Megathread - Link Start: Maithe Woodlands

Maithe Woodlands

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As Terrasphere passed it's four month anniversary since the initial opening day, many players have found themselves logging in to meet the new world awaiting them. Despite whatever negative press surrounded the game, nothing seemed to dampen the ever growing popularity of the VRMMORPG. Players start up their games en masse to make their avatars, choose their names, and join in time to see the dawn of a new Season!

Brisshal stands as beautiful as ever and welcomes new players to the game. As the initial link start connects, the game spawns them in random places across a wide area of low hills and sparse forests. Players who connect at the same time will find themselves separated after they materialize in the world.

Activities

Stay a while... At a brief glance, you see weak leveled creatures dot the landscape, ranging from rabbits, wolves, slimes, and unusually aggressive chickens. Even the weakest of beasts can be dangerous without a tutorial to teach, but help is all around in the form of fellow players! New players like you can freely explore the game's UI, try out their newfound power, and earn some starting money and experience as they fight their way through monsters and make friends for adventures to come.

Follow the road... Weaving through the hills and trees is a well-trodden path that winds away into the distance. You or those who are ready to move on can follow the small road to find a nearby village. Honeyhome Village awaits with open arms and a variety of shops to purchase beginner gear and weapons, as well as a small inn with cheap food and drink. Follow the path to head to Honeyhome!

Instruction

• This thread is for new players logging into TS for the first time.
• There is no posting order and you are free to come and go as you wish.
• Tag those you want to address using @Username.
• Have fun and get to know one another, MMOs are funner with friends!
• You can move between this thread and the other link start threads, but you may only RP in one at a time.

 

Ozwin stared blankly at the forest around him not entirely sure what he should be doing. It had been a bit of a process to this point. He went into his office at work to find that for some reason an anonymous guest had left him, the night manager, an sd card for a tip. That alone had obviously been all sorts of suspicious. However after checking the card itself out he realized that what was on it was the game client for that vrmmorpg the spoke about on the news occasionally that basically no one knew anything about... Well what else was he supposed to do after that? Of course he was going to play the super mysterious game. He had been rather bored lately anyway considering he worked while most slept and had few people who could spoil him in his off time, which it actually required him to go cuddle up to one of his sugarmommas after work to get his hands on one of those headsets he needed to actually play the game. Besides it was technically possible to "sleep" in these sorts of games from what he heard so as long as he kept his eyes on the time he should be fine with work.

The problem after creating his character, not including the fact that suddenly growing a couple inches taller made one quite clumsy, was that he had nooooooo idea what he was doing. Did he skim over a tutorial or manual somewhere? How does one pull up the menu? Ah he should have read that instruction booklet that came with the system at least...

He looked around the area, seeing what he supposed were monster... the slime was a bit cute. He slowly moved his gaze over the surroundings through the trees and animals. Yes... A gentle and appreciative smile found its way to his lips... He had no idea what he was doing. He had joined the game in the hop he could go out to sea on a ship and hunt sea monsters, the main reason he chose Ahab for his character's last name, but it hadn't occurred to him that the place he would spawn would be in the woods. Actually upon some reflection he should have expected something like this.

He raised his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Pardon me, but uh, does anyone out there know how to play vr games?!" Seriously he had no clue how to even pull up a menu and his best hope was spotting a person to try and get some assistance. He didn't currently see anyone, though one thing that did catch his attention was that a few of the animals were staring in his direction now... Was it just his imagination or did that chicken over there look like it was threatening him?

 

"Jeeeeeeesus Christ, what are you screaming for?" the Admiral groaned as she turned her head to the side an looked over her shoulder. She had been napping beneath a tree, book held in hand, back propped up against its sturdy trunk as the daylight filtered down through green leaves and white clouds onto her face. She yawned and put the book away, but did not bother to stand up or otherwise move from her comfortable position which she leaned back against, effectively disappearing from sight on the other side of the large trunk. From behind it, she yawned once more and called out to the ah... noisy interruption to her otherwise peaceful afternoon.

"Raise your hand as if you're about to ring a bell on a counter at a hotel or restaurant, to get somebody's attention. Or... what's something more common these days? Uh... raise your hand like you're about to pat somebody on the shoulder or back. Palm facing away from you, fingers relaxed but straight. Then have the intention to look at the menu, and it will appear in front of your hand. Once you have that opened, select 'log out' so I can get some sleep without you screeeeeeeeaming into the woods."

 

... Did the tree just start barking at him and tell him to leaf? ...No, going out on a limb, despite this being a fantasy setting it was more likely that someone was on the other side of the tree than him finding a treant so quickly.

Still he tried as whoever it was told him to. "Funny you mention the bells in hotels though, we set those things out still but no one ever uses them unless it is a toddler some parent just lets free on my counter. Oh my stats... Wow... this seems fairly pitiful. What about equipment... I am limited to trash tier... Goodness these developers don't beat around the bush. Thanks..." he thought about the voice again for a moment, "miss, much appreciated... I have to ask even if I am afraid to know the answer. Considering that I have not played any sort of videogame in years and my current stats... or I suppose lack of said stats, what are the chances of me winning a fight again that slime over there or even this really pissed off chicken glaring at me. I'm not even gonna ask after the wolves over there."

He looked around and found a moderately tough looking tree branch to use as a weapon just in case before returning his attention to the slime first, aiming the pointier broken end of the stick at the honestly kinda cute creature and keeping a curious eye on it. "I seem to be a very, very long way off from fighting sea monsters if I am concerned over losing a fight to this cream puff huh?" he grumbled mostly to himself a bit embarrassed with the possibilities of this situation. He definitely looked the part of a brave man of the sea while regarding a slime and a chicken from a short distance as possibly equal opponents.

 

It's been half a minute since she entered colorful space, maybe loading screen equivalent of VRMMOs? Then some UI elements appeared, seems it's first time settings confirmation or some sort. At first she didn't want to use Corvella alias for her in-game name because she wants to stay away from attention. On a second thought, world is big that maybe she isn't as popular as she thinks she is. People who stalks her streams 24/7 won't be playing VRMMOs anyway so that's that. After she's through with the settings, the light formed a body which she can shape around with selection menus. There is also option to use your facescan as the avatar, which might be the fastest way to jump in the game. Made everything according to her real-life self, she finishes the character creation and her surroundings quickly materializes into a beautiful woodlands.

Vast, verdant green land with wild lives strolling around and sunlight passing through leaves moving with the wind. She can almost not see something like this anywhere else in real life, well at least from the place she lived. After taking some time to admire her surroundings, she begin to try to figure out how to begin. She tries to get used opening the palm menu (she looks like a monologuing evil mastermind while doing so). After understanding basic mechanics of the game through it, the creatures spread around are the next things she observe. Apparently you can see the healthbar and the name of the creatures, complete with the indication of their power relative to hers. There's slimes, wolves, and.... weird chickens?

Suddenly a shouting shook off the birds in the trees and broke the peaceful silence in the forest. The voice belongs to another player that seems as fresh as she is. Unable to identify what words went out from his mouth, Corvella decided to take a look closer and maybe say hi. Few meters forward and it was clear that someone was pissed by the the shouting the player made, so she decided to get closer and see what's up.

The sleepless talking tree (or someone behind the wood) apparently gave a useful advice to the player. It's okay, everyone need a place to start. Now if she can just talk to both of them, it would be great. She walked closer to the fresh-looking player with a small stick and gave a bad rhetorical question.

"Uh, are you a new player too?"

 

Ozwin turned around and saw a rather cute girl was suddenly behind him. What was meant to be a small joke to himself came out quietly under his breath, "And so he awoke in the forest of mysterious beauties, completely bewildered at how bad he was with this hunter skill to not notice any of them until spoken to..."

Following a quick laugh to himself he replied, "Oh just a bit new, as in I haven't played a video game in years before ten minutes ago, virtual or otherwise. How could you tell though? Was it the fact I am asking the tree with the voice of a woman how to handle slimes or irritable chickens with this stick I just picked up? Because if that is the case I am at least hoping there is a woman behind the tree rather than the tree being behind the voice... Still you are another new player as well? Rather nice to meet another face to face so soon. I was worried considering how limited the distribution of this game must be considering how much a secret people keep it."

 

A monster, if you could call it that, sprawled out onto the grass as it died from a powerful blow sent straight into it's forehead. A beginner area, very beginner. The agent sifted her gloves as she checked the dead wolf's body. It breathed like a real creature and when it died it was from a concussion caused by the force of her impact. It died quickly after losing consciousness. A game that gave perfect simulation of death, down to the very methods of how the body dies. Was this specific to just the wolf? No, other monsters and beasts have shown similar responses.

Beretta must have linked into this game a bit too soon with how this new event was announced to guide new players into the game. It was interesting how events and announcements in this game seemed to come in sets. This could not have been the first beginner event. According to her information, the village of Honeyhome was the destination of these new players. Why? Because it was where they would receive their first practice quests, equipment and so on. The fact that the game was able to continue to offer these events showed that it was indeed on a active server. One that was being ran somewhere by someone or ones. Beretta would find this event a good thing even if it meant more possible victims to whatever was really going on here. She could meet several people and find out how they acquired the game, why they are playing it and so on. It would be helpful to gain some good backup if the need came for it as well.

Beretta was getting pretty adapted to this avatar. Her moves were already fluid and her real life skills were translating quickly. She had concern on whether the game would purposely limit her to properly fit a beginner character, but it seemed that her natural skills were causing her to grow faster than normal...maybe. A good thing, although it would mean nothing if this was a trap. Any power given or controlled by the game could just as easily be taken away. The question was... did her rapid improvement mean it was primarily her skills or the games at work here? It was probably impossible to answer that without more data.

Well then, time to go mingle with some players for awhile.

 

Surprisingly she was greeted with a nice laugh. She'd imagined people would be as rude as the players in the FPS games she played. It's nice to meet some faces, especially in the environment she isn't adapted to yet. She chuckled before replying "Well, we're both pretty new at this VRMMO stuff then. This is my first time using this kind of device too."

She then turned her head into the talking tree's direction before continuing "About that, yes. And I am also certain someone was sleeping behind that tree, and I don't feel like disturbing her again." The small branch the man carried reminded her that she might want to collect some loot from creatures before going into the nearest town. With other people in the vicinity, she can be more confident taking on the creatures (even if it's just slimes). She feel like introducing herself first though, even if the other person can clearly see her name floating in his UI. He said he haven't played games in years, so he might not be familiar her screen name.

"Name's Corvella, nice to meet you."

 

Much less not knowing her name floating in his user interface, Ozwin still hadn't even figured out how to even turn on his investigation mode to even see her name now that he knew it. Still since this was one of those roleplaying games he heard people talk about he would give the roleplay thing a shot. "Well it is my pleasure to meet you Miss Corvella," he said with a bow practiced from those annoying dance classes he had to do when he was still in prep school.

"This rather pathetically armed reprobate is Ozwin Ahab, future hunter of the deeps despite my current hesitation over whether I can defeat this cute little slime or not... And the fact that that chicken over there that won't stop glaring at me is oddly intimidating... Goodness that sentence hurt my heart a bit to say out loud. Well nothing for it." He turned the pointy end of his stick towards the slime like it was a spear. "I'm going to try myself against these monsters."

He approached the slime and jabbed at it, but missed at it hopped to the side... he took a couple steps out of its range. "Alright, I suppose I should have expected it wouldn't just take the hit. But how about this!" He rushed forward and swung at the slime but missed again when the slime moved forward to be under his swing causing him to nearly stumble as he immediately backtracked. He did drop his stick though which landed on the slime's head and when he tried to recover the stick he fell forward adding more weight to the top of the slime through the stick and... killed it.

It took a minute for Ozwin to fully understand the chain of events and he simply stayed there on his hands and knees. "That... I'm going to need a minute. My self confidence just took a rather heavy blow." Was it his imagination or did the chicken just scoff at him?

 

So here he was at last the Maithe Woods after a literal hour of getting his character just right making it similar to his real appearance he had logged in finally. Emerald eyes much like his own had opened to see the world before him which sure was a sight considering what he was told about Sword Art Online being a beauty but he had ignored that fact when he looked upon the world of TerraSphere it could not compare in the least to the VRMMO from years ago though it was still his very first one so he himself could not compare to a game he had not played to his luck. As he looked over his hands and swiped his finger downward like the manual he had downloaded said to as he looked over his character in mirror he was given in his inventory that when accessed allowed him to look over his character in full in case he would need to change it. Of course the mirror was a one use item so when he finished looking to see if there was any changes that needed to be made the mirror fragmented into nothing as he was all set.

Rawlin looked over to see a few others talking who from the looks of things seemed to also be new to the game. Rawlin casually walked to them as he looked to see the creatures around them and stared at the angry chicken which seemed a little odd for virtual reality game and more of something he had seen in one of the popular handheld games he had played. In that game hurting a chicken would make a whole flock attack you so Rawlin seemed a little cautious around this one. Giving a short wave to say hello Rawlin spoke as he noticed the girl behind the tree then the others. "Hello there!" Rawlin said simply then introduced himself. "My name's Rawlin Sbatta, nice to meet you all." Rawlin looked over the other character designs by the other players noticing that they too did not start with any weapons or armor, a feature which seemed rectified by the user over there holding a stick.

"Any ideas where we should start? This technically my second VRMMO I was told about but my first time actually playing one." Rawlin said referencing Sword Art Online but not telling exactly what the game was to the others.
Rawlin looked over the the player holding the stick and asked him about it. "Did you just pick that up randomly? If that is the case do you think it is possible to make our own weapons? Like making a spear or something out the wooden branches and some rocks?" Rawlin said in curiosity then looked to the others.

 

Wow, that overly polite introduction which reminds her of British documentaries was actually very impressive, to her at least. She watches as Ozwin killed a slime in a peculiar yet laughable way, to which she then let out a small laugh.

Seconds later a man with a red wild hair walked casually towards them and said hi. It seems that Oz still needs time contemplating though, so she replied first to the man "Hi, I'm Corvella and he is Ozwin Ahab." The next question the man asked made her realize something, there is no level in Terrasphere. "Umm, yeah I guess. He just picked the branch and as you can see, it's not a good weapon. Makeshift spear or axes might be better." she told Rawlin as she pointed out the stick.

"Apparently the only thing we need is equipment and... technique?" she looked at Oz with it's-okay-you-did-great smile and suggested "So how about we hunt more of those thing and look in the town for more acceptable equipments? Training is essential and I don't think the loot is that bad." She went to pick some rocks and branches because face it, no one will be comfortable punching creatures to death.

 

How to connect to a VRMMORPG, Step 1: don’t initiate link start whilst a headache is going one. Step 2, look at step 1 again and repeat. “Aaaaargh!!!” the young man let out a long and woeful cry as he materialized out of thin air and seemingly hurled into the ground, skidding along the stinky mud that’s left behind by the recent rain. Materializing for the first time in Terrasphere was rough. He thought it would be exactly like Sword Art Online, except when it wasn’t. After eating a handful of the malleable earth, Kirito stood up and shook off the strange sensation and wiping the mud cake off his face.

“Aaah… American games really love to turn up the realism, huh? I swear the mud tastes just like real mud. Blegh!” he coughed out his sentence, one word at a time.

Looking down at the rest of his body, Kirito was amazed that he was able to make an avatar that looked… so… Kirito. The exact replica of his Sword Art Online avatar, and aside from now having access to the twin swords that he was so used to, everything felt the same. Taking some time to marvel the tranquil surroundings, he could feel a warm breeze caressed his pinkish cheeks as he turned his head from east to west and north to south, looking all around him to find some sort of path for people to avoid, because he was NOT a people person in any stretch of imagination. He bet that the game devs for Terrasphere wouldn’t have anticipated his desire to hide from other newbies in an area that was obviously made to keep them together.

“Let’s see, how about we head this way?” he said as he looked at the mini map on his palm.

"Oh?"

On his travel, Kirito saw a blond girl and a red-headed man interaction. To avoid looking creepy as much as possible, he crept closer, out of their sight a bit, hoping they wouldn't notice him slipping by with quiet footsteps.

@Corvella @Rawlin

 

Ozwin had none of the initial grace he demonstrated just a bit earlier. Without looking up from the ground where the poor slime died in such a sad fashion. "Mhmm I'm Ozwin, its a pleasure." When Corvella introduced him.

Ahhhh did this other person also see that spectacle? It didn't seem like they did but... what if they were just being polite? No he needed to compose himself if just a little bit. Counting his breaths, Ozwin slowly stood up, wiped the dirt from himself and did his best to look like he wasn't about to cry from embarrasment. "Yes well... better equipment and... technique is correct... I... just killed a monster so I guess one of you two has the rights to the next one. Perhaps it would be best if with watched each others backs just for a minute to get into the uhh...." he stared at the stick on the ground that he put on such a sad performance with. "Get into the swing of things."

He bent down and picked up his stick, "This is fairly sturdy if anyone wants to give it a try for now... Rather how do we use techniques and spells? Like I know I picked a magic mastery... Do we even have any yet? Are they in the menu here somewhere?"

 

"I'm sure we can open up a menu somewhere..." She swiped her hand in the air in a direction and a menu of spell list appeared. Wow, she certainly did her homework reading those painfully long palm menu text-tutorials. "Yeah I have one spell right here, as far as I know we can cast it from this menu. Might want to try to cast it manually later." Terrasphere is surely different from any other RPGs though, don't know if any other VRMMOs' like this. Pretty strange for a secret VRMMO to have a playerbase like this that she finds some other newbies easily, is Terrasphere even private anymore?. "Great idea though, I'm going to poke some of those slimes. You going with me, Rawlin?" She asked.

Corvella was about to take the stick from Ozwin's hand as she looked around for opponent more her size, when she noticed a silhouette walking slowly. Can't be too sure if it's a new player or a NPC by the distance, maybe a player that's as shy as her? Anyways, better let both Ozwin and Rawlin know about it without making any big fuss for the person or whatever it is in the distance. They might not want to be noticed or disturbed, so she doesn't consider waving and shouting to them.

"Uh, is that something moving right there?" She told them, pointing backwards with her thumb slowly.

 

As the two introduced themselves Rawlin took notice of Ozwin just killing that slime with a stick and then looking over to the chicken with an evil smirk as he picked up another stray branch on the ground as he tried to whack the chicken with it only for it to dodge to the side then try to attack back with its beak. Rawlin blocked with that stick as it split in two from the impact of the bird's beak. He backed off as the thing came fluttering to him with its weak wings attempting to fly to him. "Alright lets try this then!" he said as he held out his hand as his palm was facing toward the chicken. "Okay who ordered the fried chicken?" Rawlin joked as he began charging the fireball attack as it started to form in his hand. "Take this! My ultimate attack! Ultra Flare Fireball!" Rawlin said chuckling as he sounded like he was in some cartoon even though he was shooting a normal sized fireball at the chicken. The fireball missed the chicken completely as it veered off in the direction where the silhouette was heading toward them. "Oh no... Hey watch out whoever is there!" Rawlin shouted to the silhouette in worry. The chicken simply walked away as if ignoring Rawlin as the fireball veered off course. @Kirito