk, half hop backwards as you stay on your toes and move along with the group. Another inmate goes down under the impact of the guard's mace and you fend off one who attempts to grab Irene though not before she breaks his nose with a single punch. Inch by Inch, you fight your way towards your destination. "Where the hell are the other guards?!" Irene screams over the fighting.
"Upper or lower floors." The guard says. "Sounds like fighting there." You focus on listening and you think you can faintly hear the sounds of footsteps coming down from the stairwell. You're quite surprised the man can hear anything properly from under that helmet. Irene opens her mouth to say something else but a loud roar reverberates through the hallway. From the opposite end of the hallway you see a large scaled mass. It's jaw hangs in an odd angle and it walks with a strange gait as if it were limping. It punches down a doorway, releasing the prisoners within, with the same explosive sound you heard moments earlier before it turns and seems to notice your group. It lets out another unholy roar and begins to rush down the hallway. Any inmates who didn't immediately move out of the way are crushed underneath or thrown into a nearby wall with similar results. "It's that thing from before!" Irene shouts. >What do you do?>Run. Forgo all defenses and make your way upstairs. You're not sure if you can fight that thing in such cramped quarters. >Fight your way to the guard station. You might be able to barricade yourself in there long enough to gather some supplies and gear.>Stand your ground. With that thing chasing you, you won't be safe until it's put down.>Send the Guard and Irene forward. You'll stay behind and hold the line to buy them time. >Write in.
>>6276371>>Send the Guard and Irene forward. You'll stay behind and hold the line to buy them time.let's see if he still feels like boiling himself
>>6276371>Send the Guard and Irene forward. You'll stay behind and hold the line to buy them time.
>>6276371>Fight your way to the guard station. You might be able to barricade yourself in there long enough to gather some supplies and gear.
>>6276374>>6276378>>6276384>>62765351v1 rematch. Let's do this. Writing.
"Irene, go with guard and get armed, get reinforcements. I'll hang back and hold these guys down." You say. Irene gives you a look. "Are you crazy! There's like a hundred other guys here along with that thing! We should fall back. Regroup with the other guards and work our way back down." She argues. You shake your head. "If that thing is on the loose that it'll whittle us down before we can form a unit. At least against normal prisoners, you and the other guards can group up to make a sizable group. Otherwise, we're just trickling in. Doesn't work well in mobas or here." You insist. "Worst case scenario, you'll have to find other adventurers while the guards hold the line." Irene chews her lower lip. "Damn it, you're right. Hopefully we can find some healers." She relents. "Does the guard have any clerics?" She asks. The guard nods. "Yes." He says simply. "Come on." The two of them turn their backs to you and you to them. You take a deep breath to center yourself and you dash forward on exhale. Leaping into the thick of things, you kick an inmate in the back of the head, swing your leg around to strike at another's knee, and shove them back into a empty cell. The scaled beast lumbers towards you and one of the inmates charges it. "Die heretic scum!" They shout but his dagger bounces uselessly off it's scales. The monster grabs him by the leg and quickly slams him into the stone floor just like he did to you. The impact snaps the man's head and he dies instantly. His limp body is tossed aside and the monster continues onwards. You didn't have any knowledge of taming beasts, nor were you as good as reading people as Irene but you could see hate in it's eyes. Whatever intelligence was left in the monster's mind was enough for it to remember and to hold a grudge. You raise your hands and get ready for a fight but another inmate leaps on your back! He shouts something unintelligible and tries to bring an ax down on your head. You just barely catch his wrist and throw him over your shoulder. The distraction is enough and the back of the monster's hand connects. You're flung back and sent rolling on the ground. Adrenaline rushes through you allowing you to catch the foot of someone attempting to stomp your head in. You pull, twisting the ankle, and causing them to slam their head into the corner of an entrance to a cell.
The monster's fist misses you as you instinctively roll to keep on the move. Bits of brick hit scratch at the side of your face but you manage to avoid any real damage. You throw yourself forward, driving your fist into the beast's hip as hard as you can. It felt like striking stone but more of it's scales crack from the impact. You stay close, using it's elongated arms against him and not giving it a chance to get a good grip on you. The hallway made it difficult for the two of you to move around. There wasn't enough space for you to dart around it like you did before without getting into it's range but the narrowness also prevented the monster from swinging it's arms around like flails. You say on your toes, waiting. You knew what it could do. If it chose to breath fire down the hall, you're not sure if you'd be able to get away at this distance. You glance over your shoulder for a moment. Irene and the guard were still making their way down the hall adding to the list of targets the fire could hit. Even if you could direct it up or down, you'd still get some of the brunt of it. Worse yet, it might cause the floor or ceiling to destabilize, collapsing them. Still, you couldn't just stand there and do nothing. You needed some kind of plan. A few more inmates begin approaching you as well, hoping to take advantage of the fight. Were they allied with the monster? You don't recall it avoiding friendly fire unless releasing it's allies was a side effect to it's rampage.>What do you do?>Try and force your way past the beast. If you can get on the other side, it'll at least be facing away from Irene and the Guard. >Have the monster use it's breath attack and aim it to cause a collapse. It could lead a lot of damage. The only issue is the matter of you surviving it.>Continue to stand your ground. You just need to buy time. Not win. If you die, you'll have to run back but hopefully enough of a defensive line can be built to hold the tide for you to return. >Push past the beast and run downstairs. Maybe there's enough hate in it's mind that it'll give chase. Pulling it to a lower floor would buy some more time. >Write in.
>>6277553>Continue to stand your ground. You just need to buy time. Not win. If you die, you'll have to run back but hopefully enough of a defensive line can be built to hold the tide for you to return.
>>6277553>Continue to stand your ground. You just need to buy time. Not win. If you die, you'll have to run back but hopefully enough of a defensive line can be built to hold the tide for you to return.If we're just buying time, then it's better to keep putting prisoners between us and it until either of them get tired of it.
>>6277553>Try and force your way past the beast. If you can get on the other side, it'll at least be facing away from Irene and the Guard.
>>6277600>>6277596>>6277568We're standing our ground. Hero style. Writing.
You leap forward transforming midjump to deliver a kick to another inmate. "It's round 2 buddy! Hope you're ready for a repeat of last time!" You shout, pointing right at the monster. Truthfully, you weren't there to win but if it meant that the monster would focus it's attention to you and let you buy more time, you were more than willing to play the part. Several attacks come your way but your new form's extra speed gives you just enough of an edge to get by unscathed. A small step backwards causes swung brick to miss, a lean to the right and the following attack causes the dagger to cut into the previous attacker's arm, ducking causes a hammer to strike the dagger wielder in the chest and you finish it all off by kicking them all over. You quickly hop over the struggling inmates to avoid getting grabbed by the monster, it's claws digging furrows into the stone floor as they miss you. Thrusting out your legs, they connect straight into the monster's chest throwing it backwards into some more people. The monster digs it's claws into the walls to slow it self, slicing through doors and stone alike. You try to get into striking distance but more prisoners block your path. Beyond them, you see more of them engage the monster. "Get 'im boys! We kill the heretic and they'll let us out as heroes!" One of them shouts. The inmates before you didn't seem as inclined to do so. Instead they rush you, most wielding rubble such broken stone or bits of door and others with nothing at all. You're forced into a back step as they all rush at you. You block, duck, and dodge to keep the attackers at bay while you see the inmates taking on the monster fall one by one. Slipping into an empty cell, you grab the wrist of one of your attackers and pull them roughly into a knee to the gut. You toss them into the cell and step forward to drive your shoulder into the next, knocking them and his companions aside. A scream echoes through the hall. The inmates fighting the monster were doing as well as you would have guessed. Two lay dead on the ground, and a third seemed to be fading fast. A fourth is held in both of the monster's hands, one of his arms bent at a wrong angle. You bolt towards him, kicking aside one of the men who tried to hold you back. There's another snap as the monster bends the man's other arm to the brink and beyond. He screams and you grab your fist to bring both hands down in a hammer blow to the monster's knee. The beast roars in pain, dropping the injured man. You manage to catch him, stomp down on the broken scales on the monster's knee, and dive into another cell. "Hells! What is that thing?!" The man screams between swears. He shouts vulgarities as you set him down in a corner of the room.
"Stay still, I need to keep that thing at bay." You say, dashing out. You instinctively throw a punch out of surprise just as you leave the door and run into the monster. In it's pain, it had followed you despite the heavy bleeding coming from it's injured leg. Your fist connects right into it's chest just as it slams both it's hands down on you. Your legs buckle and the ground underneath you cracks from the impact but you remain upright. Gritting your teeth, you raise your foot as high as you can and kick forward with all your might. The monster stumbles back and crashes into the wall behind it causing it to fall. You stumble forward yourself and get back to your original position putting you between the monster and the guard station at the far end of the hall. The monster slowly starts to get to it's feet, small jets of fire escaping it's mouth. >What do you do?>Run forward and strike at it's face as hard as you can. Hopefully that's enough to get it to not breathe fire. >Leap into an empty room at the last minute and hope the fire doesn't come in as it fills the hall.>Grab some debris and try to jam it down the monster's throat. Maybe it'll start to choke.>Tank the flames like you did before and continue fighting. Survival is a secondary objective. >Write in.
>>6279197>Grab some debris and try to jam it down the monster's throat. Maybe it'll start to choke.
>>6279197We have those goblin spurs right? Hot metal spikes shoved in its mouth would surely hurt. maybe some knives the prisoners were wielding
>>6279197>Grab some debris and try to jam it down the monster's throat. Maybe it'll start to choke.Yeah, I like this plan. It's creative
>>6279203>>6279286>>6279418Shoving things down the monster's throat. Writing. Sorry about the slow updates. This week has been pretty grueling.
You dash forward. With little time to spare, you needed to keep the monster from breathing fire otherwise you'd have no room to dodge. You stoop down to grab the nearest thing on the floor as you run. With out looking at what you grabbed you thrust your arm forward and down the monster's gullet. With a grunt, you twist your wrist to force the object into a horizontal position perpendicular to the throat's orientation. The monster makes a mix between a gurgling noise and the sounds of trying to throw up as it begins to spasm in pain and confusion. Unable to move due to having your arm stuck in it's mouth, you're knocked aside as the monster tries to dislodge whatever you had forced it to swallow. You manage to catch a glimpse of a glint of metal as you fall back and you think it might have been a fallen weapon of some kind. Rolling with the impact, you grab a chunk of fallen wall and rush in to do it again. A swipe misses you and you roll out of the way as one of it's limbs slams into the ground. You manage to get in close and shove the fists sized stone into it's mouth. The rock lodges in place but you have no time to celebrate or plan. By now the flames were burning brightly as the fire breath ignites fully. There's a kind of backfire as the monster involuntarily inhales from choking. The knife melts from the sheer heat and the brick shatters but the inhale causes the beast to pull the flames back in, further scorching the wounds left in it's throat and causing it to go into a kind of coughing fit. The result is a kind of fireball that explodes directly into your face, sending molten slag right at you. You're sent flying backwards and you slam right into the edge of a door frame. A sharp pain in your back flares up and mixes with the burning sensation of being light on fire. You slump to the ground as your armor fades away, your transformation forcibly ended from the amount of damage you took from the blast. Your vision is blurry and an angry red tint encroaches the edges of your sight as the game tries to remind you of your low health. You struggle to your feet as everything feels like it weighed 10 times more than normal.
The monster fared no better as the it continued to choke from the injuries sustained from the lodged weapon, the flames and subsequent explosion. It grabs at it's throat as it's stuck in a kind of loop. The flames are drawn in by it's involuntary inhalations, further injuring itself and causing it to cough out. This causes the fire to come out as a fire ball and explode nearby, sending debris flying and forcing it to inhale once more as it empties it's lungs as it a result. Unable to cancel it's fire breath attack, the loop continues for a few more seconds, burning inmates to cinders, collapsing walls and making the floor and ceiling unstable. Regardless if the inmates were allied with the monster or not they all began to flee to try and get away from the walking bomb. Eventually, the flames die down and the hate returns to the monster's eyes now solely locked on you. You struggle to your feet as the beast makes it's way towards you, angrily lashing out at anyone nearby and leaving a trail of bodies as it approaches. "Everyone, open fire!" Instincts you thought long dormant kick in and you throw yourself to the floor as a storm of gunfire flies overhead. Bullets and magical bolts from Gunner weaponry strike the monster through sheer volume as it's forced backwards. You twist your neck to look behind you and see a party of Gunners behind you, each one bearing a guild symbol on some part of their armor. One of them pulls back a bolt on their weapon like one of those old rifles and they shout, "Grenade out!""No! Wait-" You begin to shout but it's too late. With a loud "phonk!" a spherical object it fired from the Gunner's weapon. It arcs over your head and lands at the monster's feet before exploding on impact. Had it been only been a few moments earlier, you might have risked such an attack but after the choking and fireballs, the floor stood no chance. It immediately collapses under the weight of the monster sending it hurtling to the floor below. You can hear screams as the ceiling from the floor below collapses and buries whoever was unfortunate enough to have been standing there moments ago. There is a kind of domino effect as the floor continues to fall apart from under it's own weight and it quickly makes it's way towards you. You only just get to your feet as you feel the ground fall from under you. By some miracle you manage to catch yourself just in time. You find yourself hanging from the floor but even as you try to pull yourself up, you can feel the floor trying to fall apart from under your grip. "Hang on!" You hear one of the gunners shout followed by the sound of cautious footsteps. You look down to see the the monster buried under the rubble but you're unsure if it's still alive or if it finally died. Unfortunately, the bodies you can see among the debris had no such uncertainty. They were dead.
>What do you do?>Drop down and check the monster's body to finish off if you need to. If it wakes up, you don't think you have the strength to fight it.>Wait for rescue to come. You don't think you can do much else now. Some one else can clean up what's left. >Get the party of Gunners to try and help you down. They can serve as back up in case the thing is still alive.>Write in.
>>6280035>Get the party of Gunners to try and help you down. They can serve as back up in case the thing is still alive.
>>6280035>Get up and sit at the rim, ready to taunt the thing and just run while the gunners finish it off.
>>6280035>Drop down and escape the building. The Gunners can finish him off.
>>6280035>Get the party of Gunners to try and help you down. They can serve as back up in case the thing is still alive.Go in for round 3 with the scaly son of a bitch.
>>6281317>>6280048>>6280040Round 3 it is. With a crew. Writing.
"Dude, what the hell was that?! We said flashbangs only!" One of the gunners snaps. You quickly glance down at the rubble below you. The half dragon/half human monstrosity could still be seen despite having both a floor and roof's worth of debris atop it. While it didn't move, you couldn't be too sure if it was dead. That thing had a nasty habit of staying up despite all you threw at it. "Forget that now! We have a man hanging for his life!" Another voice shouts and their footsteps come running towards you. The three gunners make it to the edge and begin to dig around their packs. "You're lucky to be alive mate. I would have figured the blast got ya." The one urging for haste says. "We'll get ya up right now." One of the gunners pauses and looks at you for a moment before a look of recognition flashes in their eyes."Yooo! It's that dude I was tell you guys about! The Traveller!" He says grabbing a rope and tossing it to you. "This guy is legit, man! Few us through a cloud of those scaly bastards and got us out alive! How are you doing man?" He asks enthusiastically. The two other gunners look at him in confusion but assist him in tying the rope to something somewhat solid. "Could be better." You grunt as you grab the rope and brace against what remained of the floor and helped the others lift you up. "Seems like I keep finding trouble though." You quickly add as your pulled onto solid ground. "What are you doing here?" The new recruit grins."I joined EVO! They were recruiting today and I managed to get in!" He says proudly. "Got assigned to patrol this section of the city when we heard there was a prison break. By the time we got here, most of the upper floors were secured but damn...what the hell was that thing?" He asks pulling out a small vial of red liquid and handing it to you. "Here, you probably need some HP right?"You nod and gratefully down the potion. The flashing red at the edges of your vision slowly fade away. "Thanks. As for what that thing is..." You quickly run down the last few hours of your adventure. The two other gunners look at you with a bit of disbelief but given that they just saw what you were fighting they had no choice but to believe your story. "We didn't have anything like that back on server 4." One of them says. His armor, though still low level, was of a quality that suggested he was of a higher rank or at least was a senior member of the Guild. Maybe he transferred to serve as the foundation for Evolution's guild on this server. Your old shipmate seems unfazed."Well whatever it is, we should be good. We basically buried that thing in a whole house. I say we call it a day and let the guards take care of the rest.""No. We should go down there and finish it off." You counter. "This thing's annoyingly tough and I don't think it's dead. Not until that thing's riddled with holes. We should make our way down and kill it."
"He's right." The third Gunner says with an air of seniority about him. He bore an intricate symbol on his his armor that perhaps meant he was the most senior member of the three. "The guards were having trouble containing the regular inmates and that beast. If we leave this to them and it's still alive, they won't stand a chance." He hands you another healing potion. "If you're as good as the rookie says, we could use an extra pair of hands." "Captain, you sure? He's not a guild member, let alone a gunner. In halls these narrow, he'd be more of a liability than anything." The second member says. "I'm used to fighting along side ranged classes. Gunners in particular. Not to mention, there's still prisoners down there. Even with three of you, you'll be overwhelmed. Especially if you're going to be focus firing on that beast." You point out. "And we'll have a harder time fighting if you're constantly getting in out lines of fire. You don't even have a weapon. At least, go back up and grab something from the guards." The second member argues. "Besides, we have CC. We should be fine.""Waitwaitwait. I've seen the dude in action...kinda." The rookie speaks up. "I can vouch for the dude. He's got awesome battle sense. He can help us!""You've only been with him for what? An hour? You didn't even see him fighting. This is way different than having a full battalion of classes. 3 ranged classes and...what's even your class?" He asks. "I can fight." You say, doing your best to hide your belt under your clothes. "Don't worry about me not having a weapon." "Great, he's some kind of RPer or challenge runner." The second member says, throwing up his hands. "That's enough." The senior member says. "The...Traveler is right. We could use someone who is a front liner to keep mobs away." He turns to face you. "That being said, if you fall we won't be risking ourselves to save your gear. It'll stay there and if it's stolen or confiscated then we won't be responsible." You nod."That won't be a problem." You assure him. "It's been a bit but I'm sure I can hold my own."
"Then it's settled. Let's start making our way down. Take point, sir." He says offering his hand to shake. You take the offer and shake hands firmly. It takes a few more minutes to set up a rope bridge and secure it to something solid but soon enough, the four of you were standing on the floor below you. As if on queue, several inmates begin to walk out of the various cells they were hiding in, each one wielding a weapon that they had pillaged from a dead guard. "Well...this is what you're here for." The second gunner says as he levels his gun. "Buy us some time we'll make our way to the monster.""Good luck my man." The rookie says slapping you on the back. "I believe in you.">What do you do?>Charge the inmates. You can't transform so it's all you can do. You just need to pull out all the stops and hope instincts kick in.>Tell the Gunners to throw some flashbangs at them. Having them blinded will help you but they won't have it ready if they need it for the monster.>Tell the Gunners to open fire on the prisoners. You'll hold the line and keep them at bay while they clean house. At the very least they can provide covering fire.>Write in.
>>6281422>Tell the Gunners to throw some flashbangs at them. Having them blinded will help you but they won't have it ready if they need it for the monster.
>>6281422>Charge the inmates. You can't transform so it's all you can do. You just need to pull out all the stops and hope instincts kick in.
>>6281422>Just stand your ground, leg sweeping the ones that ignore you and grappling the ones that don't. You don't need to stop them all, focus on not taking hits.
>>6281422>Tell the Gunners to throw some flashbangs at them. Having them blinded will help you but they won't have it ready if they need it for the monster.I don't think flashbangs will be very useful against the monster anyway
We got a tie between going solo or having some CC thrown to help.
>>6281442>>6281550>>6281788We're just running at them. Writing.
"Alright, leave it to me." You say as you wind up your arm and try to get the aches out. You hop from one foot to the other to get yourself going. There was something about working in a part, having to balance other teammate's strengths and weaknesses, adjust on the fly because of it, that really seemed to bring back that old energy you used to have. Something about overcoming obstacles perhaps? You were never quite sure, but when the cards were down and your team really needed you to preform that always seemed to bring out the best in you. "On the count of three. One..." You say."Two..." The rookie counts, giddiness in his eyes."Three!" The party captain shouts and you all break formation. You sprint forward, slamming your fist across the first inmate's chin with a vicious left hook. He spins around and you wrap your arm around his neck in a lock before spinning around using him as a counter weight to build momentum. Your heel strikes the neck inmate in the temple as you roundhouse him just as a knife plunges into the body of the inmate you were holding. The knife wielding inmate swears in shock and confusion but you stamp your foot down and shove the dead body right on top of him. Another charges you mace held high, too high, and you block the downward swing by grabbing his arm. You drive your fist into his kidney once, twice, three times before he drops the weapon in pain and you finish him off by palm striking him in the nose. Blood splashes on your hand and face from the force but you spare no time in tightening your grip on the man's arm and hurling him over your shoulder right into the inmate who managed to shove the body of his dead companion and finally got to his feet. The two fall to the ground in a confused tangle of limbs and pain.
There's a shout as a massive man leaps from the shadows and puts you in a bear hug, pinning your arms to your sides. Another rushes you down, sword in hand, but you pull your legs to your chest to avoid a slash and then snap them forward to kick him away. The large man squeezes tightly and you feel your bones ache as you take damage. Gritting your teeth, you snap your head back and feel it collide with your captor's face. He grunts but his grip doesn't looses and you do it again, and again. The back of your head aches fiercely but the man's grip looses enough to slip an arm free. You feel behind you, desperately looking for something to grab on. When your fingers catch on to something fleshy...Ability: Grab activated...you pull with all your might. Something tears as the man's flesh is weaker than the supernaturally enhanced grip the game gave you. He immediately lets you go, his hands grasping at the side of his head where his ear once was. You barely land on the ground before you spin in place and start punching at the large man's knee. Once then twice before there's a crunch and he falls under his own weight. You can barely hear the sounds of gunfire and talking as your mind is too busy on fight or flight mode to listen properly. You're not even given enough time to reposition as two men charge you at once, each wielding hand axes. "HE'S JUST ONE MAN! KILL HIM!" one shouts. Running on raw instinct and reflexes, your body moves on it's own. You lean back slightly, the first axe swing missing your nose by a fraction of an inch, then immediately ducking down to avoid the near simultaneous swing behind you. You can feel the slight tug of your scarf as the blade slides across it but doesn't catch. Neither men had time to process their attacks missing nor time to pull back and try again as you throw yourself to the ground and sweep the legs of the nearest one. He falls but you use the spin of the sweep to turn and deliver a series of punches right into the abdomen of the other. As your combo knocks the second one down, you cartwheel ontop of the first to fall and punch him repeatedly in the head until he stops moving. You barely catch the sound of something swinging through the air before you take a sledgehammer to the chest sending you rag dolling through the air and onto your back. Virtual adrenaline is the only thing that keeps your moving allowing you to roll out of the way in the nick of time. Stone shards scratch your face as the hammer crashes near your head. You get to your feet, spot dodging the next attack, and try to shatter the shaft of the hammer with a stomp but it's wielder shoulder tackles you aside. Stumbling backwards, you reorient yourself and take a split second to settle a bit. The last inmate charges you, swinging his weapon wildly and you rush forward to meet his charge.
The hammer arcs through the air and cuts down in an angle in hops of denying you as much area as possible to evade. You jump parallel to his swing. The hammer head strikes the ground just under your feet before you kick off from the wall right at your attacker. The man's eyes widen in surprise as you rocket towards him and hammer your knee right into his face. The two of you fall to the ground but you make sure to drive your elbow right into him as you both hit the ground. You feel the man's body stiffen slightly before going slack and unconscious or perhaps dead, you didn't really check. You get your feet as quickly as possible. Bodies lay everywhere around you but you didn't have time to look at your handiwork. A little ways ahead were the three gunners squaring off against the dragon monster. A look of sheer awe in the eyes of the rookie who seemed to have been more concerned watching you than keeping an eye on his target. The dragon monster looked a lot worse off then it did when you were fighting it. The combination of your last gambit, the grenade blast, and the ensuing collapse of the prison atop of it had taken it's toll. It's hide was patchy and bloody, missing large chunks of it's natural scale armor. Streaks of severe burns marred the rest of it's body and you hazard to guess that they were no less than third degree burns courtesy of the back blasts from it's own fire. "Flashbang out!" The second in command shouts as he throws a cylindrical object toward the monster. You turn your head to avoid the flash but the dragon beast was not so lucky. It's marred eyes had blurred it's vision to badly for it to notice such a small object in the dark. It was said darkness that amplified the effects of the grenade now causing an even stronger shift from dark to light. Whatever remained of the monster's retinas were overloaded and it instinctively reached for it's face. It was that movement that caused it to screech even more as it probably felt the myriad of broken bones shift and tear at it from within thus forcing it to move as the pain hit it and repeating the cycle once more. "It's guard is down! Everyone open fire!" The captain shouts. "Use your strongest skill!" Bullets and blasts riddle the beast and you start to see chunks of it being blasted off. Eventually the trio force all their abilities into cooldown and remain firing regularly but by then the monsters falls to the ground, mangled but now well and truly dead. >What do you do?>Go over to the gunners and check to see if the damn thing is actually dead. You don't want find out if it can raise itself from that. >Sit down and take a big breather. It's been a while since you've fought for this long nonstop. Let the gunners come to you.>Leave the clean up to EVO and go find Irene. Hopefully she got somewhere safe or else you might get an earful tomorrow.>Write in.
>>6282220>Sit down and take a big breather. It's been a while since you've fought for this long nonstop. Let the gunners come to you.
>>6282220>Go over to the gunners and check to see if the damn thing is actually dead. You don't want find out if it can raise itself from that.
>>6282220>Leave the clean up to EVO and go find Irene. Hopefully she got somewhere safe or else you might get an earful tomorrow.
>>6282220>Sit down and take a big breather. It's been a while since you've fought for this long nonstop. Let the gunners come to you.If the dragon gets back up, we should be shouting to get it away from the gunners.
>>6282227>>6282228>>6282374We need to sit down. Writing.
As the sounds of combat die down, you feel your legs start to grow week. The adrenaline coursing through you was slowly fading away and it was starting to feel like your legs were made of jelly. Leaning against the nearest wall, you slowly slide to the ground to sit down. "Ho-ly shit my guy! What the hell was that?!" You hear the rookie gunner shout as the group makes their way towards you. "Did you see this dude? Guy's a menace!" He asks looking over to his guild mates who both bore impressed looks. "No, because I was actually trying to kill the damn monster before us." The second in command grumbles but their captain lets out a whistle. "Damn...not gonna lie. I kinda expected you to hold em off for a bit before retreating back to us. I didn't think you'd take them all down alone." He says stepping over the bodies. "Be straight with me, you a competitive player from another server on an alt?" He asks. You shake your head and give him a disarming smile. "Nah, I'm just a guy who took a bit of a break. Came back when I heard the new server was coming online." You lie. "Only just started playing." The captain doesn't seem convinced but doesn't get a chance to press before the second gunner speaks up."What the hell class are you even playing? Fighter? Brawler?" He asks or rather interrogates. A bit miffed, you simply shrug to irk him."I'm just a traveler. I guess you can say I don't really have a class that defines me." You add being purposefully obtuse. The gunner mutters something under his breath that you guess was probably not very polite but the group lets the matter die. Slowly getting to your feet, you ask, "So is that thing finally dead?" The group looks behind towards the body of the monster. No one says anything for a moment as if expecting it to get back up once more. It seems like the thought crosses everyone's minds as the gunners all level their guns at it and the four of you slowly begin to walk towards the body. Your steps echo across the now silent hall."Man this is way creepier now that everything is dead." The rookie mutters and he adjusts his grip on his weapon. "Thing's gotta be dead right?"
"With how many times it's been put down I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it got back up." You admit. The rookie swallows and grips his weapon more tightly. The monster's body lay motionless in a pool of it's own blood. Even indoors you can see vague wisps of steam floating from it as the heat slowly dissipates in the cold hall. The captain approaches and nudges the monster's body once with his foot but it doesn't respond. With all the holes in it, you don't think that it can get up after that level of damage. Even so, the captain raises his gun a bit and fires directly into the lizard like head. There's a crunch and the neck twists in an impossible angle before another shot follows and there no longer is a head left. The rookie makes a gagging noise at that. "Was that really necessary?" You ask. "I don't know." The captain admits. "But better to be safe than risk it getting up, right?" "Hold on...I think there's something under it." The second in command says, motioning to the center of the body. He steps over and with some trouble, manages to flip the corpse onto it's back. A faint blue glow emanates from the monster's chest almost from where one would expect the heart to be. However, the only that remains is a large whole where a power shot punched through, at least until you examine it further. Within the wound lies a large, flat, stone like object. Almost like a petrified scale, the glow seems to envelope it and flow off it in an almost liquid like fashion. It clearly held some kind of magical power though of what kind, you're not sure.>What do you do?>Reach for the object. After all, you did most of the work fighting the thing.>Let one of the others grab it. They got the killing blow and you don't want to start a fight with them.>Suggest you all leave the object alone. You're not sure you can trust a strange object buried in someone's body. Could be cursed.>Write in.
>>6283651>Reach for the object. After all, you did most of the work fighting the thing.Give it a second to see if one of them will reach for it first, though.
>>6283648>Reach for the object. After all, you did most of the work fighting the thing.Hope it doesnt explode.
>>6283651>Uhh, pick it up with a cloth?We don't have pliers, anyway. Acting like it's dangerous should help the gunners hesitate to argue for it.
>>6283727Im this guy. Changing to.>>6283787>Pick it up with a cloth.Great idea.
>>6283787Yeah, do this. The cloth is a good idea
>>6283651A mysterious enchanted dragon scale implanted into a shapeshifting man-dragon monster. Either it curses us with some weird dragon version of lycanthropy or we'll see if our tailor can do anything with it.>>6283787Supporting.
>>6284348>>6284330>>6284231>>6283787>>6283727We're going for it. Using a cloth to pick it up and hope it doesn't blow up in our face. Writing.
You slowly make your way towards the dead body expecting someone to say something or attempt to stop you but no one does. You dig in your pockets for a moment to draw out a silk handkerchief. You had suspected there would be one given the kinds of clothes you were wearing and the fact that your tailor didn't seem like the kind of craftsman who would skimp out on the details. Unsure of how much help it would be, you didn't want to risk the object exploding or perhaps cursing you somehow even with gloves on. Part of you still expected for the damn thing to roar to life, to drain the obviously magical energies from the object to regenerate and kill you all. You suppose if it was possible then it was even more reason to pull the thing free. The blue glow neither grows brighter nor dimmer as you wrap the handkerchief around it and pull. There's a slight resistance to your efforts, almost imperceptible, like faint cling of a weak magnet but not due to the fact that it was still partially embedded in the monster's flesh. In that regard, it slides out without effort. The scale turns out to be the size of a small plate about half as much bigger than your own hand. You straighten up and hold out the scale for the others to see. "What the hell is that?" The second command asks, breathless. "It's a scale of some ki-" You begin before you feel every muscle in your body seize up. The glow of the object flares up momentarily looking like a blue flame before returning to it's dull glow. Rather than feeling a surge of heat or a burning sensation, a cold trickle envelopes your body. No, it was more like all the heat was being sucked out of your flesh and in it's place you feel...hate. Your vision winks out and is immediately replaced with a view of some kind of cavern. Walls slick with meters thick ice, snow being whipped around like a blizzard, and dozens of figures before you murmuring as if in reverence. Hate burns within you threatening to explode and take you with it. From a throat that isn't your own, a roar emerges and threatens to bring down the very walls around you. The murmurs become wails or perhaps chants but they seem all but oblivious to the storm around them and the cracking ice. Then just as quickly as it came, it's gone and your vision returns to see the group of three only just barely running towards you.
You stumble backwards both in surprise and from your legs almost giving out. Every muscle in your body hurts as they relearn to loosen up and relax. Two of the gunners grab your arms and help you to the floor but even as you do you note that your hand refuses to let go of the scale. "Hey, hey. Buddy, you ok? What the hell happened?" The rookie asks. "You looked like you got hit with some kind of electric arc." The captain says, looking around now alert. "Was it some kind of spell? Maybe we have a hidden spell caster around." He asks before motioning to the two besides you. "Go and secure a perimeter. Make sure we don't have anymore nasty surprises hiding around." The two gunners nod, grab their weapons, and begin to make their way down the hall once more. "If you see any other guards, let them know this place is more or less contained. See if they can start pushing towards here." He calls out before kneeling next to you. "You good?" He asks. You make a quick note of your HUD. You hadn't taken any damage, nor were there any debuffs or status effects on you.>What do you say?>Tell the group about your vision. Maybe they've heard of something that could relate to it. >Say you think it might have been some kind of defensive curse. Something to keep it out of player's hands. Keep the details of the vision to yourself.>Lie and say you think it was just one last gift from the monster. Probably some attempt to kill who ever interacted with it's body.>Write in.
>>6285122>Lie and say you think it was just one last gift from the monster. Probably some attempt to kill who ever interacted with it's body.If we tell someone other than Irene, it should probably be someone from the church that would know more(this is basically like finding out lizard people are real, which they are in this case)
>>6285122>Tell the group about your vision. Maybe they've heard of something that could relate to it. I doubt they will PK us.
>>6285122>Say you think it might have been some kind of defensive curse. Something to keep it out of player's hands. Keep the details of the vision to yourself.
>>6285122>Tell the group about your vision. Maybe they've heard of something that could relate to it.
>>6285122>Say you think it might have been some kind of defensive curse. Something to keep it out of player's hands. Keep the details of the vision to yourself.We just got put in a jail cell for being strange and mysterious. Telling people we had schizoid monster visions is a one way ticket back to interrogation.
>>6285122>Lie and say you think it was just one last gift from the monster. Probably some attempt to kill who ever interacted with it's body.
>>6285149I'm this guy.Switching to>Say you think it might have been some kind of defensive curse. Something to keep it out of player's hands. Keep the details of the vision to yourself.These players might be cool but the guards and the Inquisition might not be.
>>6285553>>6285293>>6285170Only giving the half truth. Writing.
"Yeah..." You say suppressing a groan. Your entire body felt like it had experienced one massive cramp. "I think it might have been some kind of curse or mechanic to keep players from just grabbing the thing and running away without helping finish up the other mobs." You say. Give the circumstances of why you were in the jail house in the first place, it was probably for the best that you didn't start talking about wild visions. At least, not to strangers. If the captain seemed unconvinced, he didn't show it. Instead he pulls out a lunch box and offers you half a sandwich which you take politely. "So, you said you took a break? I saw some of those moves you used. Rookie wasn't lying. They're pretty good." He says trying to sound casual. You feel your throat tighten. Did he suspect you as a pro? No, no one would think that a pro was using an alt account just to show off in front of newbies. They'd be too busying practicing and skirmishing for tournaments. Still, you came out of the blue and didn't even want to give out a name. Not wanting to seem panicked, you take a quick bite of your food and say after a bit. "Y-yeah. I used to play a bit but then life happened, you know? Got too busy and had to put it down for a bit. Got some free time now so I figured try the game again." You say in an effort to keep the conversation going. The captain nods. "It happens. The guild's got a few returning players too. Decided to hop on the new server in hopes of not playing catch up. But I'm guessing you played competitively? Arenas, duels that kind of thing? You know, EVO could use someone like you. We're still recruiting and not just for Gunners. With skills like yours, pretty sure you could rise the ranks real quick." You almost choke on your sandwich. Recruiting? You nearly lost your cool over a recruitment drive. It was almost laughable. "Thanks...I...don't really follow the competitive teams that much anymore." You say truthfully.
"You don't have to. The stories are a bit exaggerated but pro guilds don't demand absolute loyalty from it's members. It's like any other guild. As long as you pitch in and help when you can then it's all good. Sure, it's a good hub for Evolution fans but there's tons of different kinds of players in it. RP groups too if you're into that." Before you can respond a voice from above rings out. "Is everyone ok?" You and the captain look up to see a group of guards gingerly looking over the edge of the hole from the floor above. They look slightly battered and worn but it seems like the fights from the floors above were going well now that EVO had stepped in to assist. The captain gives a wave. "We could be better but we're glad to see some reinforcements. Did my teammates make it to you all right?" He asks. The guard peering down signals the affirmative."We just got word from them. They're-" He begins before someone shoves them aside. "J- I mean Trav- ugh. Hey are you alright down there?!" Irene shouts as she starts to make her way down the rope ladder, despite the other guard's protests. She was also somewhat battered and cut but the folded Starglobe on her hip made you assume she made it to the armory and stuck around to help them. She hops off the ladder and hurries over to you. Upon seeing the corpse of monster and the bodies of various prisoners all she can say is, "Jesus...what happened down here?">What do you say?>Say that you'll explain it later. Right now you kind of want to log off for the night. >Ask how things on her end went after you split up.>Ask Irene how she'd feel about joining EVO. You're not sure yourself at the moment. >Catch up Irene on what happened. Say that you want to continue downwards and make sure the whole place is secure before logging off. >Write in.
>>6286460>Say that you'll explain it later. Right now you kind of want to log off for the night. The bed calls.
>>6286460>Say that you'll explain it later. Right now you kind of want to log off for the night.
>>6286460>Catch up Irene on what happened. Say that you want to continue downwards and make sure the whole place is secure before logging off.
>>6286460>Say that you'll explain it later. Right now you kind of want to log off for the night.we can also contact her IRL to keep info clean
>>6286460>Catch up Irene on what happened. Say that you want to continue downwards and make sure the whole place is secure before logging off.Logging off is for pussies. We need more playtime!
>>6286598>>6286548>>6286485>>6286465Going to be wins by one vote. Writing.
"We finally took the monster down. A couple of prisoners tried to back it up but we managed to repel them." You say vaguely trying to stretch the soreness out of your limbs. "I'll tell you more about it tomorrow though. I feel like I should call it a night. Need to do some stuff tomorrow before my shift and I want to get some sleep." You add quickly changing subjects. Irene gives you a look and opens a menu for a moment."I guess you're right. I'm gonna need some time to prep the place too so I really should be going as well." She says forcing a yawn to tell her brain it was supposed to be tired. You used to know other players who did the same thing claiming that it helped their mind start getting used to being tired. You never found much merit to it, your body always seemed ok with suddenly being tired and aware when logging in and out of the game. "Are you sure we can't convince you to stay online a bit longer? I could probably pull a few strings and get you some mats from the guild stores as compensation." The guild captain asks. Both you and Irene politely make declining motions. "Sorry. But I really need sleep for my job." You say. "Same here. I have to do a lot to get ready for my job and I have to be up early to do it. I wasn't actually expecting to be up this long or being thrown into a prison break but it was fun." Irene explains. "Maybe next time we'll get up to more trouble." "Hey, I've just had a bit of bad luck. I didn't intend for this to happen." You say sheepishly before turning to the captain and shaking his hand. "Thanks for the assist. Not sure if I could have lasted much longer if I was going at it solo." The captain looks a bit confused almost as if he wasn't used to being the back up and more used to receiving it. "The upper floors are secured right? Not sure I wanna log in back here." You ask Irene. She nods. "We managed to clear them after a bit. Should be good to head back up and out." She confirms. You excuse yourselves and begin your climb back up the rope ladder then through the halls to the stairs. As you walk, Irene looks around for a moment before leaning in and whispering, "Seriously, what happened?" "Picked up an item. Saw something. It'd be safer to talk about this during work. Well as safe as it would be to talk about it with Roland around. Don't want to alert the npcs and other players just yet. Might be big." You whisper back and surreptitiously show Irene the glowing scale before stuffing it a pocket. Her eyes widen slightly before pulling together her retail face. "Where you always this lucky when you used to play?" She asks. "I don't think I've ever heard of anyone running into this string of unique circumstances on their first and second day." You shrug but can't help and grin."I don't know. Maybe that's what carried me to the top." You joke.
---The following morning, or rather midday, was somewhat rushed. You managed to sleep through your alarm, miss brunch, and almost missed the bus as you were stuffing down a breakfast biscuit while drinking juice. You didn't even have enough time to explain to your mother why woke up so late and didn't hear her call you for food. By the time you had found a seat and wiped the crumbs from your face, you felt the familiar exhaustion of late night gaming. Your eyes ached and you had to stifle a yawn every so often. It was a good kind of tired though, and you were looking forward to talking to Gloria about last night's adventure. You still weren't certain how or when you were going to break the news to Roland that you started playing but it would happen when it happened. The cafe was as lively as always or maybe it was more than usual. You couldn't really tell but there was a certain electricity in the air. As usual, Roland greeted you before you were even two steps in through the door. "John!" He shouts, waving you over in excitement. "John, dude, you gotta get over here!" Normally, you'd take your time certain that Roland was gonna try to get you involved with something Nevermore related. He was never this excited about anything that had to do with the cafe but today you find yourself half jogging over to the computer at the front desk. "What's going on? We setting up an impromptu tourney or something?" You ask. Roland shoots you a grin. "Nothing like that but man, you gotta make a character soon! Server 10 is exploding!" He says, giddy. "You're gonna miss all the good stuff!""What do you mean?" You ask, genuinely curious. Maybe something else happened in Valford after your adventure. A prison riot didn't really seem like the kind of thing that would spark that much attention. Especially when there were large guilds vying for resources this early in the game. Roland shifts the monitor over for you to see. There, in full screen, was a youtube video of a red haired man in noble's clothing engaged in a fist fight with several prisoners to the song Freebird. The camera was shakey and off in the distance, but the HUD was clearly that of a Gunner's. So much for keeping a low profile. "Yeah...that guy's pretty good. But not sure why a server would be exploding over it." You say, trying to sound disinterested though you couldn't help but glance around.
"Good? The guy's taking on like 7 dudes at once! Not only that but he doesn't even have a weapon!" Roland explains not noticing your apprehension. "Must be some crazy challenge player but it's not just that! Look at this too!" He quickly swaps to another tab and video showing the same red haired character barking orders and piloting with a damaged ship wheel. There's a text crawl indicating that it was probably clipped from a stream. "The forum's also on fire. Apparently, he was seen running off after some kind of npc from a tavern and like minutes later there's this huge explosion in the lower parts of Valford. He's all over the place and where ever he goes, something big goes down. People don't even know his name. Only thing anyone knows is that he goes by the Traveler. Even the forums are talking about him! Apparently, he worked with Evolution's guild in the prison fight but they couldn't recruit him! Just check this out again." Roland swaps back to the prison fight, and loops the part where you dodge and drop into a sweep. "Perfect spot dodge into counter and then look.." Roland goes back to the stream clip. "Ice barrage to counter fireballs. This guy knows his stuff! The big guilds would kill to have someone like that in their ranks. Maybe he's an old player who came back?""W-what makes you think that? It could just be an alt right? Or maybe a pro who wants to play without being known?" You ask, trying to ignore how warm your hoodie was starting to feel right now. Roland shakes his head at that. "No. Pros don't really have much to goof off like that. If they were on an alt, and for some reason their alt was allowed to be outside of their team's official guild, why wouldn't they be out farming for rare drops for their mains?" He says but something seems to come to mind. "Whoever, he is. You can be that the other Guilds are going to start moving in on Valford to try and recruit him and that's gonna get spicy if it's EVO territory. Not to mention all this talk about dragon monsters attacking." Roland rubs his hands in excitement. "Come on, John! This is the perfect time to make a new character!" You swallow but nothing goes down and your throat feels dry. "Well...I'm still not sure. I...you know. H-hey, what's that other tab you got?" You ask, leaning over and clicking on the last youtube tab. The video thumbnail showed what looked to be an interview room featuring a young man you didn't recognize and another man who you remembered to be a prominent commentator and content creator for Nevermore. What caught your attention, however, was the title of the video:Nevermore's New God of War?! "Damn, thanks for reminding me. I saw this just before you walked in. Wanna watch it?" He asks. You nod numbly and he clicks to start the video.
"Welcome back to The Spotlight! We got here in our studio Crimson Glory's rising star, James Mason." The interviewer begins with the usual content creator energy. "James, you've been getting a heat recently coming off CG's recent victory and not the usual cope coming from the losing side. Mind letting everyone know what's that about?" James looks unfazed by the sudden question about recent controversy. "There's not much to say. Some people just don't want to let go of the past even when the proof is in front of them. But just to put it out publicly. I'm Nevermore's new God of War. Plain and simple. Evolution stood no chance against us in our last match and they couldn't even touch me." He says coldly. "I've seen the old videos and frankly, anything the old God could do I can do better. Not to mention, no one's even seen him in years." The interviewer nods sagely. "But there are some that say you need to prove yourself by beating the old God and some go as far to say that the title is off limits. He was a popular competitor back in his day. Some of his old matches have several million views on youtube and growing. Look, chat's in an uproar as we speak." The video cuts to a recording of the live chat at the time and it's almost too fast read. "Fuck this guy! A few wins and little bro thinks he's hot shit!""Cope harder. James is right. No one's even seen the old god of war in years. I bet the guy can't even play the game anymore. Probably got fired.""Dude's all flash and no technique. Learned a few nice tricks and spams them all match. No skill at all.""Old players need to learn that this isn't year 1 Nevermore. Game's evolved and James is at the top!"Against the onslaught of text, James is unmoved as the video cuts back to him. He simply shrugs confidently and says, "I'll let my old account's Arena ratings speak for themselves. 89% win-rate in ranked 1v1s, 85% in 5v5s. Even the old God, didn't go above 60% if he check his current account so I bet his personal one is about the same. Anyone else who wants to find out can go pro and face me." With that, the interviewer lets out a whistle. "Well, that is impressive. But we know the old saying, "It takes one to know one. So we decided to ask another professional for their opinion!" You see James tense up slightly and his eyes glint before the interviewer continues, "Here's what Rising Dragon's Captain, Lance Meyers, has to say! After all, he used to be the old God's teammate in the early years!" Just before the video cuts to the prerecorded footage, you see James relax once more. You feel something stir within you and a sense of unease grow as you see Lance's face once more. Dressed in his team's jacket and colors, he face seems more stoic and stern than ever before. A dull ache seems to flash on your face when you hear him speak.
"What do I think about James Mason? He's a formidable opponent in his own right." He says professionally, his tone even. "His recent win is also impressive. There's no doubt that Rising Dragon will need to reassess their strategy and double up on our training if we want to avenge our old rivals in Evolution. However..." Lance's tone grows colder. It was subtle but you knew him long enough to hear it. It was a tone he rarely every used which made it even more impactful when he did. "James still has alot of work to do. His technique, while complex and impressive, is rough. He tends to focus on his own kills rather than go for an obvious assist. The talent is right there but it needs more refining. John Doe may not have had half the raw talent James posses but I've never known another pro who gave the game as much attention and hard work as he did. In his prime John would run circles around James and in my eyes, the title of God of War remains unchanged." The footage ends with Lance standing up and leaving unceremoniously without another word. If the chat was going fast before, it had hit lightspeed after that."Yoooooo!!!!""holy shit lmaooooo""oh fuck! Man dropped straight facts right there."The video cuts back to the interview room. "Well there you have it. It seems like even in the pro teams, it's still up in the air! James it seems like there's no sympathy lost between Rising Dragon and Crimson Glory. But I don't think that's going stop you is it? That's what Nevermore is all about. Where anyone can make a name for themselves! After our sponsors, we'll tackle the more recent patch notes! Have brawlers become obsolete? Are healers the new dps? We'll be putting The Spotlight on that and more!" The camera begins to pan away and slowly fade to black to transition to the sponsored section but before everything fades away, you can see James's calm face and the fury burning in his eyes. "Damn...a new God of War? That's crazy." Roland mutters and you suddenly realize you had put all your attention to the video. Suddenly the sounds of the cafe and people chatting around you fill your ears. >What do you do?>Excuse yourself and go see Gloria after you clock in. Roland won't mind you grabbing a quick drink/snack. >Ask Roland about something. (What do you ask about?)>Clock in and begin working at a desktop. Go through the forums as you look through tickets. >Write in.
>>6287502>Excuse yourself and go see Gloria after you clock in. Roland won't mind you grabbing a quick drink/snack. We should probably tell Roland about what we've been up in the game to sooner rather than later, he's not going to stop pestering us about playing until we do.
>>6287502>Excuse yourself and go see Gloria after you clock in. Roland won't mind you grabbing a quick drink/snack.We need to violate this James Mason guy immediately.
>>6287502>Excuse yourself and go see Gloria after you clock in. Roland won't mind you grabbing a quick drink/snack.Come up a plan to Rider Kick this guy in the name of justice
>>6287502>Excuse yourself and go see Gloria after you clock in. Roland won't mind you grabbing a quick drink/snack.
>>6287502>Ask Roland about something. (What do you ask about?)Ask him if he's on the new server. He's not gonna leave you high and dry after doing this much to convince us, right?
>>6287502>Excuse yourself and go see Gloria after you clock in. Roland won't mind you grabbing a quick drink/snack.wasnt our title god of battle before?
>>6288858Yes, it was
>>6287510>>6287519>>6287584>>6288009>>6288858Gonna go talk to Gloria. Writing. >>6288858Yes it was. At least that's what community called John when he was a pro. Basically, some new guy is claiming the title for himself since John hasn't hasn't been around in years.
"I'm gonna grab a quick drink at Gloria's. You want anything?" You ask as you stand up somewhat numbly. Roland shakes his head."Nah, I gotta get up and make some calls after my rounds." He says standing up himself. "I'm telling you John, this is prime time to get back in the game!" He says. "What about you? You got a character in Server 10?" You ask. Roland shakes his head. "Not yet, but damn if I'm tempted. I'd have to stop running my shop in my main server. Might have to sell the land too if I get too busy in Server 10. But if you join, I'd definitely hop over there too! Man I could roll up like a fighter. Or a swordsman!" He says getting excited once more and swinging a pencil around like a blade."I'll let you know. Don't worry. I'll catch you later." You promise, still a bit distracted by the video and head to the other side of the cafe.Truthfully, you weren't sure how you felt. A fancy title wasn't what you played the game for even when you were a professional but you couldn't deny that having it had a certain appeal or at least it was something you felt proud of holding. But in all sports titles come and go. Those at the top are bested by the newer generation as the limits of competition are pushed and surpassed. So you couldn't be upset that the title passed on to someone else, at least...if that person had beat you or was better. You weren't sure of James' skill but something about using win stats in the public arena just rubbed you the wrong way. His win rate was impressive, but arena matches weren't the best measure of skill. It was possible that he had run into plenty of skilled people but it was equally possible that he ran into newer players or people trying out strange builds. Things could inflate his win rate. Furthermore, you know that your own stats were skewed as well. While yours was indeed lower, you never dueled with a competitive mindset and much of the game was still being explored. New gear was being made, new strategies and tactics invented. Not to mention you were exploring the game world as well and by the time you and the others made a professional team, arena matches were the furthest thing from your mind. You weren't sure how well you'd have done if all you did was focus in pvp but maybe that was what bothered you about the video. The guy didn't seem to appreciate game beyond winning and stats. Maybe it was a different time but you remembered that everyone else you spoke to in the professional scene enjoyed the game for what it was. The thrill of the fight, the idea of coming up with new strategies and overcoming the enemy teams', even the chaos of thinking on your feet, everyone spoke excitedly about anything other than just making your win percentage go up. You shake your head. Maybe it was best that you weren't a professional anymore. Still, you couldn't help but wish you could have the chance to fight for the title or at least land a finishing move on the guy.
You sigh and stretch once more as you arrive to the small window of Gloria's shop. "Hey John." She says with a smile in her usual mellow demeanor. A sharp contrast to her in the game. She stifles a yawn and you note the usual tiredness in the eyes one gets after staying up all night playing video games. "Need a pick me up?" She asks. "Yeah, got anything that isn't straight coffee?" You ask, digging your wallet out. Gloria grins at that. "Funny, I remember you asking for coffee your first few weeks here. You looked at it like it was something from the heavens." You laugh at that. "I got teas. Green and Chai are pretty good for waking you up. There's also fresh orange juice. The real deal, not the processed stuff." She lists off. "I didn't realize how busy an internet cafe can be when I first started here. Especially in the afternoons. If it wasn't for that midnight lull, I'd probably never had made it." You admit as you pull out your debit card. "I'll take the juice. Got any breakfast burritos left? I kinda had to run out of the house with whatever edible thing fit in my hand.""I got enough left over to make you one. Green or red salsa?" She asks, as she rings you up. "Gree- no, red. The extra spice'll help and you're the only place I know that roasts the tomatoes." You add. "You know flattery won't help for leaving me hanging last night. You barely told me anything after we split up." Gloria teases and moves to pour your drink. "Ice?"You shake your head. "No thanks. Don't want the juice getting all watery." You take your drink and sip before going into detail about what had happen and sparing no detail on the vision you got. "It was like I had a bolt of lightning got through my body. Before I knew it was seeing all that stuff and just as fast it was all over. If the guard got wind of it, we'd probably be killed on the spot. If EVO got wind of it, they'd probably do the same just for an important story item. It might make a great crafting material too." Gloria just nods along as she makes your food. She hands you your burrito in her shop's custom wrap. If there was one thing she didn't skimp out on it was portions especially if it was using left over ingredients. Rather than letting them go to waste or having to throw them away due to food safety regulations, she'd just double up on portions for any lucky customer that happened to order at the right time. As it stood, you were struggling to hold the thing with one hand. "So what are you gonna do? Take it to that tailor of yours?" She asks, a small fire in her eyes and an eager tone slipping through. "We could sell it on the market. Probably make enough to last us until the next server opens." You take a bite of your burrito and fight through the burn.
"Definitely, then we'd be public enemy number one of every guild in the game. No way, they'd let us hold some kind of quest or legendary item hostage." You say trying not to laugh with a mouth full. "I mean, not like the game wouldn't have another way to interact with the storyline. I wouldn't be surprised if this is just the start of something and someone else is gonna run into a similar vision but man would it make people angry if we did sell it. Speaking of which, one of the players there was really keen on getting me to join. I was half worried he knew who I was.""No surprises there. I've heard your pseudonym being dropped by half the customers here." Gloria whispers in a conspiratorial tone. "So much for keeping a low profile huh?" She smirks. You chug at the orange juice to try and fight the fire in your mouth. "Roland...aw jeez...Roland said something about the other guilds making their way to Valford because of it." You say, taking another gulp. "Probably going to try and recruit me too. More importantly, it might start a few fights if EVO sees it as them encroaching on their territory. Man, did you add extra salsa?" You pant. "No more than usual." Gloria says idly, cheek resting in her hand as she thinks. "Thing might get a bit rowdy in Valford then. Maybe it's time to move on?">What do you say?>Agree. It's probably best you go to another major city. Keeping on the move adds to the mysteriousness. >Say that it's probably best you leave Valford but not the area. Plenty of stuff to do outside the city. Might even find more clues.>Decline. If things are gonna happen, you wanna be there. Might be an opportunity or two there as well as a freelancer.>Write in.
>>6289154>Say that it's probably best you leave Valford but not the area. Plenty of stuff to do outside the city. Might even find more clues.
>>6289154>Say that it's probably best you leave Valford but not the area. Plenty of stuff to do outside the city. Might even find more clues.I kind of want to head to the forest zone where Serena went but we've made some progress in the northern zone's questline.
>>6289154>Maybe it's time to tell Roland and stop hiding. I don't need to hide my identity if my new one is way more important.
>>6289154>Agree. It's probably best you go to another major city. Keeping on the move adds to the mysteriousness. I also support >>6289284Although that should probably be a separate vote
>>6289124no i was wondering if you made a mistake or if you changed it deliberately>>6289154>Say that it's probably best you leave Valford but not the area. Plenty of stuff to do outside the city. Might even find more clues.we could go towards the mountains
>>6289443That was my mistake. Though I suppose it would be in character if James couldn't even the title right. Probably cares more about the clout than anything. >>6289161>>6289166>>6289167>>6289173>>6289398>>6289443>>6289458We're gonna explore the area around Valford. Writing. >>6289398Yeah I can have that be a vote.
>>6290603Lance said it too, but I don't mind John being the god of war now
You fight the fire in your mouth and down the rest of your drink. Gloria pours you another and slides it over to you on the house. You eagerly take the drink, grateful for another respite from the burn but you hone in your urge to simply down the drink as fast as you could. While she was willing to be generous with her customers it was rare that she did so twice in the same order. You didn't want to make it seem like you were ungrateful or worse, indifferent, to the gesture. Once the fire settled a bit you say, "I think so too but not so much the country. We should still explore around the city. We might find some clues, maybe avoid the bulk of the players making their way to the city." You take another sip of the juice and step aside to let someone make an order. You wait a bit to make sure they were out of earshot before continuing. "It's possible that that the heretics are nearby. A lot of the land outside of the forests is frozen wasteland. If they want to survive there they'd need to be close for supply runs.""Not unless they're raiding airships and traders for supplies." Gloria counters as she closes her register. "If they live off of looting, they can be pretty much anywhere near the roads." She pauses for a moment to think. "Like Frozen Gorge.""The dungeon?" You ask. The Frozen Gorge was an intermediate dungeon about a week away from the city of Valford. Unlike the tutorial dungeon which could be done with a solid group of 4 or 5. The Frozen Gorge would require a full team of 5 with both a tank and a healer. Players would need to traverse the top of the gorge and fight through a frozen undead army to reach the final boss, the Ice Lich. At the very least, you'd think you'd need a solid healer and back up dps to do it if you wanted to go for the smallest party. It could also be that your recent adventures might be giving you a bit of overconfidence. Mulling over the dying fire in your mouth and Gloria's words you come to a conclusion. "You don't think the Ice Lich is connected to the Dragon attacks?" Gloria shrugs.
"I don't know. Nevermore has never done something like that before. Dungeon mobs have never interacted with the outside game world. Maybe it's part of the changes?" She asks. If that was true, then anything could happen in the game. Tutorial island might have been the exception to prevent the Goblins from overrunning the starting town. Having an Ice Lich and a zombie dragon loose would be catastrophic. "There's also the caves beneath the city too. Mostly a gatherer's spot but it could have the easiest access to Valford." You suggest. "Hiding in mostly plain sight? Could also explain the missing citizens. Might not all be the inquisition. But if we're exploring outside the city, we should take some time to grab some items, maybe get some professions." Gloria says just as you hear the intercom neat the register come to life. "Hey, is John still there? I need him to come over and help me move one of the full dive machines. Someone said it's getting overheat warnings." You hear Roland's voice come from the small speaker. You lean over the counter and push the button."Sorry boss. Was fighting off the burn from hot salsa. I'll be on my way." You reply. The speaker crackles a bit before you realize that it's Roland laughing. "That reminds me. Are you gonna tell Roland? He's gonna find out eventually. Could also give us another pair of eyes in the game." Gloaria asks. >What do you say?>Say that you'll wait a bit longer. As much discussion you have caused the last two days, it'll be difficult to trace this back to you. Your name also makes it hard as well. Who else would believe John Doe is a person's real name?>Say that you will. As fun as it is to see Roland get excited about your escapades, it'd be best to let him in on the secret. He could help with keeping an ear to the ground for rumors and the like.>Write in .
>>6290614Yeah, Lance wouldn't have gotten wrong. That was just my bad.
>>6290704>Say that you will. As fun as it is to see Roland get excited about your escapades, it'd be best to let him in on the secret. He could help with keeping an ear to the ground for rumors and the like.Yeah, keeping the secret any longer might be hurtful.
>>6290704>Say that you will. As fun as it is to see Roland get excited about your escapades, it'd be best to let him in on the secret. He could help with keeping an ear to the ground for rumors and the like.
>>6290704>Say that you will. As fun as it is to see Roland get excited about your escapades, it'd be best to let him in on the secret. He could help with keeping an ear to the ground for rumors and the like.ok but it goes without saying that he cant tell anyone elsei'm sure he can understand that we dont want to be bothered by anyone irl
>>6290704>Say that you'll wait a bit longer. As much discussion you have caused the last two days, it'll be difficult to trace this back to you. Your name also makes it hard as well. Who else would believe John Doe is a person's real name?This guy is a big yapper. He’ll tell everybody he knows once he finds out.
>>6290704>Say that you will. As fun as it is to see Roland get excited about your escapades, it'd be best to let him in on the secret. He could help with keeping an ear to the ground for rumors and the like.It's only a matter of time before other people make the connection, and he'll be hurt if he finds out from someone that's not us.
Just got my internet back. Will do a write up after I wake up. Sorry about the delays, been dealing with shoddy connections and fighting the ISP to actually do something for a while.
>>6292492Welcome back. I'm curious, who is your isp if you don't mind disclosing?
>>6290713>>6290714>>6290718>>6290746>>6290797>>6290900>>6291124We're telling roland. Truth would get around eventually, might as well be from us. Writing.
Your down the rest of your juice and set the cup aside. "I guess I should. I don't think he take it well if he found out from someone else. Not to mention, he means well. Just hope he can stay discreet." You say. Gloria snickers at that. "Roland? Discreet? Maybe if it was another game or something serious. But I think you should start planning for him accidentally spilling the beans." She teases. "Still, I think it might be for the best.""How so?" You ask. "Keeping secrets from your friends always tends to burn you in the end. Even the smaller ones. At the very least, you can feel comfortable coming to work without having to dance around the subject when the game comes up which given where we are, is a lot." Gloria says. "Given how you're starting to come out of that shell of yours, I think it's healthier this way." She motions for a customer to approach. "The lunch rush is starting up. I'll talk to you before I close up shop, ok?" You step aside to let the lingering group of customers approach and give her a nod. "I'll see you later then. Save me some of that orange juice. Should probably start cutting out soda before the pot luck. Pretty sure everyone is going to bring tons of it." You joke and head to the other side of the cafe where the fulldive machines were held. Each machine had it's own small booth for privacy and you walk down the small hall of them before you find the door with the "Under Maintenance. Do not Enter." sign on it. You knock lightly and step into the small room once you hear the lock click."How many times do we have to tell them? The arm rests are not cup holders. Even if you don't move while plugged in, someone always gets up too fast when they log out. I put the desks in here for a reason!" Roland complains as you step in. Even if Roland hadn't spoken up, the sickly smell of spilled soft drink combined with the lingering smell of burnt electronics was enough to tell you what had happened. You let out a sigh and lock the door behind you. "What was it this time? Coke? Gatorade?" You ask as you move to help Roland turn the large machine around for easier access. The faux leather clings to your skin as you grab the sticky reside. Roland grunts as he pushes. Of the two, he was probably the one doing most of the work but not for the lack of trying. Despite being a large fan of Nevermore, he was well built though you've never actually heard or seen anything that would indicate that he frequented a gym. In fact if you hadn't known he ran a net cafe, you'd probably had guessed he was some kind of mechanic. His love of food made him a bit rounder around the waist but it never seemed to slow him down. "Sprite actually." Roland finally says he grabs his key ring to open a maintenance panel. There's a familiar sticky sound as the panel clings slightly due to the dried soda. You turn to open the bag of tools. "We need to get you your cert John." He adds, his usual jovial attitude somewhat muted.
"I've been saving up for it." You say. Of the two of you, only Roland was certified to do maintenance on the full dive machines without voiding warranty or support. That didn't stop him from having you do basic work on them but if you were going to do more in depth work like right now, at least without his supervision, you were going to have to take the certification exams. "And I told you, I'd cover it." Roland says as you hand him a screw driver. "Besides, this is all formality anyways. If I could help it, I wouldn't have you do it. You know your way around these things as well as I do. But you know how companies are. If they can get a buck out of you, they'll do it. Anyways, I know a guy I can call who can get us a discount on the test. So you could have taken it ages ago.""I dunno. I didn't feel like I was ready." You half lie. Truthfully, Roland was right. You could have taken the exam already and passed it. But it didn't feel right that your boss was paying for it at least not after all the things he had done for you and at the very least taking the risk of hiring you without any experience. You felt like you owed him at least for that. Roland grabs a small flashlight and begins to dig around the inside of the machine. "Come on, John. I've seen the way you work on computers. You practically make them dance for you. Your AMP- err WPM is wild as well. You were basically born for computer work. Frankly, it's kind of surprising I managed to snag you before some big wig company did." Roland says, lightening up and peeking over the seat of the machine. "Starting to make me wonder if you did have some computer experience before you got here. You certainly pick up things faster than anyone else I've trained." He tosses you his keys. "Check the other side. Wanna see if there was a short and it burned out something on that end."You do as your told and open up the other panel to find various crumbs sticking to your hands. "Do you have a can of air?" You ask with a sigh as you wipe your hands clean. "Check the bag. Should be a new on in it." Roland says. The two of you work in relative silence for a bit, only broken when one of you reported something new you found with the machine. Part of you wants to broach the subject of you playing again but you're unsure how. >What do you do?>Just get straight to it. No need to beat around the bush. >Try and lead the conversation towards the subject. See if you can lighten the mood a bit. (What do you say or ask?)>Hold off for now. Maybe you'll get a chance to talk about it later.>Write in.
>>6292605>Hype him up for it, trickling it in as we work the expensive computer stuff so he stays on task.>By the way Roland, I was lying about something-here's the parts disassembled.>When I checked if my card was working, I DID play a bit more. Parts cleaned up, damage assessment.>But I was kinda scared of being rusty, so I worked the tutorial without calling you. Furniture's cleaned.>So yeah, I'm the Traveler.
>>6292605>Hold off for now. Maybe you'll get a chance to talk about it later.best we wait until our shift ends so when he freaks out no one is around to hear it
>>6292605>Hold off for now. Maybe you'll get a chance to talk about it later.
>>6292605>Just get straight to it. No need to beat around the bush. Fuck it
>>6292609>Just get straight to it. No need to beat around the bush.
Got a tie between waiting and just telling him right now. I'll give it a bit and then roll for it.
>>6292605Computer skills? You could say so.....>Just get straight to it. No need to beat around the bush.But maybe do this as we're finishing up with the machine while we're still by ourselves in here. Ain't nothing getting fixed after his head detonates.
>>6292605>Just get straight to it. No need to beat around the bush.
>>6292805>>6292828>>6293226>>6293605Doing it right now. Writing.
You bury your nose in your elbow to protect your face from the crumbs and dust of who knows what, as you blow air into the side opening. With your phone's flashlight you peer into the unit's innards. "Nothing wrong on this side." You say with a bit of relief. There were few things that put Roland in what you would call an actual foul mood but having to call for new parts was surely one of them. With the crisis slightly averted, you figure that now would be a good time to drop the news. Otherwise, you don't think you'd ever get around to it and you don't think Gloria would let you hear the end of it. You close up the panel and clap your hands to dust them off. "Hey Roland..." You start and trail off. "Yeah?" He responds somewhat absently without looking up, arms deep inside the machine. You falter a bit but press on in case he finds something that would ruin this opportunity. "Hey...uhh...you know...you know how you've been telling me to make a character for the new server?" You continue, tiptoeing around the subject. "Oh yeah. What about it?" He asks, this time pausing and looking up from his work."Well...I kinda already did. I made one on day one of server 10's release by accident." You half blurt half mumble out. It takes Roland a second to comprehend what you had said no doubt in part to your strange way of saying it. Once the information seems to have registered in his mind he grins and gets up. "Niiice! You got in day one?! That's wild! Why didn't you say anything before?" He asks excitedly as he claps you on the shoulder. Your knees buckle slightly and you give an uneasy grin.
"Well I didn't know if I was gonna stick with it. I almost didn't even do it to be honest. And when I did hop on I only found out about a new server after I finished making a character." You admit. "Like I said, it was all more or less an accident.""Aw dude, now I gotta make a character on server 10. Maybe I should pay for a transfer? What do I make..." Roland starts as he promptly forgets about maintenance and starts to wander about lost in thought. He ruminates for a few more moments before turning to face you. "Where you at? What class are you? You in a guild yet?" He begins to fire off question after question before coming to the one that gives you pause. "What's your character name? I'll look for you after I clear the tutorial.">What do you say?>Tell him the full story. You're Regal_20 and The Traveler. All the stories running around Valford are about you.>Give him one name or the other. You're not sure if he'd explode if you told him you were both.>Tell him about your class instead. Maybe Roland has some advice he's heard over the years about it. He'll find out your in game escapades once the two of you meet up. You'll just have to find out how to organize that.>Try and evade the subject of who you are for now and your class. Ask Roland about his plans in game. You don't want him talking about your character to the cafe right now. At least, not until the two of you have partied for a bit. >Do you tell Roland that Gloria is playing with you?>Yes. Might as well if he is going to learn everything.>No but maybe let Gloria know that she should fill him in on her side of things.
>>6293853>Tell him about your class instead. Maybe Roland has some advice he's heard over the years about it. He'll find out your in game escapades once the two of you meet up. You'll just have to find out how to organize that.>Yes. Might as well.
>>6293853>Tell him the full story. You're Regal_20 and The Traveler. All the stories running around Valford are about you.>Yes. Might as well if he is going to learn everything.
>>6293853>Tell him about your class instead. Maybe Roland has some advice he's heard over the years about it. He'll find out your in game escapades once the two of you meet up. You'll just have to find out how to organize that.>No but maybe let Gloria know that she should fill him in on her side of things.
>>6293853>>Tell him about your class instead. Maybe Roland has some advice he's heard over the years about it. He'll find out your in game escapades once the two of you meet up. You'll just have to find out how to organize that.>Yes. Might as well if he is going to learn everything.
>>6293853>Tell him the full story. You're Regal_20 and The Traveler. All the stories running around Valford are about you.>No but maybe let Gloria know that she should fill him in on her side of things.
>>6293853>Tell him about your class instead. Maybe Roland has some advice he's heard over the years about it. He'll find out your in game escapades once the two of you meet up. You'll just have to find out how to organize that.>No but maybe let Gloria know that she should fill him in on her side of things.i was wondering if the belt affinity mechanic still existed, because it wasnt brought up so far in this thread same with the leveling and choosing new skills
>>6293853>Give him one name or the other. You're not sure if he'd explode if you told him you were both.>Tell him about your class. Maybe Roland has some advice he's heard over the years about it. He'll find out your in game escapades once the two of you meet up. You'll just have to find out how to organize that.>No but maybe let Gloria know that she should fill him in on her side of things.
>>6293853>>Try and evade the subject of who you are for now and your class. Ask Roland about his plans in game. You don't want him talking about your character to the cafe right now. At least, not until the two of you have partied for a bit.>No but maybe let Gloria know that she should fill him in on her side of things.
Votes are tallied, we're gonna give him our class and let gloria know to fill him in on her involvement. >>6294329It's still around. I've been mulling about on ideas on how to proceed with it as well as how to change cooldown timers in a way that actually impact votes which sounds bigger than it really is. Just want to make it so spamming low cooldown skills isn't always vote. Like spamming cards every vote. Could just come down to my writing though and making it not always the best option. Also, finishing up on making some kind of pastebin write up to keep track of everything rather than taking up a huge chunk of a post with skills and the like. If you guys have suggestions, I'm all ears as well.
>>6294872I'm here for kamen rider henshins desu
>>6294872You can also limit the number of active cooldowns a character can have, for the sake of sanity.For example, a build's rotation is based around what 4 cooldown-based moves they cycle, with globals acting as buffs and a few cooldowns acting as emergency evasion/rescue sideboard.Passives can then be powerful, but constraining since they also take up cooldowns. While other passives are just permanent or under certain conditions.
"I dunno about guilds." You admit, rubbing the back of your head. "They seem kinda complicated. At least, I don't know if I'm ready for all the politics and stuff. I mean- I'm always hearing about how this guild is declaring war on that other guild. I kind of just want to explore and hang out, you know?" You didn't really want to mention your name in game just at this moment. You had nothing against Roland but he could be somewhat loose lipped when he got excited. However, you figure if you got him excited enough that he might forget about you not revealing your name. "Guilds aren't so bad. At least the smaller ones aren't. You join one of the pro team guilds though..." Roland gives an apologetic shrug. "You know how crazy fans can get.""Kind of the reason why I'm avoid them for now. But it's not like I need to be in a guild to get jumped by other players right?" You joke. Roland lets out a booming laugh and turns to grab his tools again. "You're right about that. Man, it's gonna be fun wandering around a new server. Hey, hold the flashlight. I think I see something burned out in the back." He says, deflating a bit. You do as your told and crouch next to him. Not wanting to let the conversation die, you speak up."So I was looking at the classes when I made a character and saw the Hero one. Figured it sounded pretty cool and picked it. You got any tips for it?" You ask. Roland visibly pauses and looks at you with a slightly worried look. "Aw man John, Hero's a beginner's trap. I'd drop it and pick something else. Brawler is close enough and can use weapons and armor. No one's ever gotten the class to work." He says. "No one? There's gotta be someone crazy enough to try and get it to work. Like it has access to skills from other classes. It sounds kind of versatile." You press, unsure of how much you want to divulge at the moment. Roland seems to think for a moment. "Ehhh, I guess there's been some theory crafting here and there as a kind of jack of all trades class. Maybe pull the best of every other class and see what breaks but as far as anyone could figure out the skills you get are semi random. At least, there doesn't seem to be any logic to it. Some people have said they got a weapon proficiency as a choice and that kind of helps but since it doesn't get actual armor they'll end up lagging behind by a lot in terms of enchants and the like." "I saw some kind of affinity system too. Maybe that helps?" You suggest.
"Yeah, I read about that. As far as I could tell, no one could really get it to work consistently. It didn't go up with player kills or monster kills even if the players killed were actively hunting down PKers. Seems like it was more of an RP mechanic or something. A few players said they got increases with npc quests but that didn't seem consistent either. Theorycrafters speculate there's something deeper with the system beyond just doing the same thing over and over but it's because of that that no one takes it seriously. It's just faster to level up normally than to be tied down by some vague RP mechanic." Roland explains as he pulls out a singed RAM stick. "I know it sounds cool but honestly, you'd probably have more fun just picking a straight forward class. That way you can defend yourself if anything attacks you.""I still wanna give it a try. Did they say anything that could help? Something concrete?" You insist."Well...since you can only get accessories like rings and the like. You'd probably want something to help whatever build you were given. Extra damage or defense is gonna be a must." Roland pauses again and you can almost see the cogs turning in his head. "There might be a class quest tied to it.""What do you mean?""Well about a year ago, the devs added hidden class quests to the game. Stuff like hidden masters or like ancient spell books to find. You know like out of Kung Fu movies. It was to help make builds more diverse. If you did these quests, you could get unique abilities or fighting styles but they're ultra rare and even harder to do than most bosses. Not to mention they were, at best, available to only a handful of players. Some people even say that some quests were for a single person in all the sever. Like a master only taking on a single pupil kind of deal. The general playstyle of the class is roughly the same but now they have a hidden ace up their sleeve. Pro Guilds went wild for em and they're tournament legal. Luckily, or unlucky, they can't really be farmed and so most teams are content to have even one on their team." Roland explains with an air of mystery. "Wait, why don't pro teams just buy accounts with the quests done?" You ask.
"It's against ToS. Somehow, the company just knows if an account traded or bought. There was a big controversy about it when the quests were announced. A new pro team was formed made up of those kinds of accounts. When they registered their team and their characters, ZenSoft called them out. The accounts were all promptly banned and the characters' unlocks were sent back into the wild for others. Team fell apart shortly after since they had no tournament level characters. The only loophole the pro scene has found is to make a ton of accounts under the team's name and have players farm for it hoping to randomly stumble upon a quest. Legally, the character and it's progress belongs to the team's company and thus is within the rules. I hear there's talks between ZenSoft and the League to lighten the rules but neither side is budging. If there's anything that could save the Hero class, it'd probably be one of those kinds of quests." Roland stretches and scratches his back. "Honestly, some players are starting to complain that the game is getting to lore heavy and it's interfering with mechanics. Others are saying that the game was always like this and has been Nakamura's playground for dumping in what he deemed cool." He shrugs. "Game's still fun and as far as anyone has noticed, this stuff hasn't really affected the competitive scene beyond adding to highlight reels.">What do you say?>Ask Roland if he's heard anything about recent changes to the game. Stuff like the dragon attacks or cultists in the other main zones.>Ask Roland about his experience with the game. What does he like to do outside of running a shop in his old server.>Get back to work but tell Roland how to find you in Valford. >Write in.
>>6294891So like a player can only have 4 slotted in skills/passives at a time while having a bigger repertoire they can swap out? Sounds pretty interesting to me.
>>6294905>You think that dragon thing in Valford is a hidden class quest? Be kinda crazy if a unique quest affects the town for others.>Get back to work but tell Roland how to find you in Valford.>>62949074 "Main" slots is an option, but it can also be the other way around: if you have 4 skills on cooldown, ALL cooldown-based skills are unable to be used until 1 of those 4 is off cooldown.
>>6294905>Ask Roland if he's heard anything about recent changes to the game. Stuff like the dragon attacks or cultists in the other main zones.
>>6294905>Ask Roland if he's heard anything about recent changes to the game. Stuff like the dragon attacks or cultists in the other main zones.>Get back to work but tell Roland how to find you in Valford.
>>6294905>Get back to work but tell Roland how to find you in Valford.
>>6295177>>6294946>>6294925>>6294915Asking Roland about the dragon stuff then going back to work. Writing. I also made a paste bin will the character skills and the like. https://pastebin.com/XLnJfzV1
"Have you heard about the stuff going on in Valford?" You ask, shifting topics slightly. "Dragon attacks and stuff? Maybe that's class quest?" Roland seems to consider it briefly before shaking his head. "Nah, nothing on that big of a scale would be a class quest but it wouldn't surprise me if one appeared because of it, you know? I've heard about that stuff going on in my server too so I'm sure there's probably a big event being planned or maybe some kind of major shift in the game. I heard people theorizing that maybe there's gonna be a big change in the world map. Nothing concrete though. Just rumors." He says going back to work, now in much higher spirits. "People are also going about a new class being added or maybe they'll be reworking the whole class system as a whole. Of course, that causes people to complain that they're dumbing down the game and all the follow up arguments. Honestly, it seems like server 10 is just the start of whatever is being planned.""I wonder..." You ponder. Even the devs were up to something big, they would have to be careful or they'd run the risk of upsetting the game's balance. Nothing would be more disastrous if there was a massive shift in the meta mid season. It'd be slightly different if it was simply changes in the way items and materials were gathered. Most teams would already be set in their line up and class composition by now but next season would be a complete tossup if there were any big changes to the way classes worked or if there was a sudden influx of new gear that could shift the way a fight would go. "Well I guess there's no worrying about it now. Might as well see were it goes." You say before getting back to helping Roland with maintenance. The rest of the day goes by as normal with nothing too interesting happening. Before the end of your shift, you make a quick trip to Gloria's end of the building to let her know of what she needed to fill Roland in about and then to fill Roland in about how to find you in game. You figure that having everyone meet up back at the tavern you found the heretic would be the best idea.
----The winds were as cold as ever when you logged back in but that didn't seem to deter the guards. As you wandered the streets from the jail you had fought in yesterday, you note that there seemed to be a lot more guards around this time around. Maybe they were searching for any prisoners that managed to slip by during the attack. Or maybe Roland's prediction came true and there was an increase in guards to keep an eye in case tensions between guilds ran a bit too high. Either way, you weren't planning on staying in the city for long. As you step back into the more public areas of the city, you check the time. You still had some time before you think Gloria logged on and you didn't know how long it would take for Roland to finish making a new character and getting out of the tutorial. That gave you a nice chunk of time to yourself. >What do you do while you wait for your friends?>Go rumor hunting again. Perhaps something happened while you were logged off. (What do you listen for?)>Pick up a side profession or two. Could be handy to be able to craft or gather. (What would you look for?)>Head to the tavern. You don't really mind waiting and you don't want to risk missing on meeting up with the others.>Write in.
>>6296527>Pick up a side profession or two. Could be handy to be able to craft or gather. (What would you look for?)Something to work that scale thing.Does the belt accept discs? Cartridges? Fan blades? Might want to choose the profession around what can fiddle with those.
>>6296527>>6296559 +1
>>6296559>>6296527Belt tinker profession.
>>6296559As far as you can tell it doesn't have a slot or input that would accept anything. It's what made it stand out among the other belts. Just has a simple little fan in the center that acts as a turbine of sorts. A tinker/engineering profession could make it possible for you to mess with it but as it stands it's simply a plain old transformation device.
>>6296559>>6296798Then tentatively some mechanic or metal fabricator. We're in the city of gunners, the blacksmiths surely do more than hammer flat sheets.
I just finished reading thread 1, and now I'm going to start on this one. Good stuff, QM! If you keep going, you have yourself another player soon.
>>6296939I like this option, metalsmith or something along those lines
>>6296559>>6296612>>6296614>>6296939>>6297115We're gonna get a job! I'll tentatively label it as engineer. You'll be able to make gadgets and tinker with devices but full weapons and armor are a no go. >>6297032Thanks! Always glad to hear people are interested or just enjoy reading through.
You start making your way to the crafting district in hopes of grabbing a profession to level up. Roland might have had a point. Your class wasn't going to level up the same way as other classes would so your best bet was to look for one of those hidden quests. Maybe you could find one if you knew how your belt worked or maybe you might be able to unlock something with it if you could mess with it. At the very least, having a crafting profession could prove useful. ---Compared to the clean and inviting streets of the market district the "crafting district" was positively the opposite. Even a few blocks away you could hear the clanking and hammering of metals ring out. The temperature slowly begins to increase around you from the myriad of forges and various other mechanical equipment emitting heat. You couldn't really tell what many of the machines around you did or even how they worked. Many of them were fantastical versions of real life machines, a mixture of magic and technology. Your footsteps are often accompanied with splashing as the ambient heat constantly melted any snow that would dare arrive. "Hey move it!" Someone shouts before they shove you out of the way. You stumble to the side just in time to see someone running down the street with a cart full of what looks like raw ingots towards a forge. "Behind you!" Another voice shouts and you barely manage to shift out of the way as another person runs past you, tongs in hand with a small crucible full of molten metal held in them. As if a veil is pulled from your eyes, you suddenly notice that the whole street is full of people running back and forth in a chaotic frenzy. You can only assume that they're all players desperately attempting to powerlevel their professions or perhaps fill orders for other players. It's both fascinating and somewhat amusing given that the sheer amount of players all trying to do the same thing is slowing them down all the same. All the machines and crafting stations could only be operated by one person much like in real life. While the city had many forges and workshops, each individual shop only had so much room. You think that the intended way to level was to simply wander the world, gather materials and then spend some time in a random town or shop to craft. Guilds had the ability to buy property and thus have private workshops but for the average player, they had to find their own. With that in mind, you slowly dodge your way towards the nearest workshop to see if there was anywhere willing to teach you. Unlike the tailor's shop, this place seemed quite packed with a combination of ncps and players working on various stations. Most of the players seemed to be working on upgrading various Gunner weapons, guns the size of small cannons and sometimes shaped similarly. You approach what looks to be the people in charge of workshop.
"I'm telling you. The workshop is at max capacity. You're going to have to find someone else to fill the order." A large burly man who was woefully under dressed for the weather growls. He crosses his large sleeveless arms across his apron. "Now if you're done, I'm sure you have plenty of other useless errands you can do in someone else's store. We have real work to do here."The recipient, a man dressed in leather finery much like your own, seems unfazed. "The Church needs the Dragonkillers made by the end of the month, master smith. I don't need to remind you that as long as your establishment enjoys the protection and security that Her Holy Fury provides Her Blessed City, you will fulfill whatever duty falls upon you in the name of maintaining that safety. Such is the burden Valford's citizens must bear. We will not suffer any attempts to undermine those efforts. I trust I do not need to make myself clear." He says with a cold, indifferent tone. He shifts slightly, only just exposing the hilt of a rapier under his cloak. The shop owner's eyes narrow and he clenches his fists."I don't like your tone boy. My family helped build this city. Our blood is mixed into the very bricks that hold your church together. Don't think your fancy clothes and title mean anything to-""Then you know how much we have to lose if we do not build our defenses." The man cuts in. "You will have the Dragonkillers built by the end of the month. Good day." With that, the man about-faces and promptly walks out of the shop unperturbed by the rising color of red in the other man's face. The shop owner clenches his jaw hard enough that a vein begins to pulse in his temple and upon noticing you at the door shouts,"What do you want?! Here to drop another load of shit onto my plate? Or are you just another idiot wanting to play engineer?!" >What do you say?>Say that you are indeed another idiot looking to learn engineering.>Ask who that was. They seemed important.>Try and show your belt to the man. Maybe he might teach you how to work on it.>Mimic the man and do a 180 turn out the door.>Write in.
>>6297302>Say that you are indeed another idiot looking to learn engineering.Calling ourselves in "idiot" is probably a good idea, for some reason admitting so usually makes assholes more willing to help
>>6297302>Say that you are indeed another idiot looking to learn engineering.
>>6297302>Try and show your belt to the man. Maybe he might teach you how to work on it.
>>6294905> the game was always like this and has been Nakamura's playground for dumping in what he deemed coolKek, like Gygax's party strong-arming him into adding monks?
>>6297320>>6297346>>6297460>>6297538>>6298544Playing into the man's idea of us. Writing.
"Uhh yeah, that's me. Just another idiot who wants to learn engineering." You say trying to keep the man from exploding. It doesn't seem to help as the man's face grows a shade darker. You start to worry that his heart might give out from all the blood it was pushing to the man's face. "Does this look like some kind of trade school to you?" He says leaning uncomfortably close to you. "No...but you seem to be pretty popular among adventurers." You say awkwardly as you motion towards the various players working on the machines. The man continues to glare at you. "If you could teach me the basics then I'd be out of your hair.""I got the church riding my ass. Uppity Captains thinking I'm some kind of weapons factory. You think I got time for holding your hands and teaching you how to pick at machines?" "I'm a pretty quick learner." You insist. "And maybe I could help a bit with some of the work?" You ask. "I have plenty of help." The man scoffs. "You adventurer types are all the same. You learn how to hold your tools and off you run thinking you're a master of the craft. Only reason you come back is to hog all the machines. Some of us have actual work to do!" He shouts in the direction of the work tables causing a few players to look away sheepishly. Latching on to that, you quickly respond."Well how about you teach me the basics and as payment I fill a few basic orders. Just give me one of those work tables and I'll hop to it. Sounds like a fair trade right?" You propose and lean in to whisper. "I'm sure the others only gave you a handful of gold or something as payment right? All well and good but it's not exactly making a dent in the work orders." The man's face seems to lighten a shade or two and he strokes his beard. "Hmm...you do have a point. Money's not making my workload any lighter and those freeloaders are hogging up all my machines." He nods to himself. "Alright. You got a deal." He concludes and squeezing your hand hard enough in what is supposed to be a handshake that you think it might have caused your damage resistances to kick in. The man walks over to the nearest table and spins the person working on it around. "Get out of here. I got work to do." "What? No way! I'm trying to level up my engineering! I paid to be here!" The player argues, causing the man's face to darken once more.
"And I said get the hell off my damn station! And get the hell out of my shop! I don't need your freeloading ass cutting into my work! Now go before I call the guards, and that'll only be so they can peel you off of the road!" The head engineer shouts. The player storms off but not before giving you a dirty look and promptly making a rude gesture at you. "You! New guy! Get your ass over here! I'm not paying you by the hour!"---You spent the rest of your free time going through the game's basic tutorial on how professions and crafting work. Not something you were unfamiliar with but you never picked up engineering before so it was certainly refreshing to go through it again. After that, you spent some time fulfilling a small pile of orders that were meant for the shop. Fortunately, most of it was simply making parts for other machines and nothing too complex. Once that was finished, you shook hands once more with the head engineer and concluded your deal. As you were leaving, one final popup appeared in your HUD.Engineering Unlocked. Please choose your starting gadget blueprint.Wrist Crossbow: A small wrist mounted crossbow that can be loaded with anything upto the size of a regular throwing knife. The damage does not scale with level but can be used throw unconventional projectiles. Concussive Grenades: Weaker variants of a Gunner's skill and are consumable. Their effects are easier to resist but may come in handy in a pinch.Magic Detector: A small handheld device that can be used to scan for magical signatures in the surrounding area. It can't identify magical effects only if there is magic in the nearby vicinity and it's general direction. Mini Grapple Gun: A miniaturized grapple gun in a device the size and shape of a small lighter. Has enough power to pull a single person towards the latched on point. Small motor may burn out if used too frequently or pushed past it's weight limit.>Which blueprint do you want?>Crossbow>Grenades>Magic Detector>Mini Grapple Gun>Write in.
>>6299126Write-in as in we can cook up a starter item? Because I'd go with.>Igniter: A small wrist mounted flamer that can be loaded with fuel. The damage does not scale with level but can be used to light objects and loaded with unconventional liquids.
>>6299134>+1 to thisOh yeah, the Gaurd is gonna love us!
>>6299126>CrossbowUnconventional projectiles, you say?
>>6299126>Magic Detector
>>6299126>Crossbow
this is a 3-way tie. Come on, guys.
>>6299134I'll break it by voting for this, if it's valid. It seems fun.
>>6299134+1Seems cool
>>6299134>>6299141>>6299725>>6299831Tiny flamethrower it is. I'll get to writing in a bit.
You consider your options for a moment. These were pretty solid picks for a beginner in the game. Attack, utility, and mobility to choose from. But you were already playing an rather unorthodox class so why stick to the safe options? You click on the slightly greyed out "View List" option and a get a warning flashing on your HUD. Warning:The previous blueprints were offered with your location's resources and materials in mind. Choosing from the full list of beginner blueprints may result in a gadget that may not be crafted within your local area. Are you sure you wish to continue?[X]Yes[ ] NoYou confirm your decision without hesitation. You played enough of the game that you had a decent idea of which blueprints could still be reasonably made in Valford though in all honesty, majority of them probably could be with a bit of ingenuity and trading. That was why this city was so popular for Gunners and engineers. Many of the basic materials could be easily sourced here and those that couldn't more than likely were for higher level crafts. You idly search through the list looking for nothing in particular and instead searching for something that caught your eye. It doesn't take you long before something does. Igniter: A small wrist mounted flamer that can be loaded with fuel. The damage does not scale with level but can be used to light objects and loaded with unconventional liquids.You study the blueprint for a moment. Mounted on the back of the wrist or under it, it sported a compact design that you could easily hide under your sleeves. The back mounted option even sported a false bracer that stowed and hid the nozzle but would split lengthwise down the middle to pop it out via a spring loaded mechanism. The under mounted option featured a collapsible nozzle that could be locked in place with a simple twist to free up wrist movement. Although the fuel canisters featured in the blueprint were shown to be attached on the arm with a bit of extra tubing, you think you could run it down the length of your arm and torso to have the canisters resting on the hip. Doing that would have them in a much safer and dependable location not to mention preventing them from getting hit when you parried attacks with your arms. The more you studied it, the more you started to fall in love with the idea. The damage would fall off after a while but the scare of being light on fire by a surprise fire attack could be enough to turn the tables in a pinch. You almost felt a bit guilty for thinking of such underhanded tactics but the excitement of doing so was just too much fun.
Playing in the pro scene, the brawler was rather straight forward and though you had a few tricks here and there it was nothing as out of left field as pulling up to a fight with a flamethrower in tow. It was a combination of the game giving you the ability to do with combined with having to think of such things to make a fight even that was reminding you why you enjoyed playing. Without a second thought, you confirm your choice and find your pack slightly heavier as the game adds a physical book to keep your blueprints in into your bag. You make a note of keeping an eye on it from now on. Akin to a wizard's spellbook in other games, an engineer's or rather any other crafter's book contained all their learned recipes and whatever tweaks they made throughout their time playing. Allowing another crafter to get a glimpse of it would easily allow them to mimic your style and gear if not outright tell them whatever tricks you might had prepared. Certainly not something you'd want in your situation but it would be another thing to keep an eye out if you fought another player.Checking the list of materials, you're not surprised that you could get all this right now although it might be a bit tricky without much starting capital. The fuel was going to be the most expensive part. Liquid aetherium was basically used in everything made here but it was usually processed in large batches. Unless you were going to buy it in barrels, and how would you even carry it, you were probably going to have to pay a bit of a premium to get it in such small canisters. Some civilian appliances did use the liquid but in a far safer and more diluted state and that wouldn't work well for your weapon. Before you do anything, you check the time. It was almost your scheduled meetup. You would try and do a bit of bartering, maybe some begging for scrap materials, to build your Igniter but you'd more than likely be late. >What do you do?>Try and scrounge the materials for your gadget. You'll probably be late for meeting up with the others.>Quickly run and grab a gathering profession. You could sell materials you find for starting captial or look for material for your gadget. You could do that and make it to your friends in time.>Set aside all that for another day, maybe when you play alone, and go find your friends. >Write in.
>>6301237>Quickly run and grab a gathering profession. You could sell materials you find for starting captial or look for material for your gadget. You could do that and make it to your friends in time.
>>6301237>Quickly run and grab a gathering profession. You could sell materials you find for starting capital or look for material for your gadget. You could do that and make it to your friends in time.No reason not to, and then when we play together we can gather a little, potentially.
>>6301237>Set aside all that for another day, maybe when you play alone, and go find your friends.wonder if liquid nitrogen is available, or if sticky slime from mobs is dirt cheap
>>6301237>Set aside all that for another day, maybe when you play alone, and go find your friends.Lets take our time.
>>6301237>Set aside all that for another day, maybe when you play alone, and go find your friends.
>>6301360>>6301368>>6301370>>6301503Setting aside time for another day wins by a slim margin. Writing.
Your quell the eagerness building inside you. As fun as it would be to show up to your friends with a neat little gadget, you'd rather not show up late to a meeting you set up. You could also go and pick up another profession but it'd be best you take your time choosing that as well. If anything, it just gave you more to do next time you logged into the game. Making your way through the streets and back towards the city center, you shiver slightly as the ambient temperature drops some more. Despite the dwindling sunlight, the streets seemed busier than before. Roland's prediction seemed to have come true as you note that many of the players were bearing armbands or sigils on their clothing denoting their affiliation to guilds other than E.V.O. You're not sure if they had come here because of the news or if more new players had left the tutorial island and made their own guilds in the hopes of being able to compete with the bigger ones. Moreover, as you make your way through the streets you get the feeling of eyes on you. Every so often, you think you see someone trying to point subtly or leans over to whisper. You adjust your coat slightly to hide your face. You had expected there to be more stories about you floating around the city but you didn't really anticipate for people to recognize you at a glance. Not wanting to deal a crowd or random invites, you hurry your step and make your way to the tavern. Even as you duck behind the doors that lead to the stairway, you catch a few stray invites to various guilds and parties. All of which you promptly decline. You feel your face flush slightly as you walk into the warmth of the tavern's hearth in a hurry and walk right up to the barman. "Hey, can I get a private room in the back? I'm meeting some friends here." The tavern owner gives you the usual grunt as he slides a worn and dirty piece of parchment across the counter. "Name." He says simply.
"Put it under The Traveler." You say in a low voice as you grab a chipped quill to write the name down. The man seems unfazed, or perhaps accustomed, to your strange request and attempt for discretion. He simply gives another noncommittal sound and pulls the paper back under the counter. "Last room on the left." He says dropping a key where the parchment once was and jerking a thumb to a dimly lit hallway behind him. You give him a grateful nod and take the key down said hall. It was narrow with scant few candles offering illumination. As you step towards your assigned room, you can faintly hear the muffled voices of other players within. Paying attention to them would offer you nothing of substance as the game only offered vague noises to passersby. It would require more effort on your part if you wanted to eavesdrop though you suspect that it would be easier here than it would be at higher end establishments. Your door was just as worn and chipped as the rest in the hallway with the key offering the kind of resistance that only came with unmaintained tumblers that offered little in terms of security. Still, some privacy was better than no privacy and you step inside the room. It was as dimly lit as the hallway perhaps slightly more illuminated but in the semi darkness you see that its a bit more spacious than you gave it credit for. A basic 4 person table sat in the center of the room with chairs stacked neatly in the corner. In the ceiling was a basic candle chandelier which you promptly light. A small, dirty window overlooked the poorer district that you and Irene had leapt down to chase after the dragon man. You pull a chair and sit in it as you wait for your friends, idly going through your menus. Regal_20 (John Doe)Level 8Class: HeroHP: FullMP: FullPlease pick a skill:[Brawler Skill] Throw: Throw an enemy in your grip causing damage to them and the environment. Enemies grappled while you're under the Grab skill's effect or collide with sturdy enough objects take extra damage.[Brawler Skill] Second Wind: Gain a burst of stamina, healing yourself for a small amount at the cost of some of your mana. [Mana Cost: Heavy][Fighter Skill] Taunt: Goad the enemy into facing you, diverting the party's aggro onto yourself. Cooldown 10 seconds.[Gunner Skill] Flashbang: Throw a small explosive to temporarily blind an opponent, lowering accuracy greatly. [Mana Cost: Medium] Cooldown 20 seconds.[Brawler/Swordmaster Skill] Flowing Palm Strike: Strike with an open palm, dealing minimal damage and sending the target flying backwards and away from you. Heavier targets have greater resistance to this effect.
Belt Affinity: 45% (Locked)Please choose a proficiency:Weapon Proficiency: Spears/Lances*: Become proficient with the following weapon(s) allowing you to use them in conjunction with your other weapon skills/abilities as your unarmed attacks can be.Weapon Proficiency: Single Weapon Use: Become proficient with all weapons for a single attack upon disarming an opponent, redirecting a weapon attack, or picking up an unattended weapon. Proficiency may be "reactivated" upon picking up a different unattended weapon, preforming another successful disarm/redirection, or being empty handed for set period of time (roughly 30 seconds). While proficient with a weapon, said weapon may be used with weapons skills/abilities as your unarmed attacks can be. *Warning: Choosing this proficiency will reduce your unarmed attack's efficacy to compensate. However, new paths and choices may appear in the future as a result of your decision.Locked? Why couldn't you increase your affinity anymore. Did you do something wrong? Maybe unheroic? You study your character's options and stats for a moment before hesitantly clicking on the help button in the corner. You don't expect much of an explanation given how evasive the game has been so far about the class. And what about the proficiencies? You've never heard of a single weapon use proficiency. Either a class was able to use a weapon effectively or it couldn't. Being temporarily able to use a weapon once was not something you've ever heard of. Not to mention the ability to use weapons with other skills. Your mind races at the possibilities. Being able to use swordmaster or even other non-spear skills with a spear could change things massively. What about gunner skills or thief skills? Then there was the extra clarification. Lowering your fists damage output but opening new paths...maybe your skills would start to lean towards spear skills or even whole new skills that have never been seen before. At this point, anything could happen and the thought causes your heart race with excitement. Looking back at your pop ups, you finally read the explanation for your locked affinity.Affinity increases have been locked. Only through personal strife and adversity can a hero find his true potential.As expected. It didn't offer anything substantial. Just a roleplaying hint. Maybe the game wanted you to find stronger foes? It sounded more like the game wanted you to suffer but it could also mean it wanted you to PvP. Arena could get quite personal with some of the hardcore contenders. You lean back on your chair. First thing first was to make your choices. >Please make your choice of skill and proficiency. >Write in.
>>6302127[Brawler/Swordmaster Skill]>>6302128Weapon Proficiency: Spears/Lances*
>>6302127>[Brawler/Swordmaster Skill] Flowing Palm Strike: Strike with an open palm, dealing minimal damage and sending the target flying backwards and away from you. Heavier targets have greater resistance to this effect.pushing stuff into enemy aoe or fall kills>>6302128>Weapon Proficiency: Single Weapon Use: Become proficient with all weapons for a single attack upon disarming an opponent, redirecting a weapon attack, or picking up an unattended weapon. Proficiency may be "reactivated" upon picking up a different unattended weapon, preforming another successful disarm/redirection, or being empty handed for set period of time (roughly 30 seconds). While proficient with a weapon, said weapon may be used with weapons skills/abilities as your unarmed attacks can be.I can't NOT pick the snowflake abilityalthough I guess lances with a kamen rider is basically a dragoon. Especially with that dragon scale. Not sure how that's going to work without a tank.
>>6302127>Brawler/Swordmaster Skill] Flowing Palm Strike: Strike with an open palm, dealing minimal damage and sending the target flying backwards and away from you. Heavier targets have greater resistance to this effect.>>6302128>Weapon Proficiency: Single Weapon Use
>>6302128>[Fighter Skill] Taunt: Goad the enemy into facing you, diverting the party's aggro onto yourself. Cooldown 10 seconds.Good for hero shit>Weapon Proficiency: Single Weapon Use
>>6302128>>6302365+1
>>6302147>>6302200>>6302338>>6302365>>6302404Flowing Palm Strike and Single Weapon Use have won the votes. What paths will this take us? Only time will tell.
You make your choices and choose the palm strike and the single use weapon proficiency. Being able to create space is always good and you remember using that skill to great effect when you used to play. However, the proficiency was probably going to be your hidden ace. Unpredictability seemed to be what you were leaning into. Combined with whatever gadgets you could get from your profession, you hope that other players will have trouble being able to pin your down or predict your next move. That extra second of hesitation could be the difference between a teammate arriving to assist or an enemy flanking you. There was of course the fun that would come from dealing damage using an opponent's enchanted weapon against them or their ally. You begin to wonder if your choice in proficiency would lead to more options for deflecting and disarming foes. Your thoughts are interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps stomping rapidly making their way towards your room. Moments later the door slams open despite the lock. Simultaneously, you roll across the table and kick it on it's side as makeshift cover as you fly on pure instinct. "John! Why didn't you tell me!?" A familiar voice booms out, more pleadingly than angry. There's the sound of something striking flesh and the immediate clicking of the door closing as a loud sigh fills the room."Not so loud! You want the whole server to hear?" Irene says in exasperation. You peek out from the side of table to see a behemoth of a man standing at the door way, tears flowing down his cheeks in comical amounts as he emotes. His hair flows like a river down his back and around the giant glaive that hung behind him. Irene stands behind him, face buried in one of her hands, head shaking. "You can come out John. It's just me and Roland." She says collecting herself. Roland turns around and gives Irene a look. "Hey, not cool. We don't use real names here." He complains. "You just used John's name." Irene counters. "It's only fair. Anyways, his online name is Regal_20 but he just goes as the Traveler for some reason.""WHAT?!" Roland quickly lumbers over towards you, moves the table aside as if it were a simple chair and grabs you by the shoulders. "That's you too!?" He asks before dramatically looking away and emote crying again while accidentally lifting you to your feet. "It's like I don't even know who you are anymore, dude!"
You give Irene a pleading look but she simply shrugs. You start to wonder how you look like to other people when you play. "I didn't really mean to keep it from you. It all kind of...just happened." You say weakly. "Server Records don't just happen by accident man! You gotta be like some kind of super genius." Roland says as he puts you down. He claps you on the back with the force that felt like a warhammer and grins. "Its like I told you. All the big guilds are gonna want you in when they learn about that! You should totally join one. I bet you could even get into a pro team if you work at it!"You do your best to get your knees to stop buckling and give your boss a weak grin. "I think I'll pass for now. I kind of just want to play the game. Plus, being a pro takes a lot of time. I couldn't work at the cafe and do it at the same time." "No way man! If you go pro, you'll probably get a decent salary even if you're just a reserve player. You could totally take all the time off you need!" He says in his usual amicable self. "You could even quit working at the cafe actually..." He says, rubbing his chin in thought."Well...at least he's settled down now." Irene says as she grabs a chair and takes a seat. Roland steps back and seems to appraise you. "So you're really doing it, huh? You're sticking to the Hero class?" He asks. "Yeah. It's been working for me so far. I might as well see how far I can push it." You say. Roland nods sagely as he moves to take a nearby seat before something seems to register in his mind and he stands up right away."Wait! You're telling me you 2 manned the tutorial dungeon as the Hero class?!" He shouts, sending his chair flying. You rub the back of your head. Perhaps it was best to fill Roland in on the finer details before he has an outburst in public.---"Yoo...no wonder everyone's talking about you. There's rumors flying everywhere." Roland says as he drinks from his cup. As you retold your story from the beginning, Irene had walked back to tavern keep and ordered a pot of coffee which you all were sharing. "I knew I should have gotten the chef profession." She sighs, slightly disappointed at the flavor and adding a bit more milk to it. "I heard some of the other guilds have started sending out scouts looking for you." Roland continues. "Not often that they do that you know. Normally they try and poach you from other guilds during pvp or world bosses.""So, they're hunting him down? For recruiting?" Irene asks. "Seems like a lot of effort for one guy."
"It kind of makes sense though." You say, pouring yourself another cup. "First person to find someone of that popularity has first dibs to set the recruitment incentives. They don't need to price match other guilds, and if the deal is lucrative enough...or at least appears to be then they can pick him up without issue. Now they have the added benefit of saying said person personally favors your guild. It's like free advertisement. More players will flock over just to play with the popular guy and that means more guild dues, more people to run content and farm materials. On the real life side of things, it means more potential fans for your pro team to sell merchandise too. Or at least to donate on their streams. On the corporate angle, it looks good on paper that so many players are interested in your guild/team. Makes it more tempting for sponsors to offer investment. Imagine if the cafe suddenly became a big fan of Evolution or Rising Dragon. Tons of their fan base would come over just to be with like minded people. Companies can point to that to see how much of a good idea investing in them would be if locally owned shops are aligning with their team.""Is it really like that?" Irene asks in genuine curiosity. You nod, speaking from some experience. "It was a big thing in the early years of the competitive scene. Teams had to show that they were worth pouring money into and not just a fleeting fad. Nowadays, I'm guessing it's one of the safer investments with how much e-sports have exploded. One of the big draws is how easy it seems for the average person to become a professional. No need for hitting the gym, or being born with the right genetics. Just as long as you're good at the game. The companies behind pro teams probably capitalize on that. If you join their guild there might be the one chance a recruiter will see how well you play or how much you contributed." You explain. "Of course, it's not that easy. Genetics still come into play, there's always someone who interfaces better with the dive software, or someone with better reflexes. Maybe someone who doesn't free under pressure." You shrug. "When it comes to competition, especially one that pays, teams will grab every advantage they can get. First and foremost being the person behind the wheel.""He's right about that. For all of the thousands of people people streaming the game or playing in arenas, only one or two actually go pro." Roland agrees. "I don't even think I've seen or heard of anyone from the cafe making to the pro leagues and we get tons of fans of the game coming in and out."
You cough. "Yeah, well...going back a bit about guilds. How about we head out before the place is filled up with more players looking take shelter from the cold?""Yeah! I'm all ready to go and kill some stuff!" Roland says downing the rest of his coffee in a single gulp. Irene follows suit and drains the rest of her mug. "What's the plan?" She asks. >What do you say?>Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it.>Explore the caves at the base of the mountain Valford is built on. Maybe you can find some heretics to interrogate or clues. >Wander the lands around Valford. You think there might be a world boss wandering around you could try and steal. >Explore the lands around Valford. You might fight some players to fight or maybe loot some corpses. >Write in.
>>6303459>Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it.
>>6303459>Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it.Follow up on that lead.
>>6303477>>6303478>>6303498>>6303514>>6303527Dungeon time it seems. Do you wish to attempt it with just your friends or do you want to search for more party members.
>>6303710Search for more party members.
>>6303710Do it on our own.
>>6303710>Search for more party members.
>>6303710>just your friendssmall party, farm affinity
>>6303710Just our friends, it's a game, still fun even if we lose
>>6303710>Just our friends
>>6303710>just your friends
>>6303710Ask Roland and Irene if they want to look for a random pickup
>>6304038>>6304002>>6303930>>6303921>>6303761We're just doing it with out friends. Having fun was the whole point of this after all. Writing.
"Let's go poke around the Frozen Gorge. It seems like a good enough lead and we could do with some gearing up." You say. Roland pumps his fist in excitement. "All right! Dungeon time! I can't wait to try out my build. Check it out!" He says throwing open a window and expanding it to fit the table to show you all. Ryuji Yamada (Roland)Class: FighterLevel: 7Skills/Spells:Taunt: Goad the enemy into facing you, diverting the party's aggro onto yourself. Warcry: Taunt now affects enemies in an area around you. Affected enemies have a chance to have their defenses lowered. Cooldown increased to 20 seconds.Guard: Raise your defense momentarily, reducing damage taken for the next 5 seconds. Cooldown 20 seconds. Endure: Brace your body to withstand the attack. Guard no longer requires a shield. Enemies have a harder time forcibly moving you with their attacks and spells while under the effect of Endure.Power Through Adversity: While wearing Medium or lighter armor, gain extra attack power as your health diminishes. The lighter the armor, the greater the bonus per percentage missing.Polearm expertise: Gain extra damage and attack speed while wielding polearms. [Fighter/Ranger] Pin: Hurl your weapon at an enemy and pin them to the nearest object or surface for 5 seconds. If removed by you, deals extra damage and a chance to cause bleeding otherwise the weapon returns to you at the end of the pin duration. Cooldown: 20 seconds.Steel Cyclone: Whip your weapon around in a 360 degree arc, striking everyone within your weapons range. Weaker enemies have a chance of being knocked down. 15 second cooldown."You're doing a berserker build?" You surmise. Ryuji grins proudly. "Yeah! I need a few levels and I can upgrade PTA to Berserk and grab Bloodlust to have a bit of self healing." He says excitedly. "You should pick up Equilibrium later too." Irene says as she starts to dig through her bag. "Then you can trade in some of your PTA stacks for more healing. Until then..." She places three small bottles on the table. You take on and weight it in your hand. It was heavier than a regular potion was. "I picked up alchemy on this character and I managed to grab the ability to concentrate potions. So each bottle has 2 doses. Should hold us over until we find a healer." "Actually I was thinking we could hit the dungeon with just the three of us." You say as you put the potion in your inventory. Irene and Ryuji both pause and look at you. "The Frozen Gorge is kinda hard, man. I don't know if we could do it just the three of us. Especially without a healer." Ryuji says. "It's not like the tutorial dungeon."
"He's right. I'm not sure how far we'll get without a cleric. If we want to get to the last boss, we're probably gonna need a full party." Irene agrees. You shrug, "That's fine. I just wanna play to have fun. Even if we can't complete the dungeon, we can get some crazy stories from attempting it. Pretty sure we can at least get the first boss done. That's some loot at least. Not to mention, if we don't run into heretics within the first boss then we're probably chasing a dead end." You say and then grin. "Or we can end up doing the dungeon as a 3 man and give everyone even more reason to hunt us down." Ryuji lets out a laugh."Fine, I'm down! Let's do it!" He says pulling out a wolf skin cloak from his bags. Irene rolls her eyes with a smile and shrugs. "Well it wouldn't hurt to give it a go." She concedes and stands up. "Let's get going before we change our minds."---The sounds of crunching snow was quickly fading away as the icy wind picked up. The three of you pulled your cloaks tighter as you push onwards towards the dungeon. For the first part of the journey, you had to shield your eyes to the sun reflecting off the endless white fields that surrounded the mountain of Valford but soon ominous clouds blotted out the sun and the winds began to blow. "This is definitely going to be a blizzard!" Ryuji shouts despite the wind not being loud enough to require it. "We should probably change our route! There's a village nearby we can probably get to before the worst of the it hits!""We're almost at the dungeon though. If we hurry we can probably enter it before we take too much damage." Irene says. "Isn't there supposed to be a secret boss there too during blizzards?" She was right. The Frozen Gorge was home to the Ancient Yeti secret boss. It had a small chance to spawn in the gorge during blizzards but was not a guarantee. Usually parties who wanted to try and farm the boss would simply camp out at the dungeon entrance and wait for a blizzard to hit before entering. However, given the early nature of the server, it was a toss up if teams were doing this and risk getting jumped by another party or if people were willing to risk walking in the blizzard to try and sneak in with the low visibility. "Do we know if the server first kill has been taken for the yeti boss?" You ask Ryuji, raising your voice slightly to be heard.
"I glanced at the records before logging on but I didn't see it. I don't think it's been killed yet." He says and grins. "But even if it has, I'm sure we'll get something for three manning it." He adjusts his hood. "Still, I think it'd be better if we wait out the storm if we want to conserve supplies for pushing the dungeon.""We'll have to make a decision soon. The winds are starting pick up more now." Irene says. "If we're pushing forwards, we'll need to tie ourselves to one another or we could get lost in the storm.">What do you do?>Push onwards. The chance to fight another secret boss is too good to pass up.>Head for the nearby village. It'd be for the best that you conserve as much HP and potions as you can. >Turn back and wait the storm out in Valford. You can probably make it in time.>Write in.
>>6304584>Head for the nearby village. It'd be for the best that you conserve as much HP and potions as you can.Issa shame Serena isn't here.
>>6304584>Push onwards. The chance to fight another secret boss is too good to pass up.Our tailor demands rare materials.
>>6304584>Push onwards. The chance to fight another secret boss is too good to pass up.the blizzard could also hide the cultists
>>6304584>Head for the nearby village. It'd be for the best that you conserve as much HP and potions as you can. Speedrunning and scoring secret boss kills is fun, but so is just exploring and spending time with our friends.
>>6304584>Head for the nearby village. It'd be for the best that you conserve as much HP and potions as you can.
>>6304661>>6304637>>6304609Heading for shelter. Writing. >>6304609Yeah. Maybe that can be a later thing. To go look for her. Or maybe just send her a message. It'd make sense if there was an out of game chat function so as to not clash with the full dive stuff. Should have thought of that before actually...
"We should take shelter in the village. We have to conserve our resources if we want to three man the dungeon. Plus we can ask around for rumors there. See if we're on the right track." You say, raising your voice to a near shout as the winds continue to pick up. Your group continues onward as fast as the snow allows you. Flurries of snow whip around and strike your face, forcing you all to pull the hoods of your cloaks tighter and restricting your vision even more. "I think my hair is frozen solid..." Ryuji half groans half screams over the wind. "Where is this village anyways? I thought we should have seen it by now." Irene shouts. "We should be close. I saw the waystone a bit ago." Ryuji replies. "If we haven't gotten turned around then it shouldn't be too far.""We haven't. I think I see light up ahead." You shout and point towards the faint orbs of orange that flickered as you walked towards them. You push onwards and eventually you can see the outlines of buildings in the snow. By the time you step into the village outskirts, your HUD is blinking red with warnings about your clothing providing insufficient protection against the current weather. The three of you hug the houses in an effort to shield yourselves from the blizzard as best you can while you rush towards the closest inn or tavern. Many of the shops that you can see are closed, their doors already piled with snow. If there were any signs of people rushing towards their homes or seeking shelter in other buildings, they were long gone under inches of new snow. "O-o-over th-there!" Ryuji manages to shout over chattering teeth. Your own were chattering so hard that you wondered if the game was going to start threatening you with chipped teeth. You look in the direction where he was pointing. Unlike the various homes around you, the windows were fully lit up from what could only be a multitude of torches and perhaps a large fireplace. If there was an icy version of an oasis, this would be the closest thing. You scurry from building to building as you make your way to safety and when you reach the door, your fingers are almost too numb and stiff to get a good grip. The three of you grab the doorknob in desperation and manage to force the door open before stumbling in. Somehow, you remember to close the door behind you and the three of you slump to the ground, exhausted from travel and now sleepy from the wonderful warmth of the building.
In your hazy state, you only vaguely hear something in the distance followed up by the room bursting into laughter. You and your friends pick yourselves up and slowly wander to an open table ignoring the looks and stares around you. Unfortunately, the only one that was left was the farthest from the fireplace and next to a window but being slightly chilly was far better than freezing outside. You let out a long sigh. You forgot how intense the weather could get in game. It certainly didn't pull any punches. Ryuji lets out an exaggerated exhale. "Man. That blizzard is a killer!" He says, leaning forward to rest on the table and motioning for a waitress. His hulking body nearly covering most of the available space. "I don't know if we would have made it to the dungeon if we pushed for it.""We would have. It's only a little farther than this village." Irene says, gingerly dusting the snow off of her and trying to ignore the fact people were still staring at your group. "But I don't know if we'd be in any state if this is how we ended up just getting here. The blizzard still hasn't reached full force either. We need more practice." Ryuji straightens up and lightly punches your shoulder with a grin."The realism in this game is crazy isn't it? Bet you didn't miss the weather effects." He laughs. You return the grin as you rub the feeling back into your shoulder. They were both right, you had complete forgotten how harsh things could get in game and you certainly needed more time to get used to it again. You couldn't deny, however, that it was quite exhilarating to experience these things anew. You may know about these kinds of things due to your prior experience with the game but nothing beats actually going through it once more. It was almost like you were playing for the first time once more. It brought a certain warmth to your chest. Before you can respond, a young woman arrives at the table. "Hi! Welcome to Homely Hearth. What can I get for you all?" She asks as a few windows pop up in front of the three of you showing you the available foods. It takes you a second for what she says to register not because of the cold but rather the fact she was a player. Interpreting your moment of silence as something else, she adds, "We also have our special menu! These meals are provided by an adventurer such as yourselves so they may be a bit more expensive. Don't worry though! I can assure you that they're worth every coin." With that a second pop up appears as another menu appears.
"Sure...let me just give the menu a once over." You say, shaking yourself awake. A quick glance at the first menu offers the kind of food you expected from an inn. Meat stews, pies, and other baked goods along with wines, meads, and the like. The second menu was far different. It offered various items that had no real theme or common ingredient that you could recognize but they were all of high quality. >What do you do?>Just get something from the regular menu. You only really want something warm.>Get something from the player menu. It's a bit more expensive but it might taste better. Ask what the waitress recommends.>Ask the waitress what she's doing working here. As a player, she can kill monsters or even level up a profession for money. You don't think the owner of this place can offer her any kind of competitive salary next to that.>Ask about rumors. Maybe the waitress has heard of anything suspicious. >Ask Irene what she thinks is good. She's a cook in real life after all.>Write in.
>>6305104>Just get something from the regular menu. You only really want something warm.
>>6305104>Ask Irene what she thinks is good. She's a cook in real life after all.
>>6305104>Ask the waitress what she's doing working here. As a player, she can kill monsters or even level up a profession for money. You don't think the owner of this place can offer her any kind of competitive salary next to that.
>>6305104>Get something from the player menu. It's a bit more expensive but it might taste better. Ask what the waitress recommends.The good stuff, none of that NPC slop.
>>6305104>Ask Irene what she thinks is good. She's a cook in real life after all.If possible, I'd also like to ask the waitress why she is working here as a player
>>6305104change >>6305133to>Get something from the player menu. It's a bit more expensive but it might taste better. Get something spicy
Got a tie between asking Irene and choosing something spicy from the player menu. I'll give it about an hour and then I'll roll for it.
>>6305104>Get something from the player menu. It's a bit more expensive but it might taste better.
>>6305361>>6305293>>6305188Getting something spicy it is. Writing.
Computer crashed and I just lost like an hour's worth of writing and dialogue. Goddamn it.
"What's Rabokki?" You ask Irene as you pour over the player menu. It was the only thing on there that came with a spice warning. Irene looks up from the NPC menu, slightly distracted."It's a Korean dish. A spin on Tteokbokki which is rice cakes in the shape of cylinders. Kind of like some pastas. It's served with fish cakes and boiled eggs in a chili paste. Depending on how much water is used, it can be a bit more soupy. Rabokki is that but then they added ramen noodles to it. I had some when I went to Korea once. You sure you can handle it? You were kind of dying from that breakfast burrito this morning." She snickers. Ryuji let's out a snort. "I should be fine." You say, hiding your burning face behind the menu. "Wait, you went to Korea? When?""I was in a student exchange program when I was in college. It's actually one of the reasons I chose to go into cooking. My parents were not happy about it...until the money started coming in." She says with a hint of self satisfaction. "Wow, I've always wanted to travel overseas!" The waitress says before covering her mouth and hiding behind her small notepad. "Oh...sorry.""Does that mean you can speak the language?" Ryuji asks. "Yes. I picked some of it up during the program and then the rest when I interned at 정식당 (Jeongsigdang)." She says fluently. You and Ryuji look at each other and he gives you a shrug. "So how come we don't have Korean food at your cafe?" You ask. Irene shrugs. "I just haven't really considered it. I think it'd clash with the rest of the menu, don't you think?" "No way! You should totally do it!" Ryuji says. "It'd totally attract more customers to the place if we can advertise we have Korean food." Irene laughs."Are you running a net cafe, or a restaurant?" She asks. "But...I'll think about it. I've been meaning to switch out some items for a while now.""You should make a Korean dish for the potluck." You suggest and Irene seems to think about it. The waitress lets out a nervous noise that you think was meant to get your attention but faltered halfway."S-so...can I have your orders?" She asks. "Oh, right. What are you getting?" Ryuji asks Irene. "Probably something simple. Leveling up alchemy kind of burned through my savings." She says, idly scrolling through the NPC menu. Ryuji shakes his head and waves an arm."Nah, forget that. I'll pay for something. My gear wasn't too expensive. We can make the money back with our dungeon run." He faces the waitress and points to something on the player menu. "Hey, can we get the stuffed turkey? The whole thing?" The waitress seems taken aback at that."T-the whole thing? Well...we normally just serve a slice of the stuffed breast along with some veggies. But...if you're willing to pay a bit extra we can do that..." She says. Ryuji slams a hand onto the table causing several people to turn and look at you.
"Alright! We're doing that! Get us the whole turkey and I'll have the biggest mug of mead you got! Gl- Irene, pick whatever drink you want." He announces. "Ohh...well if you insist..." She says, a bit flustered. "I'll just have the spiced pumpkin drink.""And you,sir? What will you have?" The waitress asks, turning to you."I'll take the Rabokki...and a jug of apple cider." You add sheepishly. Ryuji lets out a laugh. You all pitch in for the meal, Ryuji's offering being the biggest, and the waitress heads off to retrieve your meals. Irene closes the menu and sets the player one aside. Leaning in slightly, she whispers."We have someone's attention. Three tables to the left of the fire place. They've been staring us down since we got here. Don't look at them!" She hisses. "Act natural.""Do you recognize them?" You ask, weighing your uncomfortably light wallet. "No. But they're sporting EVO sigils." She says. "What'd you guys do to piss off Evolution?" Ryuji asks. "It's only been like 2 days.""Nothing. We barely interacted with them." You protest. "And it wasn't even that bad.""It's got to be that thing you got from the prison." Irene point out. "I bet word got out and those videos of you fighting probably aren't helping. Maybe they want it back.""Here in the village? Do you think they followed us?" Ryuji asks, face hardening. "Think they might gank us? There's no guards here. Could probably get away with it.""No. I don't think they could have predicted us coming here. They'd have to know I was the who first killed the tutorial secret boss and then assumed I'd try to do the same with the Ancient Yeti. More than likely they either heard of the scale and are trying to prove themselves to the guild by getting it back. They just got lucky and ran into us by accident. Or...they could be fans who recognize me. What do you think Irene?" You surmise. If anyone could get a read on them it'd be Irene."Without looking at them again, I think it's the former or at the very least, they don't have good intentions. It certainly wasn't a friendly kind of studying. Not sure how much of EVO would know about the scale if the people we worked with were willing to give it up. They probably didn't think it was important enough to let the rest of the guild know. I'm guessing they're bandits. Just saw a party of 3 barely make it in before the storm and assumed we're newbies easy for the picking.""No way a big guild would let those kinds of people in." Ryuji growls.
"It's exactly the kind of guild that would." You counter. "We're at the beginning of a new server. Guilds are just grabbing whoever they can. They probably won't start weeding out problem players for at least a month or so and even then it's the worst offenders. People who keep a low profile will probably stay under the radar. Even worse, those that make the biggest contribution while keeping a clean public persona are probably going to get promoted. The bigger the guild, the more people these kinds of players can hide with in.""So what do we do? We can't just start a fight in the middle of a player filled inn. We'd get slaughtered." Irene asks. >What do you do?>Wait out the storm. Once it's over, you leave and make as much distance as possible before waiting to ambush anyone who follows.>Eat your meal and head out into the storm. If they follow you, you can probably lose them in the blizzard. >Eat and start searching for rumors. You can't start a fight but that means neither can they lest they risk other players jumping in to help...or rob the aggressors.>Play the social game. Move to their table and strike up a conversation. If they attack people who seemingly tried to befriend them, it'll look bad on their guild and they probably want to avoid that. >Write in.
>>6305458>Eat your meal and head out into the storm. If they follow you, you can probably lose them in the blizzard.
>>6305458>Wait out the storm. Once it's over, you leave and make as much distance as possible before waiting to ambush anyone who follows.
>>6305458>Order a serving of Rabokki for them, say it's thanks for their Captain treating us well.
>>6305458>Eat and start searching for rumors. You can't start a fight but that means neither can they lest they risk other players jumping in to help...or rob the aggressors.
>>6305458>>Play the social game. Move to their table and strike up a conversation. If they attack people who seemingly tried to befriend them, it'll look bad on their guild and they probably want to avoid that.
We have a tie between three options. Playing the social game, heading out into the storm after your meal, or just waiting out the storm.
Rolled 3 (1d3)>>6306571Roll a die!
>>6305458>>Play the social game. Move to their table and strike up a conversation. If they attack people who seemingly tried to befriend them, it'll look bad on their guild and they probably want to avoid that.can we eat in peace without getting watched for once?
Sorry about that gents, I meant to do a write up last night but a friend of mine dragged me to the gym and my arms have been feeling like flaming jelly for the last few days. But the winning vote is to eat and then leave. >>6306589I thank you for risking the dice anon. If I had stuck to my normal writing timeline, I'd had gone with it. Hope it doesn't discourage you from voting in the future. >>6306678You're the main character! Of course not...at least not in Valford and it's nearby villages. Or as along as you keep doing things that normal players don't do. Such as attempting to three man a dungeon.
"We'll finish our food and head back out." You whisper. Irene and Ryuji turn to face you, horror on their faces. "Back into the storm? We came here to avoid it!" Irene replies. "Now you want to go back?!""We barely made it here as well, man. Going back out there is gonna cost us. Maybe if we had a healer, we could burn a mana potion or two and stay topped off." Ryuji agrees. You nod. "We do have a healer." You say, nodding towards Irene. "Astro has the helios skill and draw's cooldown means Irene can use it every other card cooldown. It's not alot but we can probably make it to the dungeon in ok...ish shape. If our meals give us at least the basic food buff then we'll have an extra bit of HP to soak the damage." You explain before quickly adding, "I think I remember that being a strategy when I used to play...right?" "I can't spam it all the time. I got about five uses before I'm empty." Irene protests. "How many mana potions do you have?" You ask. Irene opens her inventory and starts to scroll through it."I have like 5 doses of minor mana potions. So that's 50% back there." She says before swapping to a different tab. "And if we add Lucid Dreaming, then that's another 20%.""So we can at least get you back to near full." You conclude. Irene shakes her head."Yeah but then we're bone dry in the dungeon. We'd have to camp out every so often for it to regenerate naturally and that risks more mobs to attack us." She counters. "Guys, we're going to burn resources either way. Those guys are probably going to chase us down and we're going to have to fight. Even if we win, we're going to have to heal up. Might as well go do the thing we wanted to do instead of being dragged into their game, right?" You ask. Ryuji shrugs."I guess he's got a point." He says and Irene sighs."I get the feeling this is going to be a pattern isn't it?" She mutters just as the waitress returns with a small cart carrying your meals. "Here you go sir, your rabokki and drink." She says placing a bowl and jug before you. Even before you can see it's contents, you can smell the spice emanating from it. It tickles your noses and threatens to make you sneeze but at the same time you can't help but want to inhale more. Steam rises from it and makes your face feel slightly damp. A pair of chopsticks lays next to a boiled egg that was sliced in half and sprinkled with what looks like a spicy powder. Your stomach churns, slightly worried at the incoming spiciness but your mouth betrays you as it begins to water.
"This, sir...is your meal." The waitress continues with a grunt as she lifts a platter with large roasted turkey. The waitress places it on the table with a slight thud. It dwarfed your own bowl by several times and looked to be the size of two birds. Various steamed and baked veggies surrounded the bird adding to the visual feast. Part of you wondered that if it was even a turkey to begin with. Maybe by stuffed it meant that there was a whole other bird in it rather than traditional stuffing. Just like your own meal, a cloud of steam threatens to engulf your table as it causes the nearby windows to instantly fog up and become impossible to see through. For a moment, you forget about the chill and dungeons as you're caught in the majesty. The waitress places two gravy boats on the table, each filled with something different, and a bowl of mashed potatoes before finally placing Ryuji and Irene's drinks on the table along with plates and utensils. "One whole turkey, with all the stuffings. Is there anything else I can get you?" She asks. Ryuji absentmindedly shakes his head no too distracted by the meal before him. "Dig in!" The waitress says happily and wanders off."Whoa..." Ryuji says in awe."Yeah...whoa..." Irene concurs. You leave them to the mountain of food and tackle your own meal. Just as you suspected, it was only a few bites of the dish before your face began to sweat. Suddenly, the room felt several degrees hotter and every soft breeze of icy cold wind felt like you had suddenly stepped back into the blizzard. It was slightly dizzying. However, the meal was delicious. There was still the slight taste of fakeness that came with video game food but it was so slight that you actively had to search for it and doing so meant you had to leave the spicy food in your mouth longer than you could stand. At your pace, you could feel the burn but the taste was so real that you could not help but get another bite. As your jug of drink began to drain at an alarming rate, you make a mental note to search the recipe for the dish when you logged off. Before you knew it, the bowl lay empty before you and your scarf was soaked in sweat. Steam left your mouth with every breath and you note a small pop up on your HUD.Meal Buff: Spicy InsulationCold damage reduced and cold weather effects are slightly mitigated. High Quality effect: Damage Negation effect increased. Duration: 1 hour. Source: HQ Rabokki
"Hey, you have to try this turkey! It's sooooo juicy." Ryuji says with his mouth partially full. Your attention is pulled away from your menu and you see the battle being waged before you. The turkey lay there, almost fully intact, as your friends do their best to fight through the mountain food. Ryuji holds a fork in one hand, chunk of turkey breast on it, and a drumstick in the other. His eyes look eagerly to the potatoes and veggies on his plate but he simply does not have enough limbs or mouth capacity to go at them at this moment. Irene, on the other hand, fights the patient fight. She cuts into her food and chews diligently as she savors each bite. One could almost think she being graceful if not for the fire in her eyes and a similar pile of food on her plate. Before her was a challenge, an adversary she had to beat, and she would conquer it bit by bit. A war of attrition vs Ryuji's brazen attacks. A drum stick is waved in front of your face."Dude, you gotta get in on this." Ryuji says again as he swallows his food and takes another bite. "There's so much and it's goooood." He grabs a plate and slides it in front of you before motioning to the carving knife buried in the turkey. You gingerly reach over for the knife before logic kicks in and you remember that you're in a game. A virtual world where you could eat to your heart's content. Only limited by your money and mental fortitude. You eagerly grab a knife and a warning pops up.Warning:You're about to eat a meal while you have a food buff active. Doing so may replace it with:Meal Buff: Luxurious MealIncreases your HP and Physical Stats. Gives a slight chance to avoid status effects. High Quality effect: HP and stat increased further. Source: Festive Turkey FeastWould you like to replace your buff? You may continue to eat the meal if you choose not to swap.[ ] Yes[ ] No>Do you want to change buffs?>Yes>No
>>6307215>No
>>6307215>No.Neat buff system.
>>6307215>No>>6307244I like it! Incentivizes eating, too, which is kind of important because otherwise I don't get why most people wouldn't log out and eat real food if they can afford to.
>>6307215>>No
>>6307235>>6307244>>6307262>>6307272>>6307309>>6307372We want to keep our food buff. Writing. >>6307244>>6307262Thanks! I've come to notice that I really like writing about food and cooking was always my favorite skill in rpgs/mmos. So I had some fun thinking of how food would work in this quest.
You quickly decline the offer to swap buffs and cut yourself a nice chunk of turkey, leaving the drumstick for Irene. It was only fair, it was their meal. You take your first bite only to find your filling with the rich flavor of the meat. Each chew seems to cause it to melt more in your mouth, releasing the salty flavor of the butter and herbs that was contained in the skin. The crispier parts of the skin gave it a nice texture and crunch that helped enhance the taste even more. It wasn't until you got to the third or fourth bite that you got a mouthful of the stuffing. Another kind of meaty flavor surges and you realize that it wasn't just simple bread that was used to fill the turkey but also sausage. The bread helped absorb the turkey juices and helped transfer it to the sausage meat give it a unique mix of both meats that blended well in your mouth. Such was the taste that you found yourself cutting another portion for yourself. "See? I told you it was good!" Ryuji says with a big grin on his face. He takes another drink from his mug and adds, "Guys. Forget about loot or gear. We need to find a money making hussle so we can keep eating like kings!" "I'm glad you found the food enjoyable." You hear the waitress say happily. She pushed the cart to the table and started to offer everyone refills on their drinks. "It took me a while to get the food just right.""You gotta be some kind of cook irl right? This stuff is great!" Ryuji asks as he fills is plate with more food. "Oh no. I'm a terrible cook in real life." The waitress says with a heavy blush. "I can barely make eggs. All of these dishes were made with trial and error. Just putting ingredients here and there until it all came together."Ryuji downs the rest of his drink and slams it on the table. "Hey, add me to your friends list!" He says suddenly."W-what?" The waitress stutters. Irene face palms. "Add me to your friends list." Ryuji repeats. "I'd be down to try out your dishes any time. If we were on my old server, I'd definitely invite you to sell stuff in my cafe." "Speaking of selling stuff." Irene says, trying to turn the conversation to something less forward. "How come you're working here? You could make way more money by selling your crafts to guilds and the like.""Oh I do. But I spent it all buying ingredients. Mostly I'm trying to get the inn owner to teach me their secret recipe. I wanna try and collect them all." She admits. "I'm not...so good at the other parts of the game. I just like to cook in games and I read this has the most in depth system in the market." She adds, face glowing red with embarrassment. You tilt your head, slightly confused.
"What level are you?" You ask, curious. "Some of the best crafting materials need players to kill higher level mobs or go into dangerous areas." The waitress chews her lower lip. "Umm...level 5." She admits. "I thought I could just buy ingredients off the market.""Well you can but eventually you'll start struggling to get premium materials. At least, until they stop being relevant." Irene admits. "You'll have to engage in the rest of the game in some way if you want to make the best foods or at least have access to all the materials the game offers.""Well, even more reason to be friends then!" Ryuji says. "I can help you get ingredients. I made a tank build so leave the monster slaying to me while you gather." He seems to think for a moment before dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Guys, we should totally make a guild! We're going to need to work with other people eventually, right? Why not start now and look for cool people to play with?""You sure this isn't just a scheme for free food?" Irene asks with a grin. "No, come on man. You said you helped a bunch of newbies before right?" Ryuji asks you. "Why not make a guild that looks for them to help? Like ones with hidden talent? Most big guilds are probably just looking for newbies to do grunt work and grinding. We could try and snipe some and actually push them to their full potential. Like that one spellcaster chick you mentioned." Irene gives you a sideways look that mean this was your decision to make. She knew how much you wanted to lay low.>What do you say? Do you want to make a guild?>No. You don't really want to manage a guild. It's too much responsibility and you only really want to play with your friends.>No. You don't think making a guild is a good idea right now. However, you don't mind if you add players to your friends list. There's less pressure in doing that.>Yes. You'll need to start forming parties and interacting with the community so you should start soon. Plus it sounds fun to make a guild of super newbies.>Write in.
>>6307819>Yes. You'll need to start forming parties and interacting with the community so you should start soon. Plus it sounds fun to make a guild of super newbies.Yeah, that does sound fun, especially one filled with niche players who only like cooking or metalworking or stuff like that
>>6307819>No. You don't think making a guild is a good idea right now. However, you don't mind if you add players to your friends list. There's less pressure in doing that.I'd like to suggest Monomyth as a name if we do make a guild though.
>>6307819>Yes. You'll need to start forming parties and interacting with the community so you should start soon. Plus it sounds fun to make a guild of super newbies.
>>6307819>No. You don't really want to manage a guild. It's too much responsibility and you only really want to play with your friends.We should get that tech certification.
>>6307819>Yes.>Focus more on sharing player skills and information. Casual mentoring to help hidden gems find their fun.
>>6307819>Yes. You'll need to start forming parties and interacting with the community so you should start soon. Plus it sounds fun to make a guild of super newbies.Mentoring the heroes of tomorrow to push people to be the best they can be sounds suspiciously like something a Hero would do. Also fun and a fulfulling use of our experience and talents as an alternative to the arena circuit.
>>6307879+1, let's make a guild that's just about having fun and collabing to make the most of this metaverse. Fuck competitive viability. Less a top down guild, more of a voluntary association.>>6307819
>>6307819>Yes. You'll need to start forming parties and interacting with the community so you should start soon. Plus it sounds fun to make a guild of super newbies.Name it 4 Green Leafs
>>6307968>>6307964>>6307954>>6307900>>6307879>>6307841>>6307822Overwhelming yes. John is coming out of his shell. We'll address the name of the guild a bit later but I'll write down the ones proposed to add as voting options.
You give a shrug. Ryuji was right, you were going to have to actually interact with others eventually. Even you believed the game to be a team game and the most fun came from working with others. Why not do it on your own terms then? "Sure, why not?" You say. Ryuji pumps his fist. "Yes! So you wanna join our guild?" He finally asks the thoroughly confused waitress. "I mean we don't have one right now but we'll make one and you can be part of it. We'll help you get ingredients and stuff.""I..umm..." The poor girl stammers. "You don't have to if you don't want to." Irene says in her usual tone outside of the game. "He gets really passionate about things but don't let it pressure you. Like he said, we don't have a guild right now. It's just an idea he came up with right now.""No!" She says suddenly before clapping her hands to her mouth. "I mean...No one's really invited me to play with them. When they hear I don't like fighting they just kick me from their group. I just want to cook and grow plants.""That's fine." You say simply. "Ryuji already said it. He's willing to help you fight monsters and keep them off you if you want to gather things. This game is huge. Don't let people tell you how to play it. Not to mention, this is a that rewards teamwork. If you need help then we'll help.""Yup! You don't gotta worry about a thing." Ryuji says. "Just give us a shout and we'll come help.""Just get used to the idea that these two are gonna accidentally drag you into some crazy scheme. Like running into a blizzard." Irene smirks. "That's what makes the game fun though!" Ryuji protests. He looks at the waitress. "So, you wanna join our group?""Y-yes!" The girl says and Ryuji waves his arm."Well come on and sit. We got plenty of food left. Help yourself." He says and raises his mug. "To our new guild!" Irene shakes her head and grabs her own cup. "To whatever the hell we have planned." She says joining in. You laugh and take yours to join in."To all that." You add. "Oh right. Here..." Ryuji leans over and pulls a mug off the cart and pours some of your drink into it. Then hands it to the waitress. "Welcome to the group uhh...""My name's Chloe." She says as she takes the mug and clinks it against the group's. "To good food!""Amen to that!" Ryuji concurs and drinks deeply. "Now, let's finish up this bird and head out."
---"So you're really gonna head out into the storm?" Chloe asks anxiously. "You could lose all your gear out there.""We should be fine. We got some supplies." Ryuji says as he scrapes his plate to try and get the last bit of gravy off of it. The battle was long but with the four of you, you manged to grind way and ultimately defeat the pile of food that had been ordered. By now the fog on the windows had slowly gave away and the cold was settling back in. A grim reminder of what you were about to step into. "If we're fast enough, we should be fine...at least that is the plan." He admits. "Like I said, get used to being dragged into whatever madness these guys think up." Irene says. "It should be fine. With the food buffs, we have a bigger buffer for damage." You assure everyone as you get up. "But we should get going before we lose our nerve." Your friends follow suit. "Wait! You should take these." Chloe says digging into her apron and pulling out a few phials from her pockets. "I got these when I started the game. I haven't used them." She says placing them in your hands. "They can help, right?" "You sure you don't need them?" Ryuji asks as you hand a health potion to everyone in your party. "I don't think so. I'm not gonna fight monsters." Chloe says. New items added to party inventory:3x Minor Health Potions"Thanks. These will definitely help." You say. "Now we need to know how much trouble we're going to cause." You mutter. Out loud you say, "Well, we'll see you later Chloe. We'll probably head back to Valford in one way or another so if you're in the city, we can try and set up a guild.""Ok! I'll see you there!" She says. "Good luck!"You, Ryuji, and Irene make your way to the door causing a hand full of people to glance at your direction, slightly curious including the group that had been keeping an eye on you. They don't rise to their seats and you hope that they're second guessing their plans. You try to open the door discretely but the wind throws it open violently and snow begins to swirl in. Various voices shout at you to close it and stop letting the cold air in but you ignore it as you step outside. Your HUD immediately blares warnings at you.Warning: Extreme temperatures exceed your current tolerance. Seek shelter immediately or risk death."NOW WHAT?!" Irene screams over the blizzard and even then you just barely hear her. >What do you say?>Rush to the dungeon. You need to get there immediately.>Hide nearby and see if anyone else tries to exit the building. Anyone that does, you can try and follow to ambush.>Head out but keep an eye out for ambushers. If you notice anyone, stop and set up a trap.>Write in.
>>6308087>Rush to the dungeon. You need to get there immediately.
>>6308087>Hide nearby and see if anyone else tries to exit the building. Anyone that does, you can try and follow to ambush.This is specifically for the people who were watching us the whole time. That usually ain’t good.
>>6308087>Hide nearby and see if anyone else tries to exit the building. Anyone that does, you can try and follow to ambush.
