The Depth Online

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Blazentra
Lvl 2
26/30 HP | 8/16 MP | 3/10 XP




Blazentra just followed the party as they began to wander out through the area, exploring and, hopefully, finding these 'Treems', or perhaps a mob with a similar enough name. She hoped that Calice's pain was only due to the weak armor, although that meant a lot of painful days to come as a tank, and for all of them. Certainly, nobody would be wandering around this game on their own once they figured it out. Fighting a band of Harenn on your own would be just too painful- she almost shuddered at the thought. She'd always wondered, like many, what it would be like to be inside of a game and feel everything around you, but feeling the pain of a fight wasn't part of great imaginings.

Then they suddenly found themselves facing a group of wanderers, it seemed, a group of people that were clearly NPCs, although Blaze couldn't tell you why she thought they were. It just seemed that way. As she was about to comment on it, an alert popped up, informing her of a new achievement, and of her level up.

"Sweet," She said, mostly to herself. "Level up. Although I dunno what's with this achievement. Interesting..."

The NPCs turned to look at the group and began to speak: "We set out to explore. There were so many adventurers, we just couldn't sit still at camp, but we found ourselves ambushed by large birds called Tryma's. Somehow we managed to outrun them, but we lost one of our own during the escape. Will you help us find him? He might still be alive, hiding. Please help us out. I couldn't bear leaving without him... We have to know if he's still alive.

... A quest? She thought to herself. It sure seemed like it, and there was a new mob to find and fight. A bird, apparently. She was quite unsure how they would be able to fight the birds, but she was eager to find out. "I'm all for it," she said towards Barong with a grin. "Besides, if this is a quest, we might get extra XP for it or something. Heck yes."​
 

Savage
34 / 36 | 8 / 8 | 5 / 10 XP

Blowing away the fur that stuck to his face and finishing the job with a heavy swipe from his hand Sav ignored Pulse's comment. If he hadn't she would have had to listen to his words and if he knew women, which he didn't other than this one point, she wouldn't listen. Oh she'd hear, but she wouldn't listen to him for a while. Either way he wasn't willing to pursue the subject of her being too slow now.

Managing to rope the rest of the group into theirs Sav found himself among more supportive players now and one of which was particularly commanding. He wasn't sure how long that would last as most games he played in people learned their jobs and didn't need constant input. If Thunder desired to continue his suggestions Sav would likely be hoping over to another party or going solo and testing his limits.

Punching through the pop ups faster than they could appear Sav nodded to Thunder. Despite being unsure of the other he assumed him and Pulse shared the same and that Phax was in a similar boat to them. He took a moment to upgrade his stats. Strength mostly, with a single point in vitality to soak up some more monster hate. As far as the other two stats went Sav was hoping he could rely on gear for crit chances, and MP wasn't much of a concern for him either.

“Damnit Phax, don't drink weird things from monsters.” Too slow to prevent the goblin from doing just that Sav sighed when he buckled over. At least it did something for the guy, though Sav wasn't sure if he was willing to take the trade off of drinking whatever in the sweet hells he had. Hopefully a small settlement had been built by some enthusiastic player somewhere and they could homogenize the milk, or cook the loot, or do something with it other than make furry costumes for after hours play time.

“Didn't you hear? We're finding the ship to the east.” Opening his quest log Sav looked it over. Nothing new had been added, but it did give him the option to share it with Phax. Thunder must have already been on it when he wandered out here alone. Pressing the button Sav sent the information over to Phax through a small UI box that would allow him to share in the rewards, potentially. Sav was unsure of a lot of things in this game. They'd forgotten to include a log out option after all.

With their direction decided Sav let the others take the lead. Hopefully there was something big guarding the ship. If not hopefully there were many small things guarding the ship. Frankly neither was the only disappointing end Sav foresaw.
 

Phax | HP: 28/28 | MP: 6/17 | XP: 0/10​
[/hr]

Phax was met by Sav, sighing. Phax laughed in response. Then he told Phax about the quest they were on, to search for some crashed ship. Phax had nothing else to do, and the prospect of exploration and phat lewt was something he couldn't ignore. Save sent him the invitation to the quest, a pop-up appearing in front of him. Accepting, he moved in closer to the party. Which wasn't necessary since they could comunicate telepathically, but it felt natural to talk to people nearby.

"So, we have to look for the ship? I guess that's my job then! Scout go!" he exclaimed, running ahead to search for signs of the ship.

Checking his quest log, the missing ship was somewhere east. Facing east, he began observing for signs of wreckage and disturbed foliage. Seeing some shards of metal scattered further down the plains. He guessed that would be a good place to check out.

"I'mma check that place out first. I'll be on the chat system if you need me," the goblin said, scurrying down after the trail of debris.

The grasslands were covered in tall grass, which was problematic because he was so short. Fortunately there were some trees here and there. He climbed up one of them, the sticky sap allowing him to climb the bark with ease. Reaching the top, he could see over the grass and saw smoke rising further ahead. He jumped off the tree, rolling on the dirt and running when he rose up. It hurts here, he remembered, though fortunately the tree wasn't tall.

As he neared the crash site, he ducked and hid in the grass, this time his short stature became a help instead of a hindrance. He saw the crashed ship, mostly intact though the hull was breached and some hardware was sticking out. He saw survivors, staring at an unseen enemy hidden in the brush opposite of Phax. There were around five survivors, though he assumed they weren't warriors by the way they were dressed. As for the enemy, he heard screeching inside the bushes, ruffling and moving rapidly. Phax opened his chat system.

"Guys, I found the ship! You better come here fast! There's something coming!" he said. "Follow me on the map. Just keep running east!"

He activated his Survey ability, searching for the enemy's number and location. A pop-up appeared, showing the enemy.

Tryma Nestmother: Lvl 3. Threat lvl: ★★★☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 1. Threat lvl: ★☆☆☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 2. Threat lvl: ★★☆☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 2. Threat lvl: ★★☆☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 1. Threat lvl: ★☆☆☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 2. Threat lvl: ★★☆☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 1. Threat lvl: ★☆☆☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 1. Threat lvl: ★☆☆☆☆
"Yikes. Heads up, guys, this looks tough."

The tryma would be here soon. He hoped his party weren't going to take long. The crash site wasn't that far off from where they were at the moment. In the meantime, he would distract them and lead them away from the survivors. Dashing from his hiding place and into the tall grass, he headed towards the front of the oncoming tryma. He could see their outlines thanks to his ability, so he knew where they were. He cast Soothe, causing the three LVL 2s and one of the LVL 1s to stop in their tracks. The Nestmother's level was too high for Soothe to have any effect. Four of the tryma would be stunned long enough for the rest of his party to reach him, but the rest of the tryma were still aggressive, and they had heard where the music had come from.

"Crap!" Phax shouted as he raced out of the grass and away from the flock of angry, overgrown birds that were chasing him. His only option was to run back to his team and lead the remaining tryma to them. "Watch out guys, I brought friends!"

Tryma Nestmother: Lvl 3. Threat lvl: ★★★☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 1. Threat lvl: ★☆☆☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 1. Threat lvl: ★☆☆☆☆
Tryma: Lvl 1. Threat lvl: ★☆☆☆☆​
 

Pulse
28/36 HP 7/13 MP 5/10 XP


What Phax didn't know, was that the milk had left him with a status effect that made him delusional. After he'd initially fell down, his green skin turned paler and his character began to shake. "So, we have to look for the ship? I guess that's my job then! Scout go!" He shouted, but dropped straight on the ground and kicked his legs into the air. Pulse stared at the goblin, whose odd character choice had turned from weird to a voodoo kind of creepy. His character was starting to blink in and out of existence and his ramblings were filtered by an noise.

“The hell.” Pulse muttered below her breath, not sure whether to feel pity for Phax. “Thunder, you have any skills that can get his sorry ass back on his feet?” She asked her fellow engineer. After all, she had a healing skill, who knew what was in Thunder's arsenal, but this didn't look like just a normal status effect...

But unfortunately for Phax, there was nothing either could do. Trapped in his delusion, he'd been losing HP from the milk poisoning as well, as the team could see on their party UI. It wasn't long until Phax' character scattered into pieces like the Nexit shortly before. However, his name also vanished from the party UI... And though a riddle to the party, with this Phax' character data had been completely destroyed.

Pulse was silent for a while after that, she made a mental note she was not going to drink that milk. Ever. “Let's go back to the quest.” She said casually, as she summoned her UI to fill in her stats, “Phax can play catch up if he revives or something. Oh and Thunder...” Pulse paused for dramatic effect, “Did you know we can't log out?”
 
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Thunder: Level 2, Techno Master. Stats: HP - 27/30, MP - 15/15, 6/10 EXP

Everything so far had been, well, a little weird. But he could deal with it, this team seemed pretty well rounded, everyone had something to offer that the other couldn't. As the team headed off on their quest, he felt like they might have a chance. That's when the Goblin fell over and began to act weird. He sighs and shakes his head at Pulse's question. "No, I'm sorry. I have nothing that can fix this." That's when Phax was just gone, and he realized the question came, what happened to the real Phax? It was a scary thought to think of what happened when you permanently died in the game. They were at a disadvantage, they needed to find some way to recover HP and MP badly. Without that, they were sitting ducks, either for monsters or Player Killers.

Just as tension was building up, Pulse decided to have a little throw at Thunder, who looks her dead in the eye. He wondered what she was trying to gain out of this, but he had tried to avoid bringing this up to focus on the mission at hand. Well, she finally asked, and he decided there was no point in lying. Lying to a team would only make him look bad, and in a good team match-up like this, it would only be harmful to themselves. "Yes." He stated. "I did something most players hadn't when they first logged in, I checked everything the game would allow me to check. I found it was gone and decided not to bother telling others I didn't know or trust. I was going to inform you guys when the mission was over, I assume you figured it out as well."
 
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Savage
34 / 36 | 8 / 8 | 6 / 10 XP

Watching Phax writhe in a puddle on the ground made Sav somewhat bothered. He understood it was a game, but who puts an item in a low level area that outright kills you, and in that manner of all things. Grimacing at the player as he dematerialized Sav wondered if he would respawn back at the ships or if this was like some of the more hardcore games where death constituted creating a new character. No matter, as the last of the data trickled away Sav pushed the thought from his mind. People were bound to lose in this game and this was nothing but the first of many losses. He was sure he'd be in the same boat sooner or later once the mobs got stronger. Dying for being a milk drinker isn't the best way to go. Maybe they could use it as a poison though.

“I can't believe the developers wouldn't include a log out button. If I have to piss what do I do, hope the carpet soaks it up?” Blowing hot air Sav turned his eyes around the area nearest to the East. The sooner this quest was done the sooner they could move onto the next, and so far this one hadn't been going all to well yet. “Well, why don't we at least keep heading East, maybe they'll update the game by then.”
 
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Litari: Elementalist/Cleric LVL 2
{23/23 HP} {12/18 MP} {1/10 XP}


Litari had gotten an achievement, the little message warned her of that and her level up, the five points were put to her INT, to hit as hard as possible, that's what she wanted, hard hitter meant less likely to get injuries, more likely to keep Calice safe too. Her MP hadn't gone up though, even though she had leveled, it looked like she and Blaze really were in a bad situation if even leveling up didn't set their MP back to full. Litari doesn't think much of it though and she shrugs if off, there would have to be something later.

When the NPCs came up to Litari and the rest of Litari's party she sort of blinked and smiled slightly, hopefully this was a quest, it sounded fun anyway. "I shall gladly assist as well." Litari smiles a bit brighter and turns to Calice and Barong, waiting for their answers as well. All in all Litari was having a blast in this game but it occurred to her that she needed to go and make dinner for herself and feed her dogs. "Actually I will have to leave for now guys. I got dinner to make and dogs to feed." Litari opens her menu and blinks a little, there wasn't a log off button...feeling slightly unsettled but not entirely worried she goes through multiple menus until she comes to the startling conclusion that...there is no 'log out' button, this makes her pause and she gulps slightly. "Um...guys...I can't find my log out button, I'm not getting a response on the 'help' menu either, could you guys check to see if you can log out?" Litari sounded a bit nervous, she just wanted to make sure that she was the only one experiencing the problem.
 

Pulse
28/36 HP 7/13 MP 6/10 XP


“So you already knew.” Pulse sighed, somewhat dissapointed she didn't get to deliver the breaking news. On the one hand she could only commend Thunder for figuring it out so soon, but on the other she had been hoping to get more of a reaction out of him. At least they all seemed to have the same goal, though. That would unite them for now.

“Be a big boy and hold it, if you want to leave my room alive.” Pulse coldly answered Sav's question about a potential number one. Though she did agree with his suggestion of heading East, taking the lead into the direction they would eventually find the spaceship...

The ship had crashed into the woods; plates were torn from it's exterior and rubble was scattered around the area. Not to mention the path of trees that had been uprooted or ripped into two; the crash had taken a bite out of the forest. However, nothing seemed to be on fire. It was as if the ship had been stranded there for a while... But that couldn't be, as according to the game's lore, they only just landed...

The ship itself had it's doors open... Or rather, missing. Upon closer inspection, the party would be able to notice threads sticking to the ship's surfaces, but more importantly they would hear calls for help.

“That sounds like our quest.” Pulse prompted, though not willing to go in first as she recognised the threads as some type of web. “Either of you arachnophobiacs?”


Barong
26/30 HP | 9/14 MP | 5/10 XP


Barong reiterated the smiles of Blaze and Lit, feeling good about the quest. When Litari said she'd log off, Barong swept in his UI. “Hold on, I'll add you to my friends list, so you can join us later.” He said, sending the invite to Litari, and following it up with invites to Blaze and Calice as well. After all, the team was working together pretty well so far.

It took Litari a while to log out however, which Barong guessed from she wasn't used to menu structures. “Let me check for you.” He replied, as Litari said she couldn't find a log out button. However, just like the mage, Barong was unable to find it. “That's strange...” He muttered, scrolling through all the menu's. “They've hidden this thing pretty well...”

A few attempts more, Barong turned to his party. “I guess we have a problem, guys.” He said, doing his best to hide his feelings of shock and surprise behind an awkward smile. “I guess Litari will be joining us on this quest after all...”
 
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Thunder: Level 2, Techno Master. Stats: HP - 27/30, MP - 15/15, 7/10 EXP
"Well this is certainly a fine pickle we've been thrown into." He said to the others, looking upon the remains of the ship. Like Pulse, he found it unusual that the ship looked to have been here for a while, when the players had only just arrived. "Either we're not being told something here." He said to them. "Or this is just our unlucky day." He wondered if the rest of the ships looked like this, or if this was a different one. Who knows, but the quest had pointed them east, and they found a ship. He brought up his quest screen to take another look, not finding any sort of map or location pinpointing to where the ship could be.

Well that certainly didn't make him feel better, this was going to be a long day. Bringing down his screen again, he turns to the others as he notices the unusual web in their path. He rose up a brow, once again bringing up his screen, already half knowing the answer. No information on monsters, not even the ones they just fought. His screen went down again as he looked rather annoyed right now. The game was messing with them, he thought. He didn't know what he could do if the spiders ambushed him, tactically he had the most MP and he thought it would be best not to get captured. He waited for Savage's response, keeping a good distance as he examined the unusual web.
 

Calice

30 / 34 HP | 6 / 10 MP | 8 / 10 XP

Scratching his head Calice hummed and hawed. If they really couldn't log out there was going to be some trouble. It wasn't as though this was a matter the developers and coders could just leave though, someone somewhere must have been working on a fix for this. Maybe they were just hoping no one would notice before they had the fix out. A risky gamble and it seemed it hadn't paid off. Calice wondered if they'd all be receiving a free copy of the game for this, or if they'd be stuck in the game for the rest of their days and not pay regardless. The truth of the matter he knew was far from it. Worst case scenario people would be pulled from the game and then the legal repercussions, if there were any, would be handed to the creators to deal with. Decidedly not too bothered Calice shrugged to the others.

"Not like we'll die from a few extra hours. I've been pulled from games before so there's always that." Despite having been pulled Calice found it did give him headaches on the few occasions it happened. "We may as well move out then eh? You're welcome Litari, if the dogs can wait and you don't have any other ideas."

It would seem in fact that there wasn't anything else that could be attempted. Forward was the only option left unless the party intended to add in the log out function themselves. Calice already familiar with acting as a leader fell into the role naturally and along with the others headed out towards the Tryma, not Treems. The trees of the forest weren't too thick in this area, but as the group pushed deeper in they found it was quick to do so. Resolving to skirt between the edges of the forest and the thickets within the four players walked for a few minutes without finding any sign of, well anything. Finally they came upon something.

Pointing it out with a lackluster lean of his head Calice motioned towards the crushed branches and brushes, as well as the small speckles of red that splattered one of the trees. "If this isn't a hint I don't know what is." He joked to himself smiling in the cliché of finding blood that would lead to the quest. Moving silently it took only another minute or so before the trees spread apart. On the far side of the small clearing was a man leaning against a tree. He clutched his reddened arm and was slumped forward passed out. Between the players and this man though were two Tryma's. It was a feat to have had outrun them. The birds were each well above six feet tall with talons that looked like they would slice a man like farmers do wheat. Brown with white speckling the larger of the two paced around the other which sat with its head cradling against the beaks of it's young. In the midst of everything that was bound to happen was a nest of these Tryma, five Calice could count, that mustn't have been very old. He knew little of the biology of birds, but with their eyes still closed they were likely newborns.

Gulping Calice looked to Barong, Blaze and Litari. "We might need to try something a little different this time around." As Calice finished speaking the two giant birds cast their eyes towards the party, the sitting one squawking loudly. The other, likely the male judging by its readiness to defend the babies, stepped forward and flared its wings. Nearly doubling in size Calice tightened his hand around his sword. There was no running back now, but he wasn't all too keen on killing the lot of them including the babies, even if this was a game.


Tryma♂ - Level 3 - ★★☆☆☆
Tryma♀ - Level 2 - ★★☆☆☆

Tryma Nestling♂ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♂ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♀ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♀ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆​
 
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Blazentra
Lvl 2
26/30 HP | 8/16 MP | 4/10 XP




"Um...guys...I can't find my log out button, I'm not getting a response on the 'help' menu either, could you guys check to see if you can log out?" Litari said, glancing around at the party.

Blaze opened her own menu and flipped through the options and screens, searching for a log-out button. After a few moments of searching, she came to a conclusion of her own; there indeed seemed to be no log-out. Sometimes games hid their log-outs pretty well- she had once spent a full ten minutes searching and asking around for the location of one such button- but for a VR game, there was kind of limited options. The other members of her party couldn't locate it either, so she knew it wasn't just her own stupidity hiding the button from her eyes. It truly didn't exist.

"Not like we'll die from a few extra hours. I've been pulled from games before so there's always that. We may as well move out then eh? You're welcome Litari, if the dogs can wait and you don't have any other ideas." Calice said, seemingly unaffected by the new development. Blaze took a cooling breath herself, shaking off her own concerns about the missing log-out button. It would be better to keep a cool head, instead of letting herself run around like a headless chicken.

"I'm sure you're right. Maybe there are certain locations we have to go to to log-out or something, like how some games don't let you log when you're in a PVP zone. It could be as simple as that. Maybe after this quest we can go back to spawn and try there." She said, trying to reason through the issue, although she was more thinking aloud than reasoning. "Or at least, I sure hope it'll be like that. I've heard... iffy... things, about being pulled from games. I'm not willing to try it. Besides, I live on my own. Who the heck is gonna pull me?"

She'd really rather not have to waste away inside of a videogame.

The party continued onward through the forest, with Calice in the lead- rather, they had to walk more so around the edges of the forest, as it quickly grew too dense to pass through. Seems more like a cheap way of cutting design costs to me, Carolina thought to herself. They kept wandering aimlessly until they passed by a tree with blood splattered over it. Glancing around at the ground, she could see a few more splatters, and crushed and broken twigs and underbrush. Someone had obviously been through here. It was one of the clearest set-ups she had seen.

As it was, it only took another few seconds of searching before they came across their target; an NPC was lying against a tree, his arm disgustingly bloody, his eyes closed. Standing before him were two of the weirdest birdlike creatures she had seen. They were huge things, with talons sharper than a butchers knife. One of them was nesting around a smaller group of birds, eyes closed and huddling together. Babies, fledglings.

Tryma♂ - Level 3 - ★★☆☆☆
Tryma♀ - Level 2 - ★★☆☆☆

Tryma Nestling♂ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♂ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♀ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♀ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆

The birds noticed them suddenly, Calice's words quite possibly alerting them to their presence. One flapped out it's wings and the other made a loud squawking noise. Blaze found herself stepping back a few paces, eyes wide. These were definitely no Harenn's. She readied herself for another much more difficult fight. Nobody was going to want to play tank for this one, for sure.

"Uhmmm... On three?"


 
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Litari
{23/23 HP} {12/18 MP} {3/10 XP}

When she got Barong's friend request she accepted it quickly and easily smiling brightly as she sent off requests to the others in her party as well; she hadn't been able to log out but oh well. The dogs would be fine, and Litari was sure she would be okay, though she refused to let someone pull her from the game; that made her so sick she could never think straight when it happened. "Thanks for the request Barong, oh and Calice and Blaze, I sent requests to you as well! I can do this quest with you guys I suppose, I can't do anything else." She followed everyone else as they skirted the edge of the forest that was dense, from what she had heard the players were meant to help make the world an amazing world, rumors she thought but when she saw the dense forest she started to think maybe they weren't rumors at all. Are there job skills? If that was the case...and they had a crafting your own armor kind of job skill Litari felt she would do really well with it.

The NPC on the ground went largely unnoticed by Litari when she noticed the large frightening bird looking creatures that stood in the party's way now. Another fight? They couldn't rush into this fight, those Talons looked razor sharp and that beak...the beak terrified Litari before she finally paid attention to the mobs levels and names.

Tryma♂ - Level 3 - ★★☆☆☆
Tryma♀ - Level 2 - ★★☆☆☆

Tryma Nestling♂ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♂ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♀ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆
Tryma Nestling♀ - Level 0 - ☆☆☆☆☆

Litari was made slightly nervous by the new mobs that were now before her and she gulped a bit, now glad she put all her points in INT. At least she would hit fairly hard with even her plain magic attack. Somewhere in her head Litari was slightly annoyed that she couldn't log out but didn't particularly mind it either she would deal with it until the problem was solved. Those Nestlings though...they had her slightly distracted, they may be small but should they attack them as well? Would they turn into their adult forms in just a few moments? Litari could be sure so she tsked and focused instead on the two adult Tryma, though she didn't move to make the first attack, she wasn't aiming to get hurt by these guys, her HP was so low that she would be killed quickly. I should have put some points to my VIT... She thinks as she gulps a bit and steps back waiting to see what the others would do, as an elementalist and a cleric she would probably end up using her MP in this brawl, if to heal or attack she wasn't sure.

"Um...do you have a plan Calice? I think we need one for handling this situation..." Nobody else was moving to attack the group of odd monsters either though she doubted these were those peaceful monsters that you could sometimes talk to and pick up a quest for, these ones looked like they were waiting for the NPC to die so they could eat him! Internally Litari was enchanted, she loved Halloween, the disgusting looking blood and the frightening mobs had her inner Halloween spirit clawing at the surface, though she was sure the people she was partied with would freak out and think that Litari was a little nutty. She shakes off her internal rambling and jabs Barong in the side with her staff. "I'm...not that good at making a plan of attack, do you have anything Barong?"
 
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Barong
26/30 HP | 9/14 MP | 7/10 XP


“Few hours it is,” Barong nodded at Calice. Being locked still made him feel uneasy, though, as things usually did when he couldn't control them in some way. “I don't want someone to break in my home to pull me out, though. I just changed the locks.”

Alas the group carried on, although the Barong was less talkative and cheerful in the light of the recent news. While he scanned around the area, his thoughts were somewhere else completely. Until he found
that Calice had spotted a patch of blood. “Good eye, sir.” Barong copied straight from his sales-lines assortment, as his smile returned. “We're back on track.”

A mere minute later, they found their selves a pair of big birds, guarding a nest, along with the NPC they'd been told about in the distance. “I don't get something.” Barong mused, as he ticked a finger against his forehead. “If the blood trace is back towards the camp, but the NPC is in front of us on the other side of the nest... Is this really...” But his thoughts were interrupted, as Litari's staff poked his side.

“Well, we don't need to kill these guys for our quest.” Barong said, “But I don't say they'll let us get any closer either.” He cocked his gun out of his holster and slowly pointed it at the male Tryma. “Let's see if I can outrun it.” Barong said smugly, before starting to slowly move away from the group. “When I shoot it, they'll go after me. That's when you guys should have an opening.” Barong explained his plan, as he'd circled further from the group; loosened himself to a point the tryma couldn't confuse him for anyone else in the party.

“On three, right Blaze?” Barong nodded at the other elementalist/cleric, “One... Two... Three!”

Barong shot a regular attack at each of the parents and turned to run in the opposite direction of the party. The second he'd start losing his lead, Barong would toggle in his dash ability. After all, he probably couldn't outrun the Tryma by normal means...
 

Calice
25 / 34 HP | 2 / 10 MP | 6/ 10 XP

As Barong fired off his attacks at the Tryma the one standing immediately gave chase. The huge legs propelled it forward faster than Barong or any of the others could have run normally and as it crashed through the underbrush only the squawking could be heard. Now there were three left. The mother Tryma stood up now. Not as large as the male she was still an intimidating target. Calice knew it would hurt but he had to do it.

“Grab the NPC while I keep its attention!”

Charging forward with his sword again held in two hands as he'd yet to acquire a shield Calice crashed into the large bird. The sword collided with it and did its damage, but the Tryma was having none of Calice's swordplay. Rearing backwards from the blow it quickly countered trying to catch Calices head in it's prehistoric beak. Dodging left he was too slow and the Tryma made contact, wrapping its beak around his shoulder instead and clamping down. As the game worked in the background jolts of pain were sent to Calice and he stepped back from the giant bird. Luckily he'd survived, and just as luckily it hadn't hurt much more than when the Harenn had struck him earlier. Perhaps the game had a cap on exactly how much it could hurt someone. Maybe Calice was wrong.

Trying to fend off while maintaining the attention of the Tryma Calice hoped the other two had worked something out for all of his lost HP.



Calice, Charge Tryma♀ - Level 2 - ★★☆☆☆
1.2*[(11-5) + (0-0)] = 7 Damage.
Calice - 4MP.

Tryma♀ - Level 2 - ★★☆☆☆, attack (beak) Calice.
[(11-16) + ( 5-0)] = 5 Damage.
 

Blazentra
Lvl 2
26/30 HP | 5/16 MP | 5/10 XP




On three, right Blaze? One... Two... Three!

Barong had been walking off from the rest of the group, putting some distance between himself and them- the birds by no chance could mistake them as the target. And then, he fired two shots, one at each of the weird creatures, and ran. Immediately, the Tryma that was already on it's feet began to give chase, running much faster than Blazentra had expected it to. If she tried to land an attack on it, she'd probably miss; maybe it would have been better to simply attack them while they were all in one place... She thought to herself as she prepped herself to attack the remaining Tryma, the 'mother'. She hastily cast her water spell again, hoping it would do sufficient damage to allow Litari to take it out. The bite it landed on Calice didn't look too pretty, and one of the two clerics were going to need to be able to heal him up- if not now, soon. On top of it, they were going to have to hope that Barong had thought his idea through thoroughly. She wasn't sure how he planned to keep ahead of the Tryma, or even more so, leave it behind, but she wasn't thinking it was going to be pretty.

After she used her attack, Blaze dove for the NPC, curling an arm around it's waist and hoisting the unconscious man upwards and against her side, supporting it's surprising weight. In a game, she also hadn't anticipated weight would play in as much as it seemed to. Up close, it's bloodied arm looked even more disgusting, causing her to wrinkle her nose slightly as she returned her attention to the fight, preparing herself to continue in their attack in the case that Litari couldn't finish it off, starting to edge towards where they had come from in case the 'father' Tryma returned before they left. She didn't think it would be smooth sailing if they were attacked with the NPC in hand.

Blazentra -> Tryma♀ - Level 2 - ★★☆☆☆
(Water Blast)
1.2*(9-5) = 4.8
4 damage
- 3 MP
 
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Linnea
Level 1
17/17 HP - 18/18 MP - 1/10 EXP


The first thing she saw was sunlight. It should have been dazzling after the comparative darkness of her bedroom, but her eyes adjusted quickly...or whatever she was using to see with at the moment. In the real world, Danielle found VR technology to be both fascinating and rather overwhelming to read about, as the terminology didn't take long to start soaring over her head at cruising altitude. Besides, it had never changed how she interacted with games; she was just curious, really. So it only took a second for her to shift from thinking about the world she had stepped into to experiencing it personally.

"Oh, wow..." Her voice was a bit higher toned than her real one, but it fit with the small stature and light coloration of Linnea, who gazed around the small camp in blatant amazement. A wind she could feel on her face ruffled the grass people walked through. Voices raised in conversation or question mixed together naturally. There was an odd scent in the air that she couldn't place, probably coming from one of the ships or the boxes or something like that. All the tiny details that made a world feel alive surrounded her on all sides. "This is so much better than my old games!" slipped out under her breath before she remembered not to talk to herself too much.

When she finally got a hold of herself and stopped ogling the scenery, the girl wandered over towards one of the many NPCs. Most of them seemed to be regaling anybody who would listen with information about the game, the world, and the facilities available at the camp. A small frown took shape on her face at that last part. She was used to games with established towns and cities. The offerings here seemed sparse at best...better than appearing in the wilderness but not much better. More worrying, though, was the small number of player characters she could see wandering around. Maybe I should've saved finishing that English Lit essay for tomorrow. Did everyone start already? If the people willing to party had already started on quests or joined groups, she'd have to try to survive alone...or hope someone came along later, which really sounded like the smarter choice. But neither of those seemed fun.

Instead she headed toward the apparent border of the camp and looked for the first preoccupied or worried looking NPC she could find. "Excuse me," she called out, "do you know anyone who needs help around here?" Linnea had no idea if there were any bonuses to helping or befriending NPCs, but it couldn't hurt to try, and maybe one would have a clue for her. Even a boring fetch quest is better than nothing!

...

Oh please, please, please don't let it be a boring fetch quest...!
 
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| Azymus | Level 2 | Regenerator |
| 25/30 HP | 9/15 MP | 3/10 XP |
______________________________________________________

Well... this is awkward...

Standing there for what seemed like days, waiting for the other player to respond, tested his considerable patience to its limits. So he was surprised when two text windows appeared on his UI. The first was an achievement box, telling him he had earned an achievement and reached Level 2. Quickly spending his stat points, he checked the other window to see a party invite from the player in front of him.

"Hmm, Skia Ippotis has invited you to a party. It's about damn time. Accept."

Clicking the 'Accept' button, Azymus sees Skia's HP, MP and name appear in the corner of his UI, just below his own.

"Alright, we should be able to clear monsters much faster now. Let's go kill some more things."

Motioning for his new group member to follow, he turned and headed off down the hill, further away from the starting camp and hopefully towards some more monsters.

It was only when they got to the top of the next hill that Azymus realized they were being followed. Turning quickly, he managed to bash the first goat-man thing just as it dove for him, sending it spinning away like a ragdoll. Then he saw the rest of them, charging up the hill towards the two players at the top.

Forunn♂ - Level 2 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 1 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 3 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 2 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 3 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 1 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 1 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 3 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 2 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 2 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 2 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 1 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 2 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 2 - ★☆☆☆☆
Forunn♂ - Level 3 - ★☆☆☆☆

"I think we made them angry..."

Looking around to see if they could escape, the only thing Azymus saw nearby was the edge of the forest, and his MMO instincts told him there were bound to be worse things in there.

"Alright then, looks like we fight our way out. I'll go right, you go left. Whoever kills the most, wins!"

Focusing on the one he had struck before, and seeing he had only knocked off about a third of its health bar, he charged in and slammed it into the ground with a Mach Punch, putting it down for good. The group had split into two now, with half of them coming for him and the other half charging past. He managed to side-step the first flying headbutt and knock his attacker away, causing some damage to it. The other five were just watching him though, like they were trying to assess how dangerous he was.

He had to give the Devs some credit, the AI so far was creepily realistic.
 
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Savage & Pulse
30/34 HP | 8/8 MP | 7/10 XP | 28/36 HP 7/13 MP 7/10 XP


“Either of you arachnophobiacs?”

Sav cringed at the mention of the spiders. He wasn't particularly terrified of them, just wary around them. It wasn't even so much the threat of their venom, whether it was neurological or designed to eat the flesh, but the skeletons on them. All insects in general were somewhat disgusting to Sav, because if you were to look at them plainly, all of their organs are inside of their skeleton. That was something his mind could not and would not accept as proper and that was the sole reason that arachnids, insects, and even some crustaceans bothered him as much as they did.

“Ain't afraid of them, but they’re wrong. They’re just… wrong.”

Gripping the handle of his axe Sav readied himself expecting an ambush at any time. Even if there were screaming survivors inside the ship he wasn't willing to get himself killed over some NPC's that were programmed to be eaten. Nonetheless he was quick about approaching the ship, more interested in killing the spiders so that he could leave the area that much sooner.

Surveying the crash he noticed amid the wreckage of torn plates and open doorways that no fuel had leaked. It was a blessing and a curse he reckoned. If it hadn't leaked perhaps one of the group could puncture the tank and set it aflame, whether through Hollywood theatrics or by starting the engines and hoping they ran hot enough to ignite the fumes. If it had already all leaked out and caught fire though Sav doubted the spiders would have had any interest in some charred metal and ashes. Knowing he was in the lead he decided to share his plan with the others.

“If we get swarmed by the spiders we might be able to burn them all to a crisp if we can puncture the fuel tanks of the ship.”

“I don’t think just the shower will scare it away. This one’s big.” Pulse remarked, nodding towards the size of the webs. She had followed behind Savage, keeping a small distance, but averted her gaze as he turned around. “Unless you got some way of igniting it, and that’s assuming we find the fuel tanks. How do you expect to do that?.”

Rolling his eyes as Pulse played the game you played after the silent treatment when someone was angry he tried to rationalize. “Now assuming the developers wrapped their head around ship design better than a log out feature, the fuel tanks ought to have lines leading to the engines.” Pointing to the rear of the ship and then off to one of the wings he pointed out the almost cylinder engine that sat half out of the dirt. “I don't know where the fuel tanks are, but if we can get that puppy started, then rupture the lines and spill fuel all over it we might get something out of this other than dead and eaten.”

“If it’s a toss-up between that and being burned to death.” Pulse shrugged. “Rupturing the lines isn’t exactly a precision maneuver with that axe of yours. Let’s keep playing pyromaniac a last resort. Salvaging whatever is in there is worth XP, so we try to not burn things first.” Clearly, Pulse didn’t exactly feel comfortable with the idea of setting an entire ship on fire in a game you felt pain.

Unable to argue that whatever was in this ship was worth something Sav kept the plan at the back of his mind. He didn't like the webs and he didn't like that they hadn't seen anything yet. Close enough to almost reach the torn open door he glanced backwards to Pulse and Thunder. Pulse was at his side and close enough that she could back him up. Thunder had the range to help either of them, but if he was attacked from behind Sav knew they wouldn't reach him in time if the spiders weren't some baby enemy cooked up to frighten people. Half holding his breath Sav peaked around the corner of the doorway and slowly leaned in.

A scream softly echoed through the ship; it came from deeper within the ship. However it’s origin was unclear in the network of corridors. Pulse, getting impatient with the slow progression of it all, pushed Sav forward. “Just walk.” She said, staying close behind the barbarian. “It’s a low level quest, they wouldn’t give it to us if we couldn’t handle it.”

It hadn’t just been outside that there were webs; all throughout the ship there were threads laid out. It would be hard to even cross it without stepping in them. Pulse, not wanting to alert spiders, even dismissed her godhands to not touch a single thread. While she could mitigate her hitboxes, she wasn’t so sure if Sav would have as easy to avoid stepping into any of it. “Don’t touch the webs, by the way.” She told Sav and Thunder, as they ventured deeper within the ship.

The screams had progressively grown louder for a few minutes; but then they had suddenly died out. At a crossroad, they found three different ways to go, of which left and riddled in webs. Right lead to a cabin, whereas left there was a ladder that presumably would bring the party closer to the engine room. The bridge seemed to be up ahead… “Well, that seems untouched.” Pulse said, pointing in front of her. “Let’s pull any survivors out of there first.”

Entering the bridge, Pulse, Sav and Thunder would find everything in the bridge was akin spending a minute in a blender. There were chairs that had thrown into machines and stains of blood and and cooling elements that even touched the ceiling. Although it seemed no one had died, there were opened and used first aid kits scattered around. It was also evident the bridge had been abandoned with great haste. Lights and screens were still flickering and personal possessions laid scattered around the floor (along with broken cups and cold coffee spread across the floor and walls).

Near the end of the bridge, there was a closed gate; leading to the nose of the ship. If anyone would knock on it, they would find out the survivors had locked themselves in there… Though they would be suspicious and scared people, they knew the lay-out of the ship and all the locations of supplies and valuable assets...
 
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_____________________________________________________________________________________
Arashi
[HP:26/26] [MP:12/12] [XP:0/10]
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Upon waiting for the logging of the game to finish, Lin finds himself in a new world. He is taken by the sights of the new world around, the grass, sky, air, clouds, and the environment in the distance all seem to be real and nothing like any game Lin had played before in his life. After closing his eyes slowly, taking in a slow breath through his nose, he lifts his head up slowly and extends his arms into a cross form.

"I am here. Ready to be immersed into this game."

Ignoring everything around him, he opens his eyes again and goes to check his UI. He searches around a bit to get used to it, finding his stats, and resistances. "Seems pretty basic." After looking at the stats for awhile, he places his left hand on his chin and thinks to himself "nothing seems to be a problem, but that water is going to bite me in the ass, I just know it." Arashi flicks around the UI finding his items and abilities. "Basic stuff...Nothing I wasn't expecting." Arashi moves to his abilities and gives them a throughout read. "These can work pretty well together, considering the conditions are set in the right places." Arashi mumbles on unaware of the people leaving in parties around him. "Maybe I can use this and then..." Arashi trails off thinking of ways to combo his abilities to use them to the fullest. Arashi looks up only to realize the area is almost barren from players. "Damn...I got too into the game." Arashi grits his teeth, feeling stupid. "I can't believe this..." He walks up to the NPC talking as Arashi thought it was a real person talking before realizing how well-made even the NPCs were. Arashi thinks to himself during the talk with the NPC. "Damn... Seems like I have to go solo for now."
 
Thunder: Level 2, Techno Master. Stats: HP - 27/30, MP - 15/15, 8/10 EXP
Having reached a stopping point with them, Thunder looks over to what looked like a dead end for them. Deciding that he was the more convincing player out of the three, he steps forward with a risen brow, searching around briefly for any signs of spiders or other things before stopping before the entrance. "Let's hope no spiders jump us." He mumbled, mostly to himself, as he raises up his free hand and knocks on the door twice. "Hello? Is anyone in there?" He asked, taking a step back out as a precaution, not knowing what these spiders were capable of.

“Hello?” A man’s voice from the other side spoke softly. “Bonnie, did you hear something?”

“Yes, that was a voice. Who goes there?” A female voice said, louder than the male one before her. “Identify yourself!”

“My name is Thunder, I am a traveler who was sent here with two others to come get you out of here.” He hoped this wouldn't lead to their deaths. After a short moment of hesitation and mumbling among each other, the female voice, Bonnie, answered Thunder.

“Who sent you?” She asked, with a spark of hope in her voice.

“His name is Doctor Marius Vinkleburg. Do you know of him?” Thunder asked, wondering if there was some plot twist coming up.

“Thank goodness.” Bonnie sighed of relief. “We've been hearing whispers from time to time and we were afraid whatever has been whispering learned to talk. There are giant spiders aboard, have you seen them?”

“We have not, only their webs.” Thunder worried about that for a moment, the longer they stood out here, the more likely it was the spiders would find them. “Can you let us in? We mean you no harm.” Again, Thunder was met with a short silence. It seemed the survivors were hesitant to open up. Though after a few seconds, the door did open up; revealing a group of six people. One woman, presumably Bonnie, and three men were still standing. While they’d all been hurt or bruised one way or another, they seemed capable enough. The other two however, were laying flat on the floor with clear injuries to their legs. They wouldn't be able to move by themselves.

“This is just the few of us who made it back here. I’m Bonnie McClyde, captain of the ship.” The woman introduced herself. “There were 20 of us in the crew before the crash, but…” Bonnie looked away from Thunder as she spoke, “I can confirm there’s at most 18 of us left. With two confirmed deaths and the six of us alive, that means there’s twelve men and women we don’t know the status of. I’m supposed to be in command of this ship… But this crash and these spiders have left me… I don’t know what to do anymore.” Bonnie winced as she spoke. She wasn't able to keep a strong face, and Thunder would notice she and the rest of the crew had lost hope before the party came.

“Would you help us? Save my crew? I know there are people left in the engine room down, possibly in their cabins or maybe some have hidden in the air-locks, because we confirmed some of them being opened and closed… Just, please, mister Thunder, tell me what can we do?” Thunder heard all of the information and considered it, looking back over at Pulse and Sav before looking back at the NPC.

“Captain, I believe we need a map of the ship, to know where we’re going. Give one to my friend Pulse if you can. I also need to know if there’s any weapons on this ship we can use. Any information about the spiders would be helpful, a way to contact you as well. Any possible armor you have would be nice as well. If we’re going to help you find your crew, we’re going to need to be prepared for those spiders first. Also, any details about the ship would be nice as well, just in case those spiders start catching onto our plan.”

“Of course,” Bonnie said, and then ordered part of her crew to get a map of the ship’s lay-out. “The ship is an old model, but she was in good state. The crash was sudden and violent, nobody was prepared. The bridge was reinforced well, but I don’t know about the state of the rest of the ship. You must have seen it as you walked through…” The captain explained, and while there was indeed relatively little damage besides what they’d seen in their direct environment, some of the plates had be torn down in the corridors.” She then kneeled next to one of the men with a leg wound; rolling up his bloodied pants to reveal an ugly purple infection spreading across his entire leg. “The spiders are poisonous. He’s been hurting like this for long after he had been bitten.”

“They came out of nowhere.” The man whispered, “I couldn't see them coming… It was like they were invisible…”

“Furthermore the armory is downstairs as well.” Bonnie further explained, “But we don’t know how much help it will be…” Thunder had to take a plan into consideration. Those two weren't going to last long here, and Thunder knew leaving the others alone was too dangerous to take. He turns to face Pulse, already he knew what he had to do.

“These people aren't going to last much longer like this, who knows how long it’ll be before those spiders break through. I am volunteering myself to lead them back to the camp, this way we don’t have as many people to worry about if we split up like this. Will you and Sav be fine finding the rest of the survivors?” He asked, he hated the idea of splitting off from the other two, but with the known NPCs as they were, what other choice did he have? Pulse, having let Thunder doing the talking, had some mixed feelings about splitting up.

“I’m more interested in the supplies.” She spoke bluntly, ignoring the NPC’s their presence. “If there’s an armory downstairs we can’t leave it unplundered.” Of about the same mind as Pulse, Sav kept silent. He doubted that all off the other npcs were in fact still alive and if any were injured they weren't in any position to move them, let alone heal them. The armory on the other hand seemed a viable approach to the impending onslaught of spiders. Best case scenario they got something to fight them with, and worst case they died. If the latter was going to happen Sav was going to make sure as Hell they went out with a bang.

"I'm with her, the armory's probably our best chance in this mess, unless either of you have reconsidered my first suggestion."

“You heard the baboon, off you go.” Pulse said to Thunder, ignoring the second thoughts creeping into her head. “Keep them alive, that way we’ll at least get some of the XP.” She said, as her own little way of encouragement. “Oh and you,” She addressed Bonnie, though she talked to the captain as if she was a dog, mirroring Sav’s approach with the doctor earlier, “Give us your contact in case we need something.”

“Like key codes to the armory.” Sav added. As ordered, Bonnie McClyde showed up as a contact in all three their lists, and sent a message pertaining all the code locks.

“I don’t know if everything is still functioning.” She added. “But please let me know if I can help with anything.”

“Contact us if anything happens, you two.” He said to Pulse and Sav, before looking to the Captain. “Get everyone assembled and let’s head out of this ship. We need to move before those spiders get to us.” Something came to thought suddenly, as he moved around the room they were in. “Do you know when this ship was sent off and how long ago it crashed?” He asked the Captain.

“A few hours ago.” The captain answered Thunder, as she and her men mobilized. “We were part of the main fleet until suddenly the ship went out of control. We tried to keep her steady, but we were forced off course. As for when we launched, I'd say it was about nine months ago."

“Let’s move out then.” He said, beginning to head for the way back, with the Captain and her crew following. “Try not to become spider chow.” He said back to them before focusing on the mission.
 
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