Lethal Reword 3: Lost Dice!

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Esper contemplated how exactly she could make that voice leave her alone, but the temptation to follow and look for the welcoming dark embrace of caves was too strong. Red arrows were popping up and fading, making Esper feel even more out of sorts and she tried to keep her balance, her wooziness going away little by little.

Up ahead she heard a commotion of people, some talk about loot, and she clutched her precious new items to her, little pale teeth resembling fangs glittering beneath her lips. She just wanted to head into the caves, but she also wanted to meet people. Not thieving people, but maybe someone nice...

Esper tried to smile without opening her lips, a pained sort of grin spreading over her features.
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"Hm." Edric had been a few minutes behind the gnome, his black bear, the little girl, and the man with the gun. But instead of running off to catch up with them, she had practiced on a few more dummies and then followed behind.

Now the ranger was currently trying to access one of the NPC's to ask directions to the closest store. Someone had to be selling arrows here, right? Of course, the fact that arrows cost money or gold or whatever they called currency here did cross her mind. But it would help if she knew how much arrows cost, how many arrows she could get, and all those other small tidbits of information that may seem useless when you receive them but become much more valuable later on.

... Unfortunately, she was the damnest time getting the NPC she was talking to, a woman standing outside of an inn to do more than repeat the same phrase over and over. "Good day, stranger! Welcome to our simple beautiful town!" she was saying.
 
Having not been paying attention for most of the trip into town, Noise never noticed the thief, the GM, or any of the other yelling. It appeared to everyone that he was completely oblivious to everything going on. In truth, he had simply been using the Auto-Walk function of the game while he got himself a soda in the real world. Arriving back at his computer, he hooked himself back up to the VR system. Now, back as his avatar, he looked around. "Where the hell did those two go?" Not seeing either of the munchkins anywhere, Noise decided he'd go and register himself as a mercenary and bounty hunter. Accessing the Town Hall Menu with ease (after all, he did read the manual), he signed his name on the document officially giving him the right to collect pay for bounties, as well as add his name to the list of hireable mercs. Upon acception, the name Xenoxis appeared at the bottom of the list with a rank of 0. Stepping back and taking a look at the notice board, he saw a new Wanted Poster materialize. It read 'WANTED: Alive- One Thieving Catgirl. Reward TBD' Last known location- Town Alleys. "Hmmm...Well, at least a good chase would be fun." Noise thought to himself as he turned to go. As he walked down the steps of the Town Hall, he pulled out his knife on his belt and headed for the nearest alleyway, hoping to run into the thief.
 
"Purple?"

That was all Eileen could think when she rushed past the questgiver. The little girl, and for some reason, a bear, had been chasing her for quite a while now, and what was worse, as she had taken a turn back in the direction of main-street, she'd passed some madman who had joined in on the hunt.

Luckily, her specific talents kept her well ahead of the curious group of people, and because she tended to duck and weave from alley to alley, it would not be easy to knock her out from afar.

Of course, shaking them would be an issue, as the red arrow refused to disappear. Probably a bug, but an annoying one at that. While thinking of ways to escape the chasing players, she inadvertently found herself in a straight corridor of a street, there seemed to be no way to get off the corridor for hundreds of feet. Why it was there was the guess of anyone.

The bad news was, that the lithe catgirl had no way to duck and weave anymore. The good news...She finally had a way to escape.

Crawling up a drainpipe, and wrenching it loose from the building it was attached to so others wouldn't follow, she quickly disappeared over the rooftops, a red arrow taunting the others to find a way to catch her.
 
"I WANT~ *huff!* MY *puff!* FOX BACK *breathe!* YOU FUZZY *gasp!* WHORE!" Athena screamed, just barely managing to catch up to the thief and... all the other people chasing her. Why were THEY chasing her? Oh no... they would see her precious fox!

Blast it! The wench was crawling up a drain pipe. Athena dodged around the others, grabbing on to the pipe herself with intent to climb it. She got a good.... four inches off the ground before she was unable to pull herself and her massive weapon up any higher.

"I swear to all the gods of this world, if you don't give it back I'm going to find the BIGGEST spell here and explode your body to a million pieces!"
 
"Sucks about your whatsit that was stolen. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Only a few ways down from this mountain that won't end up in instant death, and those ways are guarded. They should be setting up the Arcane Eyes now... we've got three of them. Rather nice stuff!"

The red arrow suddenly fades from Eileen's airspace. The speaker looked to Athena - it was the same scruffy-looking miner-boy, one hand on his hip, miner's helmet covering his head.

"Can you handle that sword? I saw you with some buddies... I've got a Group Quest for you if you're interested... see, a few days ago two magic-users moved up here from another town. We thought it was great, at first, until we discovered they were dark magic-users. We tried to run them off, but they escaped into the mines and summoned up a bunch of undead... if you could clear them all out, that would be incredible... we can't really ask others to do it, since... well, we don't get any adventurers around here... there's a human necromancer and a repense dark mage in there - should have known they were evil, if they had a repense... you're free to keep whatever you find in there, and we'll offer a bit of copper to make it worth your while. Interested?"
 
Upon abandoning the woman--and any hope of getting her to say something more--Edric found her attention drawn to a girl climbing up on a pipe, cursing and threatening. Then there was a bear and a gnome and another guy, a human.

Edric walked up to the group just in time to hear the miner give them a quest. Copper? Maybe she could finally afford some arrows but ... you needed a group for that. "May I join this group for a quest then?" she asked to everyone who was there. "My name is Edric. It's ... nice to meet you?"
 
The bear stopped at the bottom of the drainpipe. Both gnome and and bear watched as Athena tried to climb the pipe. “Wonder what the thief got that was so precious...”

“Prolly a doll or perhaps her favorite blanket.” the bear said shrugging “Hey do you want to go get some Chinese?”

“You mean they have that here?”

“Does this look like feudal china to you, damn you're an easy mark”

From inside the druids bag the mushrooms could be heard arguing.

“OI! Quiet down you lot.” he said banging his bag with his staff.

“But what are you going to do about those.” the bear said waving at the NPC and newcomer.

“ACCEPT QUEST! ACCEPY PARTY MEMBER! That work for you lummox?”

“My name is Sulfur.”

“Ohhh is it now. Ehy id it Sulfur?”

A gaseous smell spread outwards from their location, smelling a lot like rotten eggs.

“Bloddy hell Sulfur is right.”
 
Yaegr seemed to already made it into town and was bartering with the shifty looking man that seemed to be selling stuff in an alley behind the tavern. Yaeger lifted up three moderately sized sacks filled with gold, 25 coins in each it seemed, and dangled it over his head, trying to get it as much in the vendor’s view as he could. “Acid, Shock, both Poison and non-Poison needles, and Arrow trigger traps.” He dropped the sacks on the barrel the man was using as a makeshift counter.

The shifty man gave the Goblin an amused gawk and reached for the gold, using his foot to push Yaeger away. “Bugger off, Moss-Feet. Like your kind would even know what to do with th-“A dagger launched out blindingly fast into the hand of the shifty merchant as the irked goblin stared angrily at him, pulling down the blade so that his face was closer to the goblin’s. “I could kill you easily, you know. The first town always has easy to kill NPCs, and I wouldn’t even get any agro because you and I are out of sight from the guards.” He twisted the dagger in his hands, never taking his blood red goblin eyes off his. The shifty man tried to draw his own weapon with his other hand, but the goblin placed another dagger to his throat. “I am being civil cause I might need more traps. Give me the traps so I don’t have to slit your throat.”

The shady salesman was confused and terrified at the same time. Never would have thought a goblin would have the stones to be so aggressive all by himself. “Okay…Okay…Here…” His other free hand reached out behind him and pulled out just three kits, all of them just caltrops traps. “… This is all you have?” “This it is I swear!” Yaeger pulled out the dagger from the man’s hand and took the kits. “…Figures that the first town would have shitty traps…” He pulls the dagger on man’s throat away. Then suddenly moves his hand to make a slash against the man’s cheek. “…” He walks out of the shadowy alley. “Keep the change, asshole.”

He grumbled to himself as he was working with very basic traps. “Damnit… Where is the next town…” He glanced over and saw a wanted poster of a player he managed to catch a glimpse of earlier. “Hmm…” He quietly shifted into stealth mode and start opening up the trap kits…
 
Noo.. her precious fox! When she gets her hands on that thief. KAPOW.

For now, though she was being approached with a quest. She didn't really have a gr- Oop! Thought too soon! Athena blinked at the elf with a frown. They were always so tall and pretty, with nice boobs too. Huff. She glanced down at her clothes, shape fitting, but so didn't look like that. Then the dumb gnome on a bear was screaming ACCEPT QUEST.

"Okay, we'll accept your quest, sir! Consider this problem taken care of!"

She'll do the quest first for some sword practice, then she was gonna go thief hunting.

"Well, if you guys want to be a part of my group, just remember I'm the leader. I'm the best pe-*COUGH!*... di-.. did that bear just.." Another cough! Athena pulled up her shirt to cover her nose. Now her speech was muffled.

"I'm Athena, and we're about to go kill a necromancer if you're strong enough to keep up with me!"
 
Edric instantly clamped her thumb and pointer finger over her noise and tilted her head away from the smell! "I will ... do my best to ... keep up with you." Perhaps she would be able to get the hang of being a ranger in the game a lot sooner with a group.

... But that bear! She waved her hand in front of her face to hopefully dispel more of the scent. If only she had a wind spell in her spell list! Unfortunately that was a path for a spell-caster and she was not.

"That is ... quite a companion you travel with," she told the gnome.
 
Flashing quickly across their field of vision are the words "Quest Accepted", followed by "Party Formed".

GM: Hey! Looks like you made your first party! Congratulations! Remember to work together towards your goals, and you'll do just fine, I know it!

The young miner gives a confused glance towards the sky for a few moments, but blinks it off. A yellow star appears above his head. "Great! I'll lead you folks to the mines - once you're in, I'll tell the mayor - he can prepare your reward for when you return." The kid mentions for them to follow him, completely oblivious to the bear's scent - then again, the lad is an NPC, so that might not be all that surprising.

He quickly leads them to the entrance of the mines. It smells of decay, and is unearthly cold here - a sickly-looking mist leaks out from the mines. "As far as we know, that mist isn't deadly. The dead things are deadly, but not the mist. I think one of the dark mages has a flair for theatrics or something."
 
With the arrow gone, the black-furred catgirl quickly jumped into another direction, and began to double back on her previous position. She did not want that group of players to find out where she was just yet.

Finally having some peace and quiet after that disastrous newbie area stealing event, she crouched down on the roof of what was apparently supposed to look like a bakery, and took the time to inspect her loot.

It was just an ordinary fox plushie...Eileen frowned and nearly threw the thing of the rooftop right then. She could not believe those adventurers had made such a big fuss about such a worthless thing. She briefly considered using one of her knives to cut the damned thing open and see if something small but valuable, like gemstones, were hidden inside.

She decided against it. Perhaps it was a vintage plushie, perhaps it was used as some sort of sign for a lucrative quest or trade. Either way the thing was entirely useless; like the other things she had picked up. Well, perhaps she could still use it as a bargaining tool to get out of a tough spot. She HAD noticed the damn eyes on her way back, and she wasn't planning to see if she had nine lives by jumping off the mountain.

Sighing as if she had to bear all the grievances of the world, Eileen jumped of the corner of the building...and barely managed to avoid the caltrops that were spread on the ground by twisting her body in mid-air. A little bell tied to a trip wire warned her that the trapper had been warned just in time for her to barely avoid the knife that came flying towards her.

Diving into a nearby shadowy alley, the feline female silently moved towards a more advantageous position. Meanwhile, she kept her sensitive ears open for any hint that could give away her opponent. The tables would no doubt soon be turned, as the game had just been changed into cat and mouse, and she was definatly not a rodent...
 
After covering up his nose and mouth with his turtle-neck's collar, and after the others left to go do their little quest, Noise himself scrambled up the drainpost, climbing it as easily as he would any tree. After all, he was a hunter, and was used to such things. Upon reaching the roof, he saw his quarry jump down off of another building. A few moments later, he heard a bell sound. Looking down from his perch, he saw that the catgirl had landed in a crude trap of sorts. "Heh. Such a simple trap, yet used to great effectiveness. Looks like I might have a hunting rival." Jumping to another building, he followed the target's movements, trailing her to an alley way. Moveing carefully so as not to make any sounds, he peered over the ledge just enough to catch sight of the fugitive. Drawing both his knives this time, Noise sat and waited. "Looks like the perfect place to take out two birds with one stone. Eliminate my competition, and capture my target."
 
Edric was doing fine--up until they stopped right in front of the mines! Mines. Caves. Miles into solid earth. Rocks and dirt heaped on top of you. Stale air. The slightest noise or explosion possessing the potential to tip down an unstable balance system that could crash over you ...

The elf ranger took a deep breath even as she stood, frozen in place. "Um ... uh ... I don't suppose we um ... could just lure the two out ... here?" The thought of having to go in there was enough to make her forget pretty much everything!
 
They moved away from the smell quickly, the stench of the bear's wind having at least temporally silenced the mushrooms.

“I'm not sure if a want to go into a mine.... its so dark.” the gnome looked into the darkness an apprehensive look on his face.

“Not afraid of the dark are you....?”

“No just..... insides.”

He pulled out a flask and drank from it before pulling his robes around himself tighter.

“This should help.” he out one of the mushrooms and popped it into his mouth.
 
Athena was already about to charge right on in to the cave when it seemed her current companions were chickening out. Stopping at the opening, she turned around to look at them with a wide eyed expression.

"Are you kidding? You're SCARED to go in there? It's just a cave and some mist!" She looked back over her shoulder. Sure, it was kind of creepy and giving that Ominous Feeling of Doom. But, they had just gotten here! With an entire world to explore, there was going to be hundreds of moments just like this.

"Fine, if you guys are big frightened babies, I'LL go in all by myself! Then I get to keep all the rewards too." Athena stuck out her tongue.
 
"It's more than just a cave and mist!" Ed wanted to shout but she kept those words to herself. She watched Athena march inside and swallowed, then sucked in a gulp of fresh air. Faith. She had to have faith in herself or she'd never master this game. And this was only the first quest. She couldn't chicken out now!

And you can't let your party members go in on their own. And you still need arrows. Your quiver is empty, remember? Edric glanced over her shoulder to where her quiver hung across her back. Yes, she remembered.

"I'm ... I'm coming!" One step. Another step. Gulp. Ignore the mist. Happy thoughts. No, don't think about the stale air or that there are two dark spell-casters in there somewhere! Er, happy thoughts. Happy thoughts!

Ed stopped only a step away from entering the cave. She took another deep breath and drew her longsword before she followed after her party.
 
The mines were quiet, the green mist swirling around those who have entered the mine... it felt like a thick, breathable water, and it stuck to those that touched it, displacing the mist and creating a 'hole' in it where they had once stepped. Lanterns lit up the mine, spaced evenly - it was still fairly well-lit, despite what lay inside.

One can see that the mines dip down a bit inside, and while it takes a bit of walking, the party finally reaches their first obstacle...

Zombies... twenty of them. They shambled mindlessly in the corridor... bumping into each other, not unlike the training dummies from the first area. The only difference, now, would be that these ones would be fighting back. All the while, the green mist swirled.
 
Vincenek
Vincenek had managed to get himself lost in the town, completely missing the party-forming and quest-giving. Instead, he found himself alone at the opening of the mine, a dungeon if he'd ever seen one. The mist was a dead giveaway. A moment's thought and he decided it would be best to turn on his HUD before going down - all the better to keep an eye on one's health with. "Heads-Up Display: On," he declared, and was promptly assaulted by a mass of guages, hotkeys, maps, and focus difficulties. "Augh! Oh, god, I can't see! HUD: Off! Heads-Up Display: Off!"

Shaking his head to clear it, he went down into the mines HUDless, stopping just as he started to hear Zombie shuffling. Unslinging his Guitar, he played the opening and first verse of Phenomenon by Thousand Foot Krutch, belting out the lyrics as an Evasion buff. Drawing his pistol as the song continued to play on its own, he moved forward and began taking shots at the now-alerted zombies