Roland grinned as he reached the registered meeting point for the quest of which he was going to partake. He had only heard a rumor about it at the last moment at a tavern in Stokbon. Apparently a mysterious benefactor had requested help tracking down a group of NPCs who had gone missing during an expedition to negotiate with some Grass Gnolls in Pormont. Luckily the wandering trader whom he had learned this from also knew where any interested adventures were to meet up prior to tackling the task. Thus after staying the night, Roland, headed to a small encampment located within the center of Pormont.
​

Having never been to Portmont before, Roland, was surprised to see the dramatic shift in the environmental pallet. Gone where the dull grays and manufactured walkways of Stokbon, replaced instead with the golden fields of wheat and, low grassy valleys that dominated the inner section of the newer area. Additionally, he had thought the landscape would be wide open judging by the description he had read, but the subtle dips and curves of the valleys could make hiding a small army possible with knowledge of the terrain. Which in turn made sense given that he had heard this area had constant struggles with the nomadic Grass Gnoll creatures.

While he travelled to the outpost he took the time to research the Grass Gnolls online using a trick he had learned to use the search function in the help library to access the internet. Most of the information he found was not specific to this game, but Gnolls were fairly common encounters in Sword Art, as well as other World Seed based games. They were described as nocturnal humanoid creatures with canine-like features, whose sizes varied from three to six feet tall depending on the breed and game. It seemed they were often nomadic, and pack based creatures, often appearing in groups of ten or more. Normally they had no magical affinity (With minor exceptions), and used both ranged and melee martial weapons, albeit not accurately. The real question that remained was the Grass part of their title, he hadn’t found any references to that, beyond the pun. As near as he could guess it could mean one of two things either, a. It was more used to describe the location in which they normally dwell, or more worrisome, b. It describes that they have some sort of elemental affinity tied to grass. He hoped that once he arrived at the outpost he could find some clarification to this.

Eventually he made it to the outpost, which turned out to be more of a small city encircled by two rows of wooden palisades. There was a minor checkpoint guarded by NPCs, but judging on their lack of questions Roland surmised they were here to guard against the wilderness more than any foreign threat. Swiftly he made his way past the line of tents, and merchants stalls that lined the inner portion of the city to the small cluster of wooden buildings directly in the heart of the outpost. There he saw that the largest of the buildings had, “Boar Meat Inn and Tavern” etched into the side. “That must be it.” Roland said to himself out loud as he inspected the cedar wood that the side of the building was made of. Before he walked in, he took a moment to bring up the contextual menus in front of him, pawing at the transparent buttons as he edited his load out. “It will be easier if I stick out as an adventure now.” He thought as he equipped his newly purchased longbow, causing it to materialize strapped to his back alongside a small quiver filled with arrows. Next he summoned his one handed sword which appeared on his right side buckled to his hip, before summoning the protective bag containing his mystery egg to strapped to his left side. He wasn’t sure if the egg would grow within his digitized inventory so he took it out when he could to give it some air. Lastly he flicked the button that materialized his leather harness which covered his torso and shoulders, he didn’t particularly like the fashion statement it made, but it was better than being unarmored. With that he headed inside…

​

@Merkaba @Britta Hagen @Dempsey Fabijain

 

Dempsey reached the moderate sized outpost about an hour after dawn, clad in armor, and with her katar secured in a sheath buckled to the small of her back. The quest she'd accepted late last night had all but spelled out in bold letters every color of the rainbow that they'd be up against Gnolls this time. she'd fought a few humanoids before, and an actual human that one time, but from all the talk she'd heard, gnolls were not to be taken lightly. She was jittery with excitement. her eyes were bright, and her ears twitched this way and that as she progressed through the main street of the settlement. She didn't recognize any of the names in her group list except for the last person on this server she cared to group with. Merkaba wasn't a bad party member, all things considered, but in technical terms, Merkaba "Freaked her the fuck out"

Britta and Roland were unknown to her, but she'd seen their names pop up once or twice in the tutorial area. They would be relatively new, but at least they bothered doing the tutorial, unlike a lot of the newer players she'd quested with in the past few days. For lack of better entertainment, she decided to sit at the gate and join in on a game of dice the npc guards were playing. This way she had something to do besides stand there and look conspicuous as she kept an eye on who was coming and going, and the gold that she would win or lose was inconsequential.

About fourty minutes of gambling and pretending to be interested in the mundane dialogue offered by the guards in an attempt to be friendly and charming, she still hadn't seen any of her group enter or leave the settlement. She was beginning to get annoyed when she noticed Roland, or more specifically his user name in an announcement letting her know a party member was entering the zone. She stood, squared a small debt with one of the guards who'd beaten her on a lucky roll two rounds prior, dusted her backside off, and shook a bit of debris from her tail.

'Time to meet the gang' she mumbled.

 

Gnolls, Grass Gnolls, and the idiot's who tried to reason with such beasts. Elizabeth looked over the quest and laughed to herself. Why did the masses think that negotiation solved anything? That option only worked for the strong. It was nature for the weak to be crushed underfoot. In the land of Pormont, the strong were the Grass Gnolls and the weak were the humans. Why then would the Gnolls ever stop attacking until the human pest was enslaved or destroyed? Merkaba selected the quest once it showed up in her menu after reading it in Stokbon. Merkaba was seeking to further her power so the slaying or otherwise subjugation of these creatures would prove helpful in that end. She doubted they would bow to her. The beasts would not know better. Merkaba would have to be known for her power and mercilessness first. She would only grant salvation to those who converted to her teachings.

Arriving in Pormont and seeing the green fields before her. Merkaba made a bored face. How drab, this place always disappointed. She would have to turn the entire land into a barren wasteland at some point. It did have enough space for a few nice dark encampments though... Merkaba traveled quickly with little interruption. She was becoming strong enough to keep weak everyday monsters at bay with her mere presence. Their gray names off in the distance. If she had certain goals, she would hunt them down and take their souls, but no, she had other objectives right now. There was a outpost around here. A place to get more information on just where the wretched creatures kept themselves. Their must be a specific direction or general areas where the Grass Gnolls are more likely. That was what Merkaba would find out.

The actual outpost was surprisingly stable for such a dangerous area. If the Grass Gnolls were so strong, why did they not tear this center of humanity down? Maybe they were not all that mighty after all. Regardless of the truth of this matter. Merkaba's dark visage interrogated the villagers. Where was the Gnolls, how and when did they attack? Did they have any obvious leaders? Elizabeth could have not cared less about the vanished negotiators, she just needed to know what she needed to slay the Grass Gnolls. She needed to test her powers on these creatures. Eventually she was led to a tavern within the outpost. According to what she had heard, the barkeep was a ex warrior who faced Grass Grnolls before and knew the negotiation team. She could not stand all this silly interaction but until she had a good information network in this world, this was the way it was.

@Roland Rutledge @Britta Hagen @Dempsey Fabijain

 

Another quest, another day. Britta had signed herself up for another quest while reading through the available list in Stokbon, and this one mentioned a mission on tracking down a group of missing NPCs who had gone for an expedition during negotiations with the nomadic Grass Gnolls. Now, she wasn’t an expert on Gnolls by any means, but she had briefly heard about them before, and they were known to be brutish canine like creatures and were exactly like the type that you thought could be expected to be negotiated with. She didn’t even know if these creatures even knew what that mean. They’d probably seen these group of humans approaching and thought that they were either a threat to be defeated or walking food heading their way? She really didn’t know. Leaving the city of Stokbon with its highly manufactured roads among its industrial and commercial buildings, she began to head into the outdoors, heading to the region of Pormont.

The lush green rolling valleys of Pormont were as vast as they were beautiful, and there were truly a refreshing change from the scenery of the city. A breeze flowed gently at her hair, lifting several locks in the direction it was heading, the cool air reinvigorating her. The sun would be beginning to rise soon, and the heat from the morning would soon follow. Clad in the rather cruddy metal breastplate along with an equally shoddy looking spear that she had follow abandoned in a side alley in Stokbon, these were the only equipment Britta had, and she had to make do with them.It was not like she was in any position to be picky anyway, not with the limited resources she had. While she was on the way there, she glanced through the party list and glanced through the list of names, none of which she personally knew. Although the name Roland did sound familiar.

Perhaps, she’d seen him around the tutorial and beginner level areas before somewhere. The name did certainly sound more familiar than the other two. Soon enough, she came up to the outpost where the group was supposed to meet, two rings of wooden palisades encircling a small city ot village. Britta was as excited as always, although she didn’t tend to show that on the surface.

She wasn’t exactly the type to be especially expressive, and all her emotions do happen rather organically. Moving through the city, the people living in the outpost didn’t seem to be tense or hostile, and the mood was pretty calm, definitely more than she had originally anticipated and expected. Pulling up her map on one of the menus, she saw the marker pointing towards one of the biggest buildings in the outpost. The Boar Meat Inn and Tavern. Pushing the door of the inn open, Britta stepped into the building.

@Roland Rutledge @Dempsey Fabijain @Merkaba

 

Roland stood near the entrance of the tavern biding his time as he checked the settings on his interface. When he had first started the game he had turned most of the options off, opting for a more realistic experience. Given the strong possibility for combat he wanted to know what exactly had been disabled in case the need arises. Most of it was simple features such as a health and stamina gauge, which considering the neural feedback of VR headset were highly unneeded. Additionally, character, group, and enemy displays were turned off, as were most combat assistance engines. With a grimace he turned the combat assist program back on, remembering how awkward it was to wield his sword without it. “And now I have a bow to use too,” He thought silently to himself, “I will need to set some time aside to practice with it.” He began closing out of the various interface windows, just in time to see a short white haired girl streak past him. “That must be one of them.” He muttered as he tried to affix a charming smile, and turned to walk through the tavern’s threshold.

Walking from the bright outside to the dim interior of the Boar Meats Inn was disoriented as Roland quickly found himself sun blinded. As his vision slowly returned he saw the inn was a prototypical standard for low fantasy games, with several wooden tables dotting the large great room which laid dead center in line with the door. To the left there was a long counter which had a long series of barrels presumably holding a variety of meads, and other beverages. Towards the back of the building the counter gave way to a bar set up where he could see what he guessed was the owner of the establishment, a burly man missing a good chunk of his right ear, was dutifully cleaning a set of wooden drinking mugs organized neatly in front of him. Behind the owner was an open door leading to a kitchen from which a wonderful smelling meat stew was simmering filling the great room with the odor of beef.

To the far right there was a set of stairs that led upwards to an area Roland couldn’t see but assumed led to a set of rooms given the fact that the establishment advertised itself as an inn. Roland had planned to introduce himself to the girl whom he presumed to be a mage of some sort, but realized by a growl of his stomach his in game character was starving, and the smell of the stew was simply too much to pass up on. Instead he headed to one of the many open tables in the middle of the room, the girl seemed intent on speaking with the owner anyway, there was no reason he couldn’t eat first. He sat down facing the door while waving the single serving girl, who had been standing idle in the corner up until this point, towards him. “What will it be?” she said in a rougher voice than he expected from the petite woman who couldn’t be over twenty, “How much for food and drink for the afternoon?” Roland replied in a gentle tone that didn’t quite make it to his eyes. The waitress placed one palm on her hip, and retorted, “Two gold pieces for the day” while she stretched out an open palm toward him with a snort. While It wasn’t what he asked for, he didn’t bother to negotiate, eager to end the conversation with the cantankerous young woman. “Sounds reasonable.” He said with an affable smile, as he palmed two gold coins from his pocket, placing them in her now outstretched hand. The woman took the gold and sauntered off to the back room to Roland’s visible relief.

Barley a moment passed after the server had left before a new comer came in through the door. Seated across form the entrance Roland easily spot Britta as she entered into the threshold. He couldn’t quite be sure but he thought he recognized her from the starting areas, though she hadn’t been on any of his quests thus far. He assumed, much like the mage girl, that she was a player character here for the quest and waived her down as she walked forward, “Good day!” He called out in a cheery tone trying to match the theme of the inn.

@Dempsey Fabijain @Britta Hagen @Merkaba

 

Merkaba entered the tavern to see it full of patrons. Again it made Elizabeth wonder just how dangerous these Grass Gnolls were if people could just sit around and eat in the center of Gnoll country. Not stressing on the issue more than she needed to. She noticed upon moving a bit further in that a man was approaching her. He seemed to want to speak, hopefully not some idiot thinking her a easy pick up or something ridiculous. Much to Elizabeth's delight he would suddenly turn and head to a table. Seemed his gluttony was in control rather than his privates. Good. She hated these kinds of places. A den of bums and scavengers.

Moving right along she made her way to the bar. The owner was a large older man. He certainly looked like a ex warrior. Hopefully this will be the lead that she needed to get this quest going and begin her self made test of subduing the Grass Gnolls. Merkaba would not sit on a stool but rather stand and not even glance at the idiot drunkards around her. Her eyes watching the owner work. His ear caught her attention. A remaining scar from a encounter with the Gnolls probably. Seeing the owner notice her staring, she spoke.

"Care to share how you received that wound? I'm here for the Grass Gnolls."

Her words were blunt and to the point. Merkaba did not care for pleasantries if she could avoid it. The owner smirked and shook his head as he eyed her. Sizing her up for a moment before his reply.

"I think you are over your head woman. You look like you know how to kill but it takes more than a few spells to finish off a group of Grass Gnolls in your face."

He answered gruffly. A few snickers were heard from nearby but the dark lady ignored them. They were irrelevant to Merkaba.

"That is my concern not yours. Tell me what you know. I came here because you are the source of information on this subject Or perchance you do not care if this wonderful hovel is brought to ruin by their raids? I can fix this for you."

The man smiled even more, and shrugged. Maybe he would tell her. It was not going to be skin off his nose if she got mauled. Although he was not going to just send a traveler to their death. Looking at the table with a man and a woman who looked like better fighters in his opinion. He gestured to them and spoke.

"See those two? Go get them and tell them to accompany you. They at least look like they can use a sword. I'm not sending some lolita to her death alone, sorry lady."

Merkaba was becoming annoyed but was not against help. More bodies to have as targets would make her task easier, but she has had a lot of bad experiences with teaming up with others. Merkaba was better alone. This would be the only way to get the information other than causing destruction here so... sigh, very well.

Turning and heading to the man's table she stood over him. She noticed it was the man who tried to speak with her upon her arrival. The dark gods may be guiding her here. Not really paying attention to the other woman, Merkaba spoke to the obviously hungry man.

"Do you seek to slay the Grass Knolls? The owner has information and will not share it with only me."

@Roland Rutledge @Britta Hagen @Dempsey Fabijain

 

Walking into the tavern, Britta was greeted with the familiar sight of warmth, chatter and laughter. It was basically what anyone would expect of a fantasy tavern and was no where out of the ordinary. The establishment was pretty packed of people, npcs or other players she couldn’t exactly tell at first glance, but she wouldn’t be surprised if there were a healthy mix of both. This seemed like a good place to rest and relax it or simply have a chat with friends. Scanning the room, she eventually noticed a big burly man behind a counter, and presumed that he must be the innkeeper, and most probably the owner of the Boar Meats Inn. If push came to shove, she was sure that he could pick up a butcher’s knife or something and fight to defend the inn. He certainly had the brawn to do so.

She wouldn’t have been surprised if he was a former warrior. The mouthwatering aroma that wafted out from the kitchen was incredibly tantalising and grumbling stomach indicated how hungry the smell of beef made her character so. It was then that she noticed Roland waving towards her, and a slight smile tugged at the edges of her lips. Stepping up to the counter, Britta took an empty seat beside him, returning his greeting of good day with one of her own.

“Good day Roland. It’s nice to see you again.” Although they haven’t officially met, Britta had seen him a couple of times in one of the earlier starting areas. She kept silent he spoke, asking a serving girl the cost for a meal, before handing out the required gold pieces. As hungry was she felt, she was still internally debating if she should follow suit. Noticing a much younger white-haired girl who had been speaking to the bear-like innkeeper, Britta watched with vested interest.

She thought she heard something about the Grass Gnolls, the mission she was here to participate in. The bigger man then dismissed her which made her turn her gaze towards the both of them, as she began to approach them and began speaking to Roland, confirming her intent on taking out the Grass Gnolls. Simply doing nothing but listening, she awaited Roland’s response.

@Roland Rutledge @Merkaba @Dempsey Fabijain

 

Dempsey headed towards the inn, as she'd noticed it to be the only real destination for outsiders with business in the small outpost. She took a final look behind her to the rolling plains outside the gates, then headed down the stretch of hard packed dirt that served as the small settlements main road. As urgent as her summons had been, the people who called this outpost home seemed to be fairly relaxed, perhaps putting too much stock in the safety provided by it's walls.

As she stepped into the inn, she was greeted by the sight of Merkaba engaged in conversation with the apparent owner of the establishment, and the other two adventurers she'd tracked o this location speaking to one another as well. She correctly assumed that the three of them were also here concerning the bounty recently placed on a nearby group of gnolls. She could see no other reason any sane person would want to come to this place, unless there were another quest available she simply hadn't heard about.

She stood close to the doorway and observed the crowd with disinterest as she waited for an opportune moment to interject. Several moments later, she walked up to proprietor of the establishment and ordering a drink, as well announcing that she too was here to help them deal with the gnoll 'situation'. She turned to face Merkaba and introduced herself simply;

"I'm Dempsey. I'm here about the gnolls. Have you met the other two yet? Is that what those two are here for too?" She listened for a response as she turned to pay for her drink and down a good portion of a plain wooden mugs contents. "I guess we should go meet the rest of the team, Hmm?" and departed in the direction of Britta and Rotland with a loud "Hey!" and a wide wave of her free hand.

@Roland Rutledge @Merkaba @Britta Hagen

 

Roland smiled affably at Britta as she joined him quickly exchanging pleasantries before ordering. Only a few moments passed before the white haired mage strode back towards the entrance of the tavern stopping at Roland’s table and asking his intentions for being here as well as asking for help interrogating the inn keeper. Unlike before she was now accompanied by another equally white haired Felis character, who seemed short with words. Roland smiled broadly at the two in a welcoming gesture, “Ah, yes I am. My name is Roland, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintances, this is Britta, I believe she will be joining us on our little excursion into the plains, right “? He let the last part of his statement hang in the air as he stood up eyeing the inn keep again per Merkaba’s request. “I had intentions of discovering further intel while we were in town as well, if you believe he knows something that’s good enough for me.”

Casually, he walked across the room pulling at his chin whilst lost in thought, “I didn’t see that Felis arrive, are those two working together?” It of course was possible in this game to set up ambushes, and as far as he knew quests could be posted by player characters. The gears in his mind turned as he thought back to the quest itself, it had been posted by an unknown patron, which in itself was odd, but more so when one looked at the objectives. It stated an excursion they were looking for was going to speak with the gnolls, but did that make any sense? What if this entire thing was a trap?

His thoughts were stopped short as he arrived at the bar. He affixed a friendly enough smile on his face as he fished for a gold piece in his pockets, “Ho’ there inn keep, it’s my understanding you know something about the gnolls.” As Roland spoke he put a gold coin on the table. The burly innkeeper swiped the coin while his eyes rolled from Roland to Merkaba and back again, Roland met the gaze with a confident smile.

“Fine.” The man said eventually, “But if the lot of you gets hurt, or worse, it’s not my fault. What is it you want to know?”

Roland’s smile flickered as he replied, “Any idea why someone would send an envoy to the Gnolls to discuss peace?”

The man’s left eyebrow slid up as he shot Roland an incredulous look, “What”? The startled reaction didn’t seem to faze Roland, however, as he merely repeated his question,

“Do you have any idea what someone would send a group of people to discuss peace with the Gnolls?”

The man shook his head in mere confusion, “The hell are you talking about boy? There’s no talking to sense to Gnolls they will attack you as soon as they smell you.”

“Just as I thought.”

Roland smacked the side of his head with an over exaggerated laugh, “Hah, oh wait, I may have mixed up my quests then. My deepest apologies. Tell you what my teammates have a few more questions, I’m sure…. Care to answer them for me?” As he finished the question he pushed another two gold forward to the disfigured man whose face now squinted in annoyance.

Roland would wait to give his teammates time to ask whatever questions they wanted as he crossed his arms in front of him and leaned back on the counter lazily gazing at the two white haired girls with a fake smile that pulled his lips tightly together. His hunger, and meal forgotten he couldn't help but think, “Well let’s see where this goes….”

 

The man responded favorably enough. The woman with him seemed to be paired with him so Merkaba's task here was almost done. His name was Roland and hers was Britta. They did not look like total fools, but looks weren't everything. Roland looked familiar actually. Elizabeth was unsure if she had seen him before. Perhaps in mere passing. She did not care to remember every little person she came across. The woman however was certainly a new face. Then another voice broke in from nowhere. It had a tone that Merkaba recognized. The Felis, Dempsey. Merkaba was encountering her quite often lately. Not a pleasant thing. More surprisingly is how suddenly she appeared in here. It seemed that Roland did not even notice her come in. Neither had Elizabeth.

"You again. You certainly get around."

Merkaba said as she watched Roland head to the counter and make efforts to bribe the barkeep. They talked a little. It looked like Roland was curious about the quest giver for this mission. Merkaba was impressed. He was sharp enough to realize that no one with any authority would think they could talk to savage creatures like Gnolls. It was almost like the negotiation team was purposely sent to their death. The dark witch did not care enough about the poor victims to look into it more. She simply wanted to use her power against the Grass Gnolls. It would be interesting if she gained information to blackmail a lord of Stokbon.

After a few questions, Roland pulled back and let the others ask their questions. Merkaba had nothing more to say but felt the need to speak again once more to keep her personal goal on track here. She did not want to go on some detour to find out the mystery or the evil quest master or some such nonsense. Maybe after the reaping, but not before. Folding her own arms and tapping her dark fingernail with a purposely made sign of annoyance. She said quickly.

"I am here to reap the Gnolls for my own purposes. If there is nothing more to learn I will find them myself. Anything else is irrelevant."

@Dempsey Fabijain @Britta Hagen @Roland Rutledge

 

Britta gave a smile to the two white-haired women as Roland introduced them to the newcomers. “That’s right, I’ll be coming along for the little excursion into the plains to deal with the gnolls!” Gathering information seemed to be the course of action as Roland sprung to the task, watching around the inn as he pondered thoughts to himself. He was quite the interesting character, Britta thought to herself as she observed his actions. As he moved over to speak to the innkeeper, she got off her seat, making an effort to get close enough to him so that she could hear what questions Roland had in mind. She watched as he placed a coin onto the counter which was quickly snapped by the burly man.

He certainly seem to know how things worked around here. She wondered what he did for a living in the real life. She wouldn’t be surprised if he worked in the sales industry or the like. The question he asked was no different than the first few thought that had crossed her mind when she took up the quests. Who in the world would sent a group of people to negotiate with these brutish creatures.

Did they even know what they were sending them to, or was this a deliberate act to send them to their deaths? The answer from the innkeep confirmed that it was likely more of the latter. She watched as she saw Roland slid him two more coins shifting the focus to the rest of them and he tried to make his exit from the conversation, now that he had the answer he needed. Since the innkeep was already paid for, she felt that it was best that she’d not let it go to waste by not asking any question. “Gnoll territory. Do you know where they’re at? Where they’re usually seen and stuff.” Britta was hoping that she could starting getting some headway into this while Roland is working on the rest of the other stuff.

@Roland Rutledge @Merkaba @Dempsey Fabijain

 

Dempsey let the others worry about gathering information, and simply stood biding her time. She wasn't here to play detective, unless this were some alternate reality where all detectives did was kill gnolls. She assumed they wouldn't be terribly hard to find once they got out onto the plains; they'd just stumble across them somehow, or someone else in the goup would turn up some kind of useful information. Things always had a way of working themselves out when it came to quests and the like.

She instead buised herself by looking over the group, even though she's already examined them as closely as needs be. she knew little about any of them, and it was fun to make up her own back stories for them. She imagined Roland being played by someone older, and possibly an aspiring writer. Merkaba was likely a moody teenage girl, and she pictured Britta as an early 30's office employee.

She shrugged and paced the bar aimlessly, waiting for her companions to finish with the boring stuff so they could get going and earn some cash. She hadn't made much money lately, and was eager to get going on a hopefully profitable adventure.

 

((OOC: Sorry guys I didn’t realize I was up on this))

Roland faked a yawn as he purposefully tried to look as nonchalant as he could, leaning himself against the bar as he did so. The white haired mage seemed to have very little to ask the barkeep after Roland’s question, and the white haired Feris had seemingly no interest in the first place, though he thought he caught her giving them sidelong glances as she strutted around the bar. “I get the feeling those two trust me, about as much as I trust them. That’s as good sign as any in this situation,” he thought to himself as he turned his attention to Britta as she talked with the tavern master. As far he could tell, she seemed more relaxed than he was, asking the man for directions.

In response the man grunted as he pulled out a worn map, pushing out its tattered edges across the bar. Upon closer inspection it seemed to be a rudimentary drawing of the greater portion of Pormont that matched the in-game’s map interface. Reluctantly Roland, waved his hand a few times and brought up his map overlaying it with the barkeepers. The pudgy man smashed his finger into the fabric north east of the encampment they were currently staying in and said, “That, there, is the last place I heard the group of Gnolls nearby were staying at, I’ve been telling caravans to stay away, but they move around a good bit”.

Roland scratched his head as he added a marker to his personal map and closing its screen, “As far as I can tell that’s a good two-day walk from here.” The thought of the journey left his stomach growling as he remembered his abandoned meal. He opened his mouth to suggest they wait a night but reconsidered when he looked at the white haired girls’ bored expressions. Instead he regretfully said, “All right, if we all agree, lets head out and kill some Gnolls,” and waved his hand a few times before him sending out a party invitation to the group.

Invite

Roland Rutledge has invited you to their party. Accept?

@Merkaba @Dempsey Fabijain @Britta Hagen

 

Merkaba was growing tired of this. These people were just standing around accomplishing nothing. After what seemed much longer than it actually was. Dempsey would be the one to finally get the barkeep to point out the only information Merkaba wanted from this right now. The location of the Grass Gnolls. About time wretched man. Roland would say that it was about a day or two's journey to the Gnolls' current location. Not to mention that they may have moved to elsewhere. That was a chance they were going to have to take unfortunately. The man opened his hand and using one of those ridiculous panes. He would request the others to join his party. Or... whose ever party this was. Sigh, how very game like.

Invite

Roland Rutledge has invited you to their party. Accept?

Merkaba had tried in the past to not push anything. To just close the silly thing. She did not have any inclination of joining in on the falsehoods that this dimension was a mere game created by men in suites. Her research was proving otherwise more and more each day. Unfortunately the wretched thing would not disappear unless she pushed something so she hastily pressed the green circle and turned away as the page vanished. Her desire to kill Gnolls now somewhat higher from the lack of control over her situation she had just now. The location was now marked on all of there maps, or at least on those who were smart enough to mark them. So, Merkaba no longer had to be remotely friendly with these people. The witch had what she wanted.

"I have what I came here for."

Merkaba would leave the tavern without caring if the others followed or not.

@Roland Rutledge @Britta Hagen @Dempsey Fabijain

 

In response to her question, the innkeeper took out a worn map before unrolling it and pushing its edges across the surface of the counter, revealing its contents to everyone beside it. Britta hadn’t been expecting a physical cloth map. What she did expect was him to say that he’ll mark it on their maps and wave a gesture or something, and they’ll all open up their map interface to find a marker there waiting for them to follow it there. Magic, like many of the things here.

However, she was pleasantly surprised and loved all immersive Terrasphere was. Gazing over the sight of the fabric map rolled out in front of her, her eyes travelled from one end to the other before they refocused when the pudgy finger of the man pointed out the location of the last sighting of the gnolls. Fantastic. Now that they had a location, they could begin to make a move.

Opening up her own map interface, she added a marker as well, just so that she’ll be doubly sure that they’ll be heading in the right direction when they leave the confines of the encampment. Roland suggested that it might be a good two-days walk from here, and Britta watched as he was about to open his mouth to say something, but his gaze travelled to the two others who were seemingly bored and she understood what would soon came next. It was indeed time to set out to kill some gnolls. A ping alerted her to a party invite that Roland had tossed her way and Britta gladly opened up her interface and tapped the green circle button.

@Roland Rutledge @Dempsey Fabijain @Merkaba