EDGE Online IC

[Cloudburst]

EDGE Online OOC, Signups, and Infodump​

January 3rd, 2046

The day the new models of ANI holding EDGE Online were shipped out across the globe to those that received the code "EDGE Interactive 2023" and input it on the EDGE Interactive website to receive their time-sensitive code that in turn had to be inputted into another section of the site. That aside, around one thousand models were shipped when EDGE Interactive began to crack down on people redeeming multiple codes for one household, and that left the closed alpha with a fraction of the intended audience- only 2,346. Regardless, that sample would prove enough for the worlds that rested within the ANI, and most copies of the game arrived within two days. The game actually unlocked itself on the 8th, due to time constraints and technical difficulties that were explained on the EDGE Interactive forums.

Most of that was forgiven by players when the first hundred or so people powered up their ANI and heard the words "Powering on. Loading EDGE Online. Please wait." as it began to do its work and patch them in with other players from across the world.

The game's loading sequence was fairly typical for games on the ANI, having users wait in a simulated area where they can test their connections to the ANI with some simple exercises such as trying to speak, run, or screenshot. Then, like all ANI games, a countdown was given for the player to get ready to adjust to phasing into the world of EDGE Online.

Some knew a little of what to expect. EDGE Interactive had a habit of relying upon environmental storytelling instead of direct narration, and relying off of small descriptions to paint a bigger and more complex picture. Yet, EDGE Online had chosen to do something different, and had held something that most EDGE Interactive games didn't hold.

Blatant exposition and railroading.

The game opened to a first person shot of a person walking through what appeared to be a land with a sky darker than anything ever imagined. Each dusted step echoed through the expanse of a ruined cityscape dotted by massive fans, exquisite ruins, and even a castle or two. As they walked, it became apparent that the players could- to an extent- look around and control their arms, but could not falter from the ashen path before them. Spires of ash laced with crystal began to take over the view of the cityscape, and a voice began to ring in the back of the players' head.

"This is what awaits us. It's almost inevitable, really." The voice was different for each player. Some would claim that it sounded like them, where others would say it sounded like a family member, or the main character from another EDGE Interactive game. "We're born in the Stream, made life by the Stream, and die on the whim of the Stream. So who were we to try and defy it?"

The viewpoint figure walked towards a concrete pillar and wiped a slab of crystal clean with their hand, revealing a cloaked figure that after a bit of character creation came to form the avatar that the player chose when they removed a crystal shard from their character's wrist. From there the player gained full control of their virtual body, able to walk down the path provided while looking at the sodden state of the area around them. Those with additional hardware to allow extra sensory input would feel the coldness of the place, and take note of the metallic smell of the entire locale, getting that taste of metal on their tongues as well.

No, it wasn't blood, as many had hypothesized due to their indulgences in crime VR titles. It was just the natural smell of the land, for around five minutes. Some said it was shorter, others claim to have been there around twenty minutes. That was the main issue in VR titles- cinematics were played out by the player, especially in EDGE Interactive's case. Regardless, what came next led the way to the meat of the tutorial.

They were met with the sight of a spherical structure torn asunder with what appeared to be the blackened vines of a massive plant. As they drew nearer and descended into the crater before them, a haze filled the area, and they would notice that two other figures- likely other players- appeared next to them. That suspicion was confirmed when their HUDs appeared and showed an overlay listing them and two others by avatar name.

One such group was Antebelle, Zugzwang, and Verglas Virgil.

At the base of the crater, the trio stared down the crooked entrance to the massive geode and were left with a prompt along the top of their view, "Relearn the truth of the Stream.", and in the center of the screen was a diamond shaped quest marker leading into the maw of the ruins.

 

[Basileus]

​

'This is what awaits us. It's almost inevitable, really,' Antebelle repeated in her head. Now if that ain't a shot at environmental policy, I don't know what is.

She wasn't quite sure what to expect when she dived into the crater. She anticipated some kind of tutorial boss fight once she got inside the dilapidated Epcot replica that was choked up by vines, and so immediately changed to her Plasma Beam before jumping in. She did not expect, however, to be lumped with two other players so soon. One had amazing hair and an iPod hoodie; the other was some kind of ice elemental. Both were cast in the gentle red light given off by Antebelle's armor, and they would no doubt feel warmth coming from it if they got any closer.

Instead of talking to them first, though, she quickly went into the settings and optimized her HUD -- compass across the top, a health meter just beneath it, the list of nearby players on the left side, a column of icons for her weapon types on the right, and a mana meter running alongside it. She also added a mildly ornate, opaque targeting reticle that followed wherever she pointed her arm cannon, something the tested by half-heartedly aiming at Zugzwang and Verglas Virgil. Works like a charm, she observed. And now began the fun part.

She turned her head to look at both of her newfound companions. "An' here I was thinkin' that it'd just be me," Antebelle remarked, her alto voice distorted somewhat by a echoing, demonic voice filter she'd tacked onto her passive ability for kicks. "Nope! Already just thrown into it with a couple of total strangers! What better way to get to know someone than by tossin' 'em together." She did a grandiose bow and said, "Antebelle at yer service, but you can just call me Belle if you want." She knew the introduction wasn't necessary since her name appeared on both of their overlays, just as theirs appeared over hers. But she didn't care in the slightest. "Now, who's ready for a bit of cavin', hmm?

 

[Jill]

[fieldbox=♣, teal, solid, 10]No time should be wasted, wilfully. Not out there - and while she had yet to discern whether the same principle was more or less critical within this artificial realm; compared, that was, to the world some chose to call real - it didn't matter. She still didn't wish to spend time thinking, or waiting.

Her nature. Questioning everything, and yet she did not listen. 'The Truth of the Stream' - fluff, to be dispensed with. If it did turn out to be integral to the workings of this place, this... game, then she would address it then. But Zugzwang doubted this. There were things she wanted to know, but whether one ran or crawled it would still come only as one movement at a time. Knowledge and power remained intertwined wherever one might find themselves.

Others present. For a tutorial that was unusual, but barely relevant to the Marked Card. She glanced at each of them for a lingering moment, hazarding guesses at what the unique capabilities they had selected for themselves might be. And then she glanced at the environ itself - bluntly, it seemed rather lazily-designed, though something she could not quite place a slim finger on unnerved her. She felt dizzy, perhaps a lingering effect of the synch or perhaps borne of the haze she could not smell, but seemed... thick to draw in, and out. In, and out. Unsteady. Her legs were, too, but that would no doubt fade in some moments, it was new but not quite unknown to her - begrudging every moment as she was, she'd practised for this.

Alright. The one in the blue-grey armour spoke, which dispelled any unlikely notion that the game would assign such unusual tutorial NPCs to run with her for the time being. Antebelle, her voice seemed... a little incongruous. Zugzwang's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her, at least, what little she could make out behind that murky red visor, only for a moment before she tactfully averted her gaze. She found it rather interesting that someone - a girl as well - who seemed intent on presenting themselves forthright and vivacious might also choose specifically to construct an avatar that would hide so much.

Of course, Zugzwang herself had her hood, but even beneath that her pale face remained unreadable. She hoped, anyways. She found any tongue best kept shackled, but the same could not be said for her physique, it was... tight. What muscles she had felt like wound cobras, waiting to rear and spit at an unlucky passerby. Her body did not feel entirely under her command, again, that concerned her. Best way to remedy that was to take control of the situation, so... she walked off.

That was it. She had no interest in humouring some nitwit from Southern America. So she feigned ignorance of what 'Antebelle' had uttered - many here, after all, would not be able to speak English. So for now? She didn't, either. Sorted. Hands in her hoody pocket, the cards of all colours forming between them (beautiful, but who paid mind to simple beauty - in this time where any sight beneath the visage of God could so easily be faked?), she marched briskly into the dust-ringed and decrepit entrance.[/fieldbox]

 

[Cloudburst]

[fieldbox="❄, cyan, dashed, 10"]EDGE Interactive always made some good games, and Virgil hoped that EDGE Online would be the same. They always packed their games full of content that only a gamer or some novelists would be able to understand. Unfortunately, he only was the former, but that didn't matter to him. Character creation went swimmingly as he adorned himself in robes the color of the ocean and reconstructed a character from another ANI game. With that the game carried him to the next destination- something he didn't expect from an EDGE game, but appreciated none the less. Not an issue in the slightest so far.

The only issue he could see with EDGE Online is player interaction- or more specifically, players breaking immersion. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about that when he slid into the crater and found himself next two two figures. Antebelle and Zugzwang. The former clad in some rather hot armor and the latter set in a purple hoodie. He had to admit, he felt out of place, with his blue robes in comparison to the rather modern if not futuristic setting they all seemed to be in.

He took a small moment to articulate his HUD into something of a layout similar to that of a more standard MMO, with most of the options, his abilities, and soon-to-be items lining the bottom of the screen. Like in all of the EDGE Interactive games he played before, he added a cursor to his view so he could access the menu without sacrificing too much mobility.

Then Antebelle spoke.

"Yeah, quite a surprise," Virgil started "I didn't think they'd have the tutorial be something like a private dungeon. It'll have to do though. I go by Virgil, nice to meet you Belle." He said. He didn't expect Antebelle's voice to come across so morphed, but after a moment he rationalized that it was probably something to do with the aesthetic of her suit or the class. "Seems that someone's ready to go caving, already getting a head-start. Why don't we catch up, and chat about our classes' kits?" [/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="♣, teal, solid, 10"]The closer she got, the more Zugzwang would come to realize that the air around the crevice began to become more and more charged by some force. Not something that could be quantified, simply something that could be felt. Once inside, the massive sphere proved to be hollow, only holding the source of the black vines from before- a massive pinkish flower furled into a bulb. It definitely was a contrast to the mostly grey, black, or white shades that the environment held. The ceiling too was lined with these pinkish bulbs, only, these were in full bloom. They looked something similar to the orchid flower, only with more petals, black stems, and the occasional crystal wrapped in their vines. Perhaps most important of all, the quest marker diamond was above the massive flower in the center of the chamber.[/fieldbox]

 

[Jill]

[fieldbox=♣, teal, solid, 10]So, they weren't following. Yet, at least. Very well, she could deal with or without them, Zugzwang wouldn't quite admit to herself that she worked best alone - that was conditional, dependent on how well she could play others to her veiled command - but others did tend to distract. For now it was just her, and... whatever made this place its den.

She gently pushed a draping vine from out of her way as she entered - it felt odd. Could just have been the sensation of touch still not being correct to her tastes in the Virtual Reality; it was smooth enough, but carried the energy of being alive and dying, if not dead at once. Like a petrified arachnid's leg. The contradicting energies of the alive and the abandoned, it ran through all of this place.

She didn't like it. She could feel the tattered ends of her hair standing to attention at the scene before her. In the monochrome, she was the only colour, besides... the great bloom in the chamber's centre.

Familiar. Why? No, it wasn't. She dismissed the thought, anger splitting for a moment her composure in the half-light. A fantastical sight for her tired eyes or no, she had to remind herself always of the constructed nature of this place and all the others she'd come to sift through. Fake. Like the tension the game was trying oh-so-hard to instill in its audience; and, would, perhaps have succeeded - were she someone of regretfully lower mental acuity.

A smile like the slash of a razor. Zugzwang stole a little closer, it seemed those crystals clutched within the great petals and furled boughs were what she was tasked with collecting. Simple work. Obviously, far too simple. The construction of the orchid itself led to the impression that it was... playing dead. Accordingly, even if a 'tutorial encounter' would likely prove a pushover irrespective of how she approached it, well - a mousetrap, while scarce suited to harm a human, would still not be something one would knowingly let catch one's fingertip.

How to defeat a trapper? Defuse their work, at a reasonable distance and while wary of one's perimeters.

With a smooth motion, Zugzwang drew a glinting 'card' - they seemed more like slim sheets of clouded crystal - in a brief scatter of dissipating violet dust; clutched it, 'darkness', in her fist. A brief moment's pause, then, quick as the crack of a whip: pitched her upper-body forwards and spat a writhing spray of black orbs ahead of her, pummeling the (then) unblemished petals of the magnificent orchid.[/fieldbox]

 

[Basileus]

It seemed like Zugzwang wasn't much for talking; not even so much as a response from the girl in the purple hoodie, besides a half-assed glare at Antebelle before she walked off. It got on her nerves to be disregarded so easily, but at the same time, to be so driven to progress must be a good thing for Zugzwang. Whether or not it blinded her to everything else around her was yet to be seen, however. At least Virgil was a bit more receptive to Antebelle, however, and wanted to know a bit more about the groups' classes and kits. He seemed like a team player, at first glance, much unlike the one in the hoodie.

"Kits, huh? Well, I like to think of mine as flexible," Antebelle began, levitating off from the ground and leaning forward slightly, hovering in the same direction at a walking pace. "Fast and agile, and a variety of weapons for all my killin' needs." As she spoke, she cycled through her Ice and Dark beams before returning to Plasma. She also extended her Drain Lasso, which took on the same red color as her visor, and twirled it above Virgil's head. "There's also some utility built into it -- but the real fun's in drainin' the life out of somethin' with my Drain Lasso!" she said, with almost a little too much enthusiasm before retracting the Lasso entirely. "Idea's to kill things before they can kill me, 'cause I can't... take a hit..."

Her warped voice trailed off as soon as she entered the main chamber, feeling the odd, inexplicable energy in the air and seeing the monstrous orchid bulb at the center. She floated in place in awe of it and the flowers and crystals that dotted the room, but once she saw Zugzwang attacking the main flower, she immediately raised her arm cannon and aimed at the bulb. She kept her weapon trained on the flower as she hovered sideways to her right, away from where Zugzwang was, not wanting to be too close to her when whatever that flower was opened up and lashed out at its attacker. There was no way that something wouldn't; this room was far too large and open for it to not be a boss chamber of some kind. Whatever it was that awaited them would no doubt get pummeled by the three of them -- this was a tutorial, after all. And if Zugzwang wanted to antagonize the beast and take the first hit for the team, then that was just fine by Belle.

Though, perhaps there was more than that big orchid to worry about.

 

[Cloudburst]

[fieldbox="❀, hotpink, solid, 10"]Black orbs to a flower- a beautifully destructive sight. Each orb struck dealing roughly sixty damage a piece in red flashing numbers, each strike causing the bulb to develop something peculiar for something of its flesh. It cracked, and flaked, and found itself becoming paler and paler until it was a shade similar to the ash outside of the dome. With the last orb striking it, the bulb popped into a shower of cyan crystals causing a vigorous rumble to fill the dome. The flowers on the dome and the ground both began to roil and contort towards the center where the bulb once sat, tearing into the stone of the dome and the ash of the ground. Those that were nearest to the center, such as Zugzwang were battered by the pulling of the vines and flowers.

And then, from the bulb's resting place, it came.

A chasm forming under Zugzwang and the two that had recently entered, causing those without a base level of levitation or some kind of acrobatics to fall into a ruined hallway of the same design of the orb. There they were met with the sight of a massive bloom of a flower writhing with the blackened vines and pink blooms from above. The view was littered with spires of crystal encompassing statues, normal pillars, and even obstructing some doorways. Each one let out a small bit of light as any entity passed by it.

The quest log updated for all three of them, removing the icon, replacing the prompt with "Defeat Orchid", and putting a health bar along the top of the screen and filling it with a green liquid effect for its health, which looked to be a bit chipped due to the damage its bulb took above ground.[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="♣, teal, solid, 10"]Took 11 damage from the pulling of the vines.[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="❄, cyan, dashed, 10"]Antebelle's kit was interesting to say the least. Something that would work as long as she wasn't overwhelmed. Virgil would have asked for Zugzwang's kit and talked about his kit, but it seems that it quickly was time to demonstrate instead of elaborate. A boss battle for the tutorial surely would be enough of a test for the game's systems. Unluckily, his kit was more focused on enemy movement and aggression. A giant flower that's probably stationary was the worst possible opponent to fight against.[/fieldbox]

 

[Basileus]

[HP: 200/200]
>>[Objective: Defeat Orchid]<<​

Sure enough, Zugzwang's attack did end up pissing off the orchid (and dealt a hefty 60 damage per shot -- perhaps it was weak to Dark damage?), and after turning white as porcelain and shattering much like the same into a shower of crystals. Antebelle just managed to see the 11 damage tick for the hooded one, and would have chuckled if the ground didn't open up and try to swallow her. Belle's speed and levitation, however, allowed her to gracefully backflip and avoid it, landing squarely on solid ground. She crouched and peered into the resulting chasm, seeing that neither of her companions had the speed to match hers, and were now faced with Orchid. And for a flower in bloom, it did not look happy.

Judging from what she did to start this mess, Zugzwang (Nah, I'm callin' her Ace! Y'know, like the Ace of Spades!) had at least one distance attack she could rely on, and Antebelle had a sinking feeling she wasn't a melee fighter. Virgil wasn't able to spell out his kit to Belle before things literally fell apart for him, so he was an unknown. It looked like there was plenty of room to move about in the chasm, and even some cover to work with from the crystal spires, but she doubted stealth would be a viable option here. Regardless, she'd be able to keep her distance and strafe Orchid as she pleased. She'd just need to keep an eye out for any tricks it might have.

She probably could have just camped from the orb and shot at it from the edge, but didn't want to be taken unawares by any vines or smaller blossoms. Instead, Belle only shot at Orchid once from the ledge, sending a high-speed bolt of of fiery plasma its way, then dropped down into the chasm, took aim, and shot at the monstrous flower again. Her levitation kicked in once again, and she leaned back and to the side, hovering backwards to the chasm wall and moving to her right at the same time, keeping her arm cannon aimed at the plant as she observed the effects her Plasma beam had on it.

 

[Cloudburst]

[fieldbox="❄ 450/500 Health ❄, cyan, solid, 10"]Ice and flowers typically didn't mix. Regardless of the inefficiency of his kit, it made sense that he would at least deal a small amount of extra damage to the weed with ice. With a thought of indignation and a hypothetical gulp, he jumped down into the chasm and took 50 damage. One good thing about splurging on the latest tech was that he wouldn't feel that if he turned it off in the options menu. Sadly, he didn't. All part of the plan, of course. To get into character you had to feel what they felt, surely. With a groan and even more indignation, Virgil cast three ice mines directly in front of the boss in case it decided to advance upon either of the (likely) squishies of the team. [/fieldbox]

 

[Jill]

[fieldbox=♣, teal, solid, 10]So, she'd been right. But she was also reminded that being correct; while satisfying in many ways, was not always fun. The girl beneath the hood grimaced as the vines reared and whipped at her - Dark Matter might've been the longest-ranged skill in her starting kit, but it was still not good enough. Rather dire, actually.

The sensation of pain in the VR environment wasn't quite transliterated. There was something dull and hollow about it at the outset, like cracking the tip of one's kneecap against a brick wall; then a lingering shiver over the flesh afterwards, as if she'd experimentally prodded herself in the nerve endings besides the elbows. It wasn't real pain - it made sense that they would be wary of putting strain on the mind, sending the body into some kind of panic.

But, it wasn't something she would go out of her way to experience.

And considering pain, much more than just a love-tap was coming to meet her - she was momentarily surprised by the scale of the environment's physics engine (to tear the floor of such a wide area to shreds, the orchid must've spread her roots all through the aged cobblework) - then was roused from her academic little contemplation by the fact that; hey, the ground is gone! On instinct she jerked her body to the side, and was at once cloaked in flitting blue sparks which lurched her forwards - almost pitching forwards onto her chest in the air by the force of the motion, she managed to regain control and turn herself to skim the chasm walls like... a coin spinning down a donation funnel. Not that Zugzwang was really the type to give generously, unless one thought of snide remarks and occasional pseudo-intellectualism as a gift.

She landed with more grace than she'd had any right to. One eye to the side, she noted that the ice-boy had joined her in the pit, she nodded with mild approval at the fact he'd so wilfully thrown himself into this battle.

"Bersedia." she said in monotone. He didn't look ready, though. Wasn't of great value, so long as he were capable of providing a few moments' distraction for the vile bloom. With the darkness and elemental card she'd conjured from her previous two casts, alongside one more each produced from the pocket, she let Torrent Pyre fly towards the centre of the mess of vines and almost pustulous sap-filled, dripping growths writhing towards the sky. In absolute silence the twin-trails glided towards it, shearing through the outer layer of vines before slamming into each other with a sharp crack and a neon-coloured (rather too flashy in her opinion, but nonetheless effective) explosion engulfed most of the mass.

Smug, or rather 'self-assured' little smile as the cards degraded to despawning dust on her fingertips. If the game started as it meant to go on, this was going to be almost too easy.[/fieldbox]

 

[Cloudburst]

[fieldbox="❀, hotpink, solid, 10"]The Phantasm's attack hit for around 400, and the Marked Card's for triple that. The health bar of the boss did take a bit of a beating, looking to be chipped by a significant bit, but upon closer inspection they would see that their damage numbers appeared in dull text. If that was a mark of progress for the player's side, then the boss would be relatively easy if it continued in that way.

Alas, Orchid was no ordinary weed waiting to be culled.

From within its maw came something reminiscent of a screech and a thick greenish liquid that coated the entire room, including the players. Vines began to pulsate softly for a moment before bursting and revealing three forms enveloped in a green film. All of them were wrapped in both reddish robes and vines, though each wielded a different weapon. A woman wielded a spear, a slim man held some sort of rifle, and a burly woman toted a large hammer. These new spawns came from the vines on the walls, and were not subject to the instant tripping of Virgil's ice mines.

One would think they would engage equally, but that never was the case. The spearwoman had used the blunt end of her weapon to vault to Zugzwang and opened up with an overhead slam, and she was quickly followed by the hammer-wielding brute that attempted the clothesline the comparatively small woman that was Zugzwang.

The Orchid held no smidgen of content in its core, and continued its assault, tripping Virgil's mines and taking 40 damage each, generating three ice spires that were immediately destroyed. Parts of the cavern crumbled and the flower moved forwards, further restricting the amount of room that the team had to move. Things looked rather bad for the three players- outnumbered and likely able to be outdamaged; of course, that was before another guest made an appearance.
[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="❄ 450/500 Health ❄, cyan, solid, 10"]Three spires destroyed. Stored 120 damage.

It seemed to be that the boss's very movement did around 40 damage if one were to be caught in it, but that was the very least of everyone's worries. The field halved in size, and there were extra mobs to populate the empty space of the arena- two of which targeted one of the squishes. He quickly used a Frost Gale just under the airborne spear-user and just in front of the one who thought it was hammertime. Then he queued up two ice mines for when they landed. All the while he made his way over to tank for the card player. [/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="Situation Unnatural, green, solid, 10"]Not everyone was fortunate enough to get into a queue with two other players. Verdant was one of those unlucky few that had been set to wait for a short while longer than others due to connectivity issues. So like the one or two like him, Verdant was tacked onto an existing group, and spawned at the edge of the ashen bowl with a view into the massive dome at its center.

@PotatoBlaster [/fieldbox]

 

[PotatoBlaster]

[fieldbox=Ⓥ, #006600, solid, 10]Reed had a tinge of suspicion that perhaps something may have gone wrong considering how long he had been stuck in the ANI loading "screen"—finally entering the game with three other player characters and a partially-damaged boss health bar at the top of his screen only confirmed his suspicions. Perhaps it was his fault for having such a subpar internet connection, but what else could be expected from someone who spends their time running a singleplayer game again and again just to shave some seconds off a practically pointless personal record.


But none of that mattered for the time being. It would've been a massive hit to his pride if a handful of strangers carried him through the tutorial, so immediately as he loaded in as Verdant he ran towards the only possible path (he could see) that could lead to the fight: some sort of dome at the center of the area he had spawned on. The way there was fairly uneventful—while a more normal player would've been immersed in the photorealistic environment that EDGE had likely worked very hard on, Verdant had himself preoccupied with editing the HUD and settings to his preferences, particularly disabling the actual sensation of pain if his character got hurt.


Verdant had arrived at the site of the fight (based on the quest marker) much sooner than he expected. He leapt down into the chasm and rolled upon contact with the floor—a tech to reduce fall damage that he had been forced to practice running through some of EDGE Interactive's other games—though whether or not it worked he wasn't sure. Regardless, a hasty scan around the area he had fallen into revealed the three other avatars, along with some giant flower that could only be the boss, and three other characters that looked like they were one of the boss' minions.


Wasting as little time as he could, Verdant prepared his weapon—a relatively small, black pistol—and fired a copious amount of shots, all aimed at the Orchid, paying no mind to the red-robed figures.[/fieldbox]

 

[Basileus]

[HP: 200/200]
>>[Objective: Defeat Orchid]<<​

It seemed Ace and Belle had the same idea; both had used fire-based attacks on the Orchid, and from what she could infer from the damage values, they were super-effective! That meant Belle's Plasma Beam would be her main weapon, but if she needed to use her other weapons, she would. And from how much their space to move had decreased and the spawning of the Spanish Inquisition, that was a very real possibility. Luckily for her, though, it seemed their main target was Ace, which made sense as she was the one who had dealt the most damage to the flower.

The battle changed further with the addition of some mean, green fighting machine by the name of Verdant, his name queuing up underneath Virgil's and Zugzwang's. He looked almost childish in appearance, which was rather curious to Antebelle, but she supposed his smaller size would come in handy somehow later. He quickly got to work on pummeling Orchid with a pistol, of all things, completely ignoring the plant's minions. He was dealing damage to Orchid, however, and would serve as a nice distraction for now. Belle would join in the fun later...

... her main concern now, though, was dispatching Discount Ornstein and Smough, and their rifle-toting stepbrother. Particularly, she was interested in getting the latter out of the way, since Ace and Virgil could deal with the other two on their own and didn't need someone else taking pot shots at them. She gave Orchid a sideways cautious sideways glance before hovering forward towards the rifleman, aiming her arm cannon at the rifleman and opening fire, shooting only three times. For added effect, she also extended her Drain Lasso and flung it at him once she made it within range after the third shot.

She began to regret not opting for a rapid-fire beam of some kind when she created her class, or at least something with a higher fire rate. Sure, her current beams did plenty of damage and had useful effects, but it wasn't nearly as satisfying as mashing the fire button and mowing down enemies. Something like that would be good for crowd control or just dealing with multiple targets like these, but Belle knew she wasn't going to get anything like that anytime soon. For now, she just had to hope the damage of her Plasma Beam would compensate for its slow rate of fire and get this rifleman out of the way.

 

[Cloudburst]

[fieldbox="❀, hotpink, solid, 10"]Orchid took a total of 773 damage from Verdant's shots, and a majority were flashing orange numbers.

The Orchid let out what could be classified as a screech as Verdant took a significant chunk out of its health. Parts of the underground began to rumble as its vines squeezed and roiled upon the pillars that held up the majority of the massive hall, causing them to crumble and the remnants of the ceiling to fall haphazardly; some damaged Orchid's vines- causing more damage to it- one unceremoniously pinned the sniping minion that misfired into the spear minion, causing them to miss their jump, land in Virgil's trap and be smashed by a pillar. Virgil got cut off by a pillar falling between he and Zugzwang, the hammer minion still hitting her for around 50 damage with a mid-run spin attack. Antebelle still hit her mark, and killed the marksman, leaving the hammer maiden all alone for the moment.

From there, Orchid began to uproot itself and separate the smaller flowers that had been part of its network into individual units that began to swarm the area.
[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="Ⓥ, green , solid, 10"]If there were a narrator to EDGE Online, they may have asked Verdant, "Are you happy with what you've done?", but that was not the case. Instead, he simply enabled himself to see the damage he had done.[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="♣, teal, solid, 10"]The blow from the hammer sent Zugzwang reeling backwards several paces and onto her back, and was definitely a solid hit. The woman responsible still engaged on her as if her comrade had never fallen. She slammed her hammer on the ground, sending a wave of finely sharpened crystals towards the fallen card player.[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="❄ 450/500 Health ❄, cyan, solid, 10"]Virgil watched as the place began to crumble and prepared more ice mines and wind traps for what he quickly dubbed "Orchidlings", and realized something that he should of when he first entered. None of his abilities were using energy.[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="❂, gray, solid, 10"]It seemed that the game had issues finding lobbies of three more often than previously anticipated, and Feylan found herself waiting until she was dropped into a preexisting lobby with four other players. When she entered her overlay granted the quest "Defeat the Orchid" and placed a marker over a cracked stone dome with a small opening that bled out a bluish energy.
@Valeric[/fieldbox]

 

[Valeric]

"Jeez, what the hell?" Feylan screeched in the limbo she was trapped it that was the loading screen. Everything had been going smoothly until a 'attempting connection' message impeded her progress. She grumbled as she waited for what felt like an eternity before the server worked out whatever issue it was choked on.

She was finally allowed to approach the large domed structure. The distant sounds of combat resounded from within, and Feylan rushed into the scene, enjoying the illusion of power her avatar's physique granted. Feylan was a Shieldbearer, an amazonian warrior suited to breaking things with brute force. Arielle, the girl behind the ANI interface, was not.

She was, however, a virtual-reality gaming addict. An ecstatic Feylan dropped into the pit, finding herself in the middle of a pitched battle between several players and some monsters. The giant plant had to be the 'Orchid' she was meant to defeat, while the rest were likely to be its minions.

"Oh my gawd, this is so cool!" She exclaimed, her tone and choice of words a contrast with the serious appearance of her avatar. EDGE Online's graphics and overall experience was a marked improvement over anything she had played previously.

Feylan wasn't familiar with this game and its controls yet, but the class she picked was simple enough. Seeing one of the players attacked by a hammer-wielding green humanoid, she kicked into action, using her class ability 'Shield Throw' to fling her round shield at the enemy while she sprinted to close the distance. She was pleasantly surprised to feel the power behind the attack as the heavy wood-and-steel disc shot out of her hands like a bullet. Feylan would give real-world Olympians a run for their money, she thought.

"I'll engage, get behind me!" she shouted to Zugzwang, just in case it wasn't obvious enough what her role was given her equipment.

 

[Jill]

[fieldbox=♣, teal, solid, 10]The summons were no great surprise to her, though she made a mental note of this apparent boding for the aggression mechanics of the game, something she'd have to stay wary of for the future considering her burst-damage and (what seemed to be) reliance on chain attacks. Small tactical modifications, it was estimable the game - or at least the Orchid - was capable of identifying the real threat in its midst.

Not... uncharacteristically for Zugzwang, this 'brief little mental notation' of hers; well, it hadn't actually been very brief at all. As such, the hammer-mook was almost upon her. Time seemed to slow for a moment, and she tensed and lowered herself, planning to knock it out of its spinning dash with a brutal duo of Overhead Snap Kicks. But then, a beady red eye caught sight of Ice-boy crafting a combination of his own, onto the two targeting her. Dully impressed by his swift motion as the crystals of unblemished ice began to spring all-around, Zugzwang determined to... not quite trust in him, but with a blank face she did nothing. The two summons seemed to slow for a moment, baffled by her change in behaviour. Maybe that was just her imagination. She considered adding a 'come hither' gesture, but that... was self-indulgent, and efficiency was the most important thing here. Always.

And then... it went awry. A falling chunk of environment from the ceiling blocked out her left-side; seemingly interrupted, Ice-boy's crystals and winds dissipated immediately. Zugzwang's stone-eyes sharply widened for a moment, she ripped a card from her pocket - too late, the great hammer hit her frame like an... unstuffed teddy bear? The card was knocked from her grip, and she was sent flying.

She lay, for a moment more, in silence. Dull throbbing from the system, but this only sharpened her anger. Her instinct was instantly to blame Ice-boy for that fiasco, but even Zugzwang disposed of that more unjustified notion of hers. He'd simply been unlucky, and she - screwed by a bullshit, two-bit game!

Her avatar showing the damage, a little bit of blood trickled from the side of her pale lips (probably inaccurate, but got the point across). Zugzwang leapt to her feet. There was someone shouting to her to what to do, to many it might've been a voice comforting in her determination; but Zugzwang was livid. She would trust no-one.

"I know what I'm doing!" in a voice which was supposed to be coldly matter-of-fact but came out as decidedly shrill. She sprinted forwards, almost into the lethal crystal shards shot her way - she knocked them away from her (possibly redirecting the spray at the others, but a trifle, really) with a Ray Flare, then slid across the slightly-damp floor, under a predictable swing of the hammer. She used Ray Flare again, staggering her enemy, and sufficiently annoyed to want them gone now, she tried to cast Torrent Flare again and - out of cards? No, wait, but not enough of them. She cursed herself for her mistake, but better aware time was of the essence this time, she kicked the brutish summon into the air before it had good odds of recovery.[/fieldbox]

 

[Basileus]

[HP: 200/200]
>>[Objective: Defeat Orchid]<<​

The odds of a part of the ceiling falling onto the rifle minion were slim, Antebelle knew. The odds of her not getting hit were likely slimmer still. The odds of her hitting her target, however, were not so; the Orchisniper seemingly disintegrated before her Drain Lasso could reach him, causing the end of it to fall uselessly on the ground with a soft, electric crackle. This prompted Antebelle to stop and briefly assess the situation: of the summons, there was only Orchismough left, and she was being handily dealt with by Ace and a shieldbearing newcomer by the name of Feylan (I'm gonna call her Cap! Y'know, like Captain America.). Virgil was initially helping to deal with Orchismough and Orchistein as well, but was now focused on something else entirely; a horde of smaller, mini-Orchids -- Orchidlings? -- that were being uprooted and sent against the party en masse. Looks like Verdant did enough damage to Orchid to royally piss it off.

It seemed like the boss room was just getting smaller and smaller, which only added to Belle's stress. She was not equipped to deal with enemies in such large numbers -- at least, she wasn't yet. She took solace in the fact that wasn't the only one here, which prompted her to make a tactical choice; was she going to start picking off the smaller flowers and help out Virgil, or was she going to change her focus to Orchid itself and start wailing on it? Given the choices, and upon seeing Verdant's excellent display of power, she opted to take aim and fire at Orchid, trying to put as much distance between herself and the Orchidlings. Hopefully, he would start gunning down the rest of these pansy-ass... pansies. Yeah.

"Hey Verdant, be a pal 'n' help Virgil out with these smaller flowers!" she sternly suggested, twirling her Drain Lasso as she kept shooting Orchid with her Plasma beam. He was no doubt the best choice for crowd control due to his damage output and rapid fire, and from the looks of things, there only so many Orchidlings. Once they were dealt with, the whole group could tear apart Orchid as one, unless it had any other tricks up its sleeve. Belle's strategy was to keep dealing damage to Orchid while the rest took care of the smaller flowers -- the ultimate goal was to kill Orchid, right? Someone has to do it. And someone has to kill its mini-me's, too.

 

[PotatoBlaster]

[fieldbox=Ⓥ, #006600, solid, 10]Verdant's strategy (could it even be considered one?) of simply firing at the Orchid before it retaliated worked a little too well—even without a single critical hit modifier in his kit he somehow managed to land more than a couple in the few bullets that hit. And, somehow, despite his intentional avoidance of the minions, the way the Orchid recoiled from his assault managed to down not one but two of them in some strange Rube-Goldberg-esque manner of pillars and ceilings falling and breaking, plus some lucky friendly fire. He was indeed happy with what he's done.


Unfortunately, the Orchid's next move was one he'd been hoping not to come out: more minions, this time swarming to a far greater extent than the three that came before. For a single-target-damage-oriented class like his, the damage he would do switching targets as fast as he'd have to is far less efficient than just wailing on the boss. His only solace was that the ice user seemed to have a fair amount of area-of-effect damage, but even that was short-lived as he doubted it'd actually be enough. At this point he assumed that one of the other two, or even the fifth who just recently connected (a detail he had not noticed) would assist Virgil with dealing with the horde—which is perhaps why he was so surprised when that very task was assigned to him.


As much as he wanted to disagree, Verdant knew from experience that infighting was the last thing he desired in a boss fight. He turned to where the comment came from, Antebelle, and begrudgingly—extremely begrudgingly—nodded, moving away from the Orchid to reposition before firing an Explosive Round at the Orchidlings, reeling from the sight of the partial-orange glow on his handgun turning back to a light blue, signifying all the charge that he had built up for the Orchid had been spent. But what really kicked him the most was that Antebelle at that time was only aiming for the Orchid, a task that he was (for some reason) confident he could do better.[/fieldbox]

 

[Cloudburst]

[fieldbox="❀♣❂❄, pink, dotted, 10"]At the end of its upheaval, Orchid had become more than just a simple massive flower; it had now shown that its vines and roots were everywhere, tearing through bits of the walls and ground, sending some of its former network into the air. They'd landed on various peoples, one or two on Antebelle, a dozen right in front of Virgil, causing an icy explosion. Petals landed on the hammer wielding minion, who had been struck mid-charge for around 100 damage, causing her to drop to a knee when Zugzwang had kicked her into the air- there she bursted into a fine bluish powder, healing Zugzwang for most of the damage done. Restored to 80 health.

As for Orchid, it had now began to tower into the air, leaving its soft and ragged petals away from those that would tear and cut at it. Those targeting it would begin to notice that it turned its metaphorical gaze downward to where a portion of the roots had began to creep and form a circle of sorts around Zugzwang, Feylan, and what little it could get around Virgil. Needless to say it looked like something very bad was going to happen there; Orchidlings that could escape began to flee, leaving those frozen behind to meet whatever fate would become of those entrapped in the circle. Those entrapped soon found quick vines grasping at them from below, preventing movement for those that didn't have some kind of trick up their sleeves.

Whatever was going to happen would happen soon.

The other, unhindered portion of the party would find that some orchidlings began to advance onto them, jumping and embedding roots into them, where others spat some corrosive liquid- either way their attacks did very little, around 1 or 2 damage a piece. Anyone walking or running would find that them being underfoot was terrible for the orchidlings' health, and they died without a damage number even showing up.
[/fieldbox]
[fieldbox="❄ 450/500 Health ❄, cyan, solid, 10"]Virgil was one of those with tricks up their sleeves. No energy costs meant freecasting and multicasting to the maximum, and that is exactly what the cool operator did. He began freezing the vines that grabbed him, but more would come. Instead, he used freezeframe on himself, and to his surprise each vine that grabbed a hold of him spawned a spire. It wouldn't be long now until all ten were up. [/fieldbox]

 

[Valeric]

Before she could reach her intended target, it had already been defeated. Feylan jogged to a stop.

"Just here to help," Feylan sounded a little deflated as she replied the hooded girl, who did not seem to appreciate her interference. Is that how the community was going to be? Hopefully not.

Things were moving quickly in the fight with the Orchid rearing up and causing absolute mayhem. Feylan had to sidestep a few pieces of falling debris, wondering if every boss fight was going to be so well designed as the first.

"Just look at how awesome this fight is!" she commented even as the roots closed around them. Zugzwang and an Ice Warden were in the same predicament, while the rest were safe. Feylan had no idea what she was supposed to do at this point. All she could reach were the roots as thick as tree trunks, while the Orchid's main body was now nearly at the ceiling of the dome. She leaped up onto an overhanging root, pulled herself up, and began to climb the wall of roots that obstructed them. If she died, there wouldn't be any penalties for the tutorial boss, right?