Somewhere Forgotten (Noah)

A huff was given, sweat streaming down her forehead and stinging eyes as she swung again at the roaches skittering towards her, hoping to surround and devour her in this dark and fetid place. The original dive into the sewers had been... well, it lacked teamwork. It lacked trust. It lacked respect. And that was due in the largest part due to her and Noah getting off to a rocky beginning. She had wanted to play the plucky hero, the laughing rover, the thespian and fool. The role had been annoying to some, and a delight to others, but neither of those things mattered. What mattered was that the way she had portrayed herself, when in that male avatar, was never going to earn her the respect she needed to accomplish what she wanted. It would win her a popular vote, certainly! People adored her antics, and would love to keep her around for more. But it wasn't the same as respect.

Working in those sewers had shown her that, no matter how much people might like her, they needed to respect her more. More than the songs and stories, she enjoyed leading others. Or being lead. It did not matter to her, so long as there was cohesion and trust. Teamwork. Now that she was in a new avatar, a female body which was more comfortable and natural to her own real life form, she felt more confidant. She had a chance to start over, the NPCs not recognizing this new face. She could try to erase the old, and work with the new. She still delighted in songs and stories, to be sure... but there was no longer a joking bow and ridiculous speech attached. She had grown serious and somber, and goal oriented. And right now, her goal was to make amends with one of the people she had failed to work well beside. Because they planned to enter the sewers again, and if they did so, she needed them to work back to back and have full faith in one another. Regardless of who was in charge, and how much it might bother them to be bossed around, for a team that couldn't function couldn't win.

The Admiral

Noah-

I'm in Stokbon, in the sewers below Baker's Avenue. Apparently they had something of a roach problem due to food getting flushed into the gutters whenever it got tossed out for spoiling; they want me to clean it out for them all. Considering how our last dungeon dive went, I think it'd be good experience for us both to try this out together and get some air cleared. Even if the air down here is disgusting...

The quest is really simple, so far. We've both grown since the sewers, I hope. So this should be a cake walk under Baker's avenue, heh.

Sighing, she sent the message and looked around for more roaches, hearing them skitter back in the darkness. She spun her weapons in hand, comforted by their weight, and began to charge forward into the danger present. Their carapace crushed beneath her attacks with a sickening squish, the roach onslaught repelled by her berserker blows.

@Noah Krane

 

Noah placed his hands over his stomach as it let out a rather obvious growl. While he found him in Stokbon, the largest city that he had ventured to so far, there was just no food that appealed him at the moment. He was getting rather burnt out on the poor quality chicken and pork menus that littered the street vendors. He really just wanted a nice bowl of Vietnamese Pho. Something about that brothy style soup just sounded pleasing with his body’s current craving. While food in the game was modeled greatly off of the real world there was no set “Vietnamese Restaurants” nor were there any Chinese, Italian, or American. Most of the food had been inspired by classic European food from the Medieval Ages but every now and then you could find a cook that knew how to use some more exotic spices. Perhaps a person with the appropriate cooking skill was needed to bring out more complex and diverse foods. He opted for a simple steak skewer, something that was easy to walk and eat so he could continue about his shopping.

Just as he took his first bite though a message popped up in his mailbox. Curious to see who had buzzed him, he stuffed the meat into his mouth and brought out his palm screen. When he saw the name of the sender he was a bit thrown off. The Admiral, the jolly dual wielding man that had been part of his sewer expedition. What could he want? He quickly opened the message and started reading it’s contents.

The Admiral

Noah-

I'm in Stokbon, in the sewers below Baker's Avenue. Apparently they had something of a roach problem due to food getting flushed into the gutters whenever it got tossed out for spoiling; they want me to clean it out for them all. Considering how our last dungeon dive went, I think it'd be good experience for us both to try this out together and get some air cleared. Even if the air down here is disgusting...

The quest is really simple, so far. We've both grown since the sewers, I hope. So this should be a cake walk under Baker's avenue, heh.

Noah gulped down the remainder of his skewer and tossed the stick in the nearest trash bin. His fingers nimbly started to type up his response.

Noah Krane

Yo, I’m also in Stokbon. I’m over near Old Hamilton Square. It will take me about five minutes or so to get to Baker Avenue. I’ll get there as quick as I can. Hopefully these roaches are not as hearty as the last group was.

Noah quickly turned around and headed towards the direction that The Admiral was located. Noah bite his lip, there was a large chunk of retail and restaurants between the two of them. Taking the streets might be too time consuming. A small network of alleys though might get him there at a quicker pace. He took off with a fast casual walk, it did not sound like the gentleman was in any urgent danger so no need for Noah to break his back to get into that filth pit. As he swerved between the buildings he began to recall the twos last encounter. They had gotten off on the wrong foot right away and really had little interaction with each other after that fateful encounter. The two had split up shortly after entering the dungeon and never crossed paths again down there. He had spotted the man at the dragon hatchery but did not speak to him or anything.

He came to a large manhole that was already partially opened, he assumed that this must have been the area that the gentleman had been lurking in. He peered into the darkness, unable to see much but he could hear the grunts of somebody down below, though it did not sound that the sounds of a man. Did The Admiral have another person down there with him? Noah entered the realm beneath the city and began his search for his partner. There was already a few dead bug bodies scattered over the ground, while green guts lined the walls. As he rounded a corner he was met with a female figure standing there. Figuring that The Admiral must have got a third to tag along, Noah went ahead and would introduce himself.

“Umm hey, are you down here with The Admiral as well?”

@The Admiral

 

The roaches were almost depressingly simple to crush under heel and hammer as they came rushing towards her out of the darkness, too driven by videogame mob intelligence to realize she was more powerful than they were. She gave a bored huff as, for a moment, no response came from Noah. It really was no surprised; the two of them simply didn’t seem to get along that well, and… oh. Pausing her chase of the creatures, she opened her menu to listen to whatever it was the man had sent in return.

Noah Krane

Yo, I’m also in Stokbon. I’m over near Old Hamilton Square. It will take me about five minutes or so to get to Baker Avenue. I’ll get there as quick as I can. Hopefully these roaches are not as hearty as the last group was.

Hmmm. So he was a mere five minutes out? And he was worried the roaches were going to be ‘hearty’ like the last ones. Did that mean he hadn’t trained or increased his skills in all this time? The thought concerned her, but she decided not to reject his coming and instead waited patiently for him to join her in the sewers. If she recalled correctly the roaches had always been easily stomped in a single blow, so whatever heartiness he was concerned about was news to her. Perhaps he’d gone on a separate adventure, later, and encountered something untoward that had as of yet revealed itself down here? That sounded quite exciting compared to the tiresome slaughter of the weak bugs which, in her opinion, a brand new player with a sharp stick could easily dispatch provided they didn’t let themselves get torn apart in the process. But then new players were notoriously stupid, so it was likely to occur. Hell, when she had first joined the game, in her previous avatar and incarnation, she had been one of the greatest fools present among the player base.

It had all been a great laugh and lark to her… “…him,” back then. The original Admiral had travelled town to town and trouble to trouble, singing whatever popped into his head and telling bullshit stories that were pirated from others, or merely meant to entertain and perhaps even annoy others. Certainly there were those that found it oddly charming and amusing, but in essence the man had been useless outside of a target to soak up damage and hit a few things over the head. Its charm had worn off very quickly, if not to others, then to her own self. She had grown bored and bothered by the tiresome need for levity in the face of constant chaos and stupidity, and had, upon receiving the chance to change things around, done so with violent ambition to make something more useful of herself.

She had chosen a female form, as it was intimately familiar to her as a woman and would not prove the awkward and cumbersome thing the male form had. Silver-white hair of a generic fantasy variety decorated her scalp, with skin that was marked with scars from battle after battle her avatar must have faced down and won. Her nose was slightly crooked, as though it had been broken and healed incorrectly, adding to the harsh beauty of the body. She had changed more than the appearance though, because as it turned out the non player characters would not recognize you upon changing your appearance. It didn’t erase memories of the previous Admiral, but she wasn’t suspected of being him. She had a fresh start, to do things over, and she had delighted in the chance to make that opportunity wholly exploited. Now, with a very serious and military bearing, she traveled trying to help those in need of her unique services as a strictly damage per second character type. She still had no magic or domestic skills, no abilities to perform and to help others with supporting spells or tanking skills. No taming of beasts, nor building of castles and farmsteads.

Her function within the game was to be The Soldier, The Marauder, who traveled on land or sea and faced down enemies in need of a violent lesson. She wore heavy armor to protect her and carried many weapons to fell her foes with, and she engaged each and every conflict with a clear and sharp mind that no longer joked pointlessly. She was not without levity and humor, but she was no longer a fool either… It had been the original sewer expedition that had shown her the need for such a change; too many people in the game thought that they were above working under others, and that everything was a clear democracy. Such could not be the case… someone had to lead, to take charge. While she didn’t particularly desire the power for herself, she had seen that most in positions of authority wielded it more as a symbol of status than as a tool to achieve progress. They were too concerned with their own affairs, and not the affairs of the game world, or the players at large.

Her thoughts trailed off as Noah finally arrived, climbing down the ladder and landing upon the pathway that kept them out of the sludge of the sewage. He looked her over and seemed confused for a moment, as though he had been expecting someone else entirely, and of course he was. He hadn’t been made aware of her… change in circumstances, and as he asked if she was here with The Admiral to join them, she chuckled softly at the man, her laugh echoing down the sewage tunnels. Lifting her two weapons in hand, she showed off the metal hammer and wooden club that would hopefully be familiar to him, spinning them in hand like she was ready to continue swinging them at enemies.

“I am The Admiral,” she mused allowed as she kept her eyes locked on his face, hoping to catch the dawning realization and look of shock, should he be the type to wear his emotions so openly. She continued to explain for his benefit, while waiting for him to walk over.

“I’m the same Admiral that offered to ferry you across the sewers only to have you leap across. The same one that formed our battle plans the first time around, and tried to take charge so that there would be one unified group instead of four bickering voices. I’ve always been a woman, in reality… I just had a male avatar the first time around to make the game more amusing for me. But now I’m bored of just goofing off and having fun. I’m here to accomplish things, and get results. To fix this world up and take things seriously. What are you here for, Noah?”

 

@Noah Krane

 

Noah was a bit thrown off, the woman before him was indeed The Admiral. How did the burly man that was shuttling the group across the slime and sludge of the sewer become a young woman? While anything was possible inside of a video game, Noah had yet heard of a gender bending function. He carefully inspected the woman before him. The weapons that she held in her hand did look rather familiar, especially the table leg turned into a bludgeon of sorts. As he stared he also noticed her name floating above her head, it was indeed the same person that he explored the sewers with once before. Her little speech of him leaping across and forming battle plans also reaffirmed that this was not some hacker or glitch. Noah just shrugged his shoulders, who knew what else this game was capable of, switching one's face and even gender should not be too huge a surprise.

“Huh...well that’s a nifty party trick? While I doubt I’ll ever want to change genders, having the knowledge that changing one’s face is viable is always a nice bit of information to know.” He shrugged his shoulders as he looked around the mess of guts and carcuses that lined the floor, it seemed that even in this new body her berserker's strength was as powerful as ever. A week or so had passed since they had last seen, he suspected that she had gained some things besides just a new face. While his skill set had not grown by leaps and bounds, his swordplay had improved to the next tier in the game’s standards. It seemed that she had a similar question that Dempsey had for Noah when he first started, must be a common question or something.

Shrugging his shoulders once more, he began to answer the Amazonian warrior. “Meh, I guess I’m just looking to live the life that I cannot in the real world. In here I can be more free and not worry about the judgements of others. Allows me to be more outgoing and social in some regards. Though I’m just going with the flow as of right now, nothing too crazy or specific when it comes to my hopes and dreams in this game.” It was simple, it was boring, but it was true. Unlike others that wanted to leave a lasting mark in the game, Noah was just enjoying the ride that it provided. If he had the chance to do something memorable than that was great, if not then oh well as long as he had fun and enjoyed it.

Back to the task at hand though, it seemed that she had already started clearing out what roaches were in this area. If he learned anything the from the first time he was in the sewers was that there was always gonna be a crack or hole that would allow the bugs to slip in and out of, making them like overgrown assassins that carried filth and germs on them. He went ahead and pulled out his trusty sword. While it was a plain wooden sword, with his adept level skill it was able to still deal massive amounts of damage, especially to beast and people that had a lack of armor or thick hide. “So, we’re here to squash some more roaches huh? Fun times as always….Shall we progress deeper into their nest?”


@The Admiral

 

Standing there, she let Noah roll his eyes across her body to work out whatever disbelief he might have, to examine both her equipment and her 'equipment' in case he had any doubts about whether or not this might be a prank. He seemed satisfied enough with her claim of being the Admiral he had come to know and love, like a stomach ulcer. That made her relax and smile, listening to his explanation of why he was in the game and what he hoped to do with it. It was a very middle of the road response, very uncommitted and uninterested in seeking out higher purpose. And that was perfectly fine! Her concern had been whether or not he was one of the "lul so randumb and ebil" players that seemed to be springing up like weeds. But, it did not sound as it he were... and he had not struck her previously as being such a sort.

“So, we’re here to squash some more roaches huh? Fun times as always….Shall we progress deeper into their nest?”

She nodded her head and turned to face the direction she had previously been marching, stepping carefully past muck and trash as the delved deeper into the sewers beneath Bakers' Avenue. The sound of skittering roaches could be heard in the darkness, and after twelve paces or so, five of the things came rushing towards the pair to make meals of them. She smiled and readied her hammer and club, striking the monsters down with ease as two of them rushed up to her. The other three ran by across the ceiling and dropped down, trying to surround Noah.

 

The sound of dozens of tiny, gross, and probably germ coated bug feet filled the sewers, that and the sound of some ungodly substance being flushed into them. The two warriors had not really gone but a few meters when the nasty beasts reared their nasty heads. What the hell had made them grow this size? Was there some radiation down here that they had been nibbling on? Or perhaps the humans of this world had magic embedded in their feces that had caused the to grow to that size. Whatever the cause was, Noah and Addy would be the end to it, at least for this group of bold roaches.

Two of the pack broke right for Addy, thinking to make quick work of the woman warrior, unfortunately for them she was not just some damsel in distress. The woman’s strength allowed her to bring the hammer of justice down on these creatures, quite literally. With a few solid swings the two roaches were crushed under the weight of her weapons. Noah did not have time to admire the heroine in action, he had his own insects to deal with, three of them to be exact. The took to the ceiling and walls to avoid the fate of their brethren, Noah had to admit the bludgeon style weapons worked much more efficiently than swords.

As the first one started to fall Noah went ahead and seized the opportunity to take care of it. Right as the roach would be in mid air, Noah used his speed and sword skill to cleave right through the beast in half. It would most likely regenerate size he did not squish its brain, but recovering half the body would be a bit more tricky than a limb or two. Having taken care of the front one right away, it gave him a brief moment to be able to reposition himself and be ready for the other two. They had dropped behind him making clicking sounds as they waited for the swordsman to make a move. He smirked as it was clear that these roaches were a bit nervous after seeing the woman squish two and Noah cut one right in half.

Noah quickly took off running at full speed towards the roaches. The roach to the left took a few steps back while the one on the right stood its ground. It reared up on it’s hind legs trying to gain the advantage of height on Noah. His face was now beaming with glee, the position that the roach had changed to gave him more than what he needed in order to ends its life. His sword came up and carved through the beast from nave to skull. As the roach’s body feel to either side Noah would continue his onslaught with the cowardly roach. Dashing over the corpse of his braver friend, Noah was able to slash his sword right across the creature’s face. While the cut was deep it was not enough to cleave the head off in one go. It was painful enough that the roach let out a cry of pain as it scurried away even further into the sewers beyond the two warriors. “Damn it... I really need to get a skill for range…” He turned around and found the first roach starting to regenerate but was still twitching about on the ground like a fish out of water. Noah quickly jabbed his sword into the bug’s head and watched the life fade from its eyes. If he had learned anything from his previous encounters with the bugs was that they could only be killed by damaging the brain or the spine right below the brain. They were like some gross bug zombies.

He shook his blade in the direction of the sewage to free it of what bug guts he could. He had been poisoned last time by a spray in the face from the nasty creatures, he was not trying to have a repeat this go around. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to all the guts that comes with these roaches. I think Stokbon’s mayor needs to invest in some large cans of Raid or something…” Why was the warrior even down here to begin with? He could not imagining the roaches venturing too far from their filth, had they been spotted above ground? Or was this perhaps the city’s way of clearing out the swarm, sending immortal players down here to deal with the gross shit. “Who gave you this quest anyways? Can’t imagine too many people venture down here and deal with the bugs. He posed the question to his guildmate.


@The Admiral

 

A disgusted and exhausted huff escaped the Admiral as she crushed the roaches beneath the onslaught of her hammer and club, dispatching the creatures with haste so that she and Noah could safely continue their journey down into the lair of the beasts. Two had come for her and one by one they fell, smeared upon the stained cobble stone pathway and walls of the sewage tunnel before her boot kicked them into the river of faeces and filth to be carried away. She turned to investigate how Noah was holding up his own end, noting the way he sliced quickly through two of the creatures. A third lay on the hazardous ground, split head to heel by his blade and twitching as though some life still clung to the thing. She shivered in horror and revulsion, fighting the urge to throw up, and turned away from the scene so that she wouldn't make the place any more stained by effluvium than it already was.

Noah joked easily about giant cans of Raid to kill all the bugs with, and she gave a half-amused chuckle, still fighting the urge to be sick. Sewers were so gross! Having finally controlled her stomach, she glanced back to see Noah shaking his blade off over the stream of sewage in order to clean them off, even slightly. He seemed prepared to continue, confident and collected, but curious about why the situation had even gotten as bad as it had in the first place. Not to mention how she had received the job in the first place. She supposed he had a right to know, seeing as it wasn't any grand secret... though he really should have posed any questions before joining in, just to spare them both the headache of wasting one another's time. So, how had she gotten the job? Why didn't people come down here to contend with the beastly roaches themselves? Rolling her shoulders to loosen them after the last fight with the over sized bugs, she continued down the sewage side path which kept them safely out of the muck, and began to tell him what he wished to know.

"The job was given to me... well, I suppose given to us at this point... by the Baker's Guild of Bakers' Avenue. It turns out that the roaches have been growing larger and deadlier within the sewers for quite some time, but that was never really an issue seeing as they remained safely below the surface and out of sight. Out of any areas they could do some real harm. It seems that they’ve been coming closer and closer to the surface as of late, in particular in or around Bakers’ Avenue. Nobody was quite sure why, until a few militia men of Stokbon went down to investigate things and deal with the problem themselves. It turned out that some competing bakers decided to escalate their games of sabotaging one another from harmless insults to actually trying to destroy the person’s business. One of them, who is now locked away in jail, decided it would be a good idea to steal his competition’s sugar and flour and pour them all down into the sewer grates during the middle of the night. Bankrupt the man, and ruin his business. Well, all that sweetness is pure fuel for these gross bastards down here… and when they caught whiff of it in the dank air, they came running, and devoured it.”

She stopped at a fork in the sewer which branched in a Y shape to the left and the right, running at a slight incline, downwards. The stream of sewage went down each way, the path that they could safely walk on becoming stairs that managed to avoid being overflowed by the mess around them. The steps were heavily stained and covered in trash however, because during storms they would flood over. She made a mental note not to be down here long enough for any storms to occur, and took the path that went to the left, stepping carefully as she avoided falling into the muck and grime. A lantern was pulled from her inventory, to help guide the way. She put her wooden club away to make sure she had a free hand for holding it, and looked to make sure Noah was still following safely behind her. The man moved too quietly, while her own steps echoed with the heavy clink of full armor.

“So,” she continued, reaching the bottom of the downward path which now ran straight forwards a long distance, or turned left where a large metal grate barred them from moving past. With no other option left to them, she chose to move forwards, her steps heavy and noticeable in the tight corridor.

“…with that sugar gone, and wanting more, the roaches began to break up into the surface to find more sweets. People tried to lay traps, or fight them off, but the things could come up from any sewer grate and any sewer entrance. Sometimes even the privy in your own home, if you had an outhouse that lead directly to the sewers. So they needed somebody to come down and investigate the things, and get rid of them all. A few have tried apparently, but none of the NPCs made it back if they went very far in. And all of the PCs who went in shriek in horror whenever I mention the sewers. I think maybe they got a death affliction that messed with their heads, and made them paranoid of even thinking about them. Or maybe what they found down here… So, they’re paying us to kill as many roaches as we can. There’s a bonus in it for us if we manage to figure out what’s causing everybody to meet with such horrible fates, and another bonus on top of that if we deal with it ourselves. We don’t have a healer or ranged support however, so… best not to try it.”

 

@Noah Krane

 

“God, what a mess. I can’t believe people are that petty in this game, though I suppose people are just as petty in the real world as well. I’d suggest that they drop some poison in the water or use poison bait like they would in the real world but these roaches probably would not be harmed by it, that or the sewage’s raw nastiness would just coat whatever poison was dropped down here and render it useless.” Noah followed Addy up the stairs, kicking some of the trash into the stream of sewage below. A small chuckles escaped Noah’s chest at the thought of somebody sitting on the toilet in their home and a roach just crawling right up from beneath them. He had heard rumors in the real world of alligators, snakes, and a handful of other creatures roaming the sewage drains of New York. It had never given him any worry, except for when he was a small child.


The two continued down the path, Noah listened to the story of the NPCs all dying and the PC being too afraid to come down here and squish the rather large parasites. Lucky for Noah and Addy they had both already ventured down into the filth and had a good idea on what was waiting down here. God willing, Noah did not run into his homeless acquaintance down here, he had not brought any booze to appease the man and doubtful the same trick would work twice on him. As the two continued to move down the damp paths, Noah made sure to take note on the turns that they made, he did not want to get stuck down in this godforsaken place in Terrasphere.


“Lucky for us that we’ve dealt with the roaches before and are used to the smell by now...well as used to it as you can get I guess. The only issue is the roaches have an incredible healing factor, you’re blunt weapons are ideal against them. Being able to smash them in seems to be more effective than slashing or piercing them. We learned that last go around down here. If I had to guess though, I’d speculate that the roaches have a nest that must be nearby for them to be coming out in such numbers. Think just the two of us could handle a swarm of them...I’m not too familiar with roaches in real life, are they like ants or bees and have a queen?” If they did have a queen that could be both a good thing and a bad thing. By killing the queen they’d cause chaos among the remaining roaches and make it where they were not as uniformed. On the other hand the queen is most likely surrounded by a ton of roaches and if they are anything like bees and ants those roaches are bred as warriors. Chances are they would be much more hardy than the others and would not scare off as easy.


The path they took opened up into a large room that had five different tunnels splitting off of it. The sewage ran among four of the tunnels, while the fifth almost appeared to be a service tunnel that the city’s workers might use. “So which path do you think we should take? I kind of doubt that many roaches would be down the tunnel that does not have sewage running through it, since you said that they dumped the sugar into the water and that was how they noticed the sweetness.”

@The Admiral