Complete - (Story Event) Against the Wind

While she wasn't a member of anything important besides the freshest batch of adventurers to join from the other world, she was naturally intrigued by the mayhem coming into play so quickly after she'd started the game. The Princess, having explained quite clearly what the matter at hand was about, caught the girl's attention less than the cavalry. Such strong looking fellows had followed the girl. Oh, how she longed to have such a following!

Of course, with a mind intrigued the most by chaos, the feline mage had to step in and question things. A devil's advocate or just a devil, she would accept either role so long as she got to toy with her temptations. Despite being more interested in cavalry, she wandered to the invading princess.

"If I may ask, Princess...I am new to this land, so I know not of this war that seems wanting to be waged, but why would you go against your father's whims to warn us? It's a bit too curious you came just in time for when our sire isn't here. As a lover of illusions, I must make certain you are not one yourself. Why do you assist us, instead? Does this not put you into harm's way now, yourself?"


@Asch

 

Lucia could only sigh heavily, in truth, she couldn't say she was the best politician, she was however a good schemer and plotter if nothing else. When it came to 'the game' she understood pretty well even if she couldn't quite pull out all the stops for things like appearances and noblesse oblige. Being a character in the dark suited her much better. "We've made a lot of friends among the nobility and other movers and shakers of the kingdom. Even if the king is mad the other forces may not necessarily follow him with all their spirit. Most players have accomplished some mission to earn the trust of the higher ups of the kingdom, now would be the time to call in those favors." Lucia mused, with a glance, she turned her gaze on her hooded and cloaked attendant. Few would probably recognize Sylvanas at this point, but Lucia didn't say much, after meeting eyes with the person under the hood, they proceeded to make their way through the crowd that may be forming. Intending on sending messages and letters using her undead, Lucia felt it was effective since they never tired and could make for their allies quickly.

Though once that was set, she could only run her fingers through her hair feeling a measure of concern, not so much for the princess's trustworthiness but their preparedness as a whole. "There isn't much of a reason to lie to us about something like this. What would there be to gain from preparing us? Whatever is sent here even if unexpected we would be more prepared then before at the least, magic on the scale of a WMD would be impossible without leaving some kind of obvious hint. If the trick or goal was to kill us, the easiest way would be to direct us elsewhere or encourage us to support the ambushed Astor-- An illusion to make a fight more difficult isn't likely." She tried to reassure the person who seemed instantly suspicious of royal help.

 

Mint didn't really know what was going on. Falderen? King? Invasion? Astor? He'd just finished traversing through Brisshal and visiting Stokbon when he had reached the fledgling kingdom. It had held his interest and presence for a few days but, before he knew it, some sort of warrior princess had taken the stage and delivered a foreboding speech. As much as Mint loved a good, old-fashioned brawl, he'd rather spend his days lazing about in the taverns and singing some songs and rhymes before participating in militaristic enlistment.

He looked around at the crowd, hoping to find the familiar face of John in the crowd but, unfortunately, his attempts failed. With a sigh, he went with the next best thing and reached out to the dark-haired girl a distance away from him. Although she seemed to be interested in the princess' speech, she wasn't as enraptured as were most of the other audience members and he felt that a conversation would be more welcome with her than with the others.

"'Scuse me?" he brushed his fingers over her shoulder, his face twisted in a quizzical expression. "You got any idea on what's going on?"

@Lucia Mierz

 

Upon arrival Mizuki noted that it was already quite crowded, so she had to squeeze and squirm her way through the crowd while trying to cause as little trouble as possible before she made her way to the front, in time to listen to the armoured lady (she really did look like a lady) making a speech. The contents of the speech, however, had Mizuki stunned in surprise. The daughter of the king of Falderen? A fake rescue in response to an attempt at peace between Astorea and Falderen? It was a lot to take in at once, and the wolf Felis did her best to process it all quickly so she wouldn't remain flatfooted by the surge of information. Suddenly being so focused on her own experiences in the world no longer sounded so smart... But this was still part of the game, right? Or had the developers of Terrasphere included the ability for the world to develop on its own?

Mizuki hesitated, took a step forward, then stepped back again, wanting to speak up but at the same time feeling a dreadful anxiety. There were a lot of people here, and if she stepped up to speak to the princess and the others that had already pushed forward their opinions that would mean they'd all be looking at her as well. And she wasn't here in any official capacity, she was just a newbie adventurer who had happened to catch the mass notice to assemble here. The idea of possibly sounding or looking stupid was making it very difficult for her to move, but finally she gritted her teeth and walked forward, finding the idea of being too scared to act even more horrible than the idea of making a fool of herself. Once she was at the front as well she bowed towards the princess before speaking, although she looked a bit to the side in the process, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Excuse me, but... Do you have any more information on how exactly he is planning to raid this nation? It would be too much to ask for the exact details, but even if he believes that most of the protectors of Astorea are gone mounting large enough an army to raid an entire nation would require a way of sustaining that army. Soldiers don't produce food, and even if you say that he has gone mad he still must be anticipating us trying to keep as much of the produce of the land in safe spaces where he can't easily get to it." She hesitated, before continuing slowly. "At least, that's the first thing we should do I think... Try to pull everything as far out of reach as possible, so he can't rely on foraging and pillaging alone. Any large army would require a supply chain, which could then be exploited I think..." Mizuki wasn't a master strategist or military veteran, she was just trying to think of possible measures and possibilities as quickly as she could. "Unless you believe he'll head straight to this capital and try to burn it to the ground to declare the nation conquered."
@Asch

 

Savannah had spent her time offline researching. Mostly that researched was centered around the game she was now totally immersed in and, unsurprisingly, she didn’t have much to show for her 6+ hours scouring YouTube and Wikipedia. There was nothing on the books about this game, which, in retrospect, wouldn’t have surprised her if she had remembered just how she had come upon the game in the first place.

Nevertheless, the small Faerin character was completed blown away by the amount of people crammed into the Great Hall. Her awed expression with the slightly open mouth and raised eyebrows quickly devolved into one of utter confusion. She didn’t understand anything that this…Princess was talking about. Was the land currently at war? Granted, she had only been in the newbie starting area, but there weren’t any buildings on fire or NPCs talking about wartime things. She hadn’t seen a single wounded – or unwounded – soldier in her random romps around the city either.

Licking her lips, she tilted upwards on her tiptoes, hoping that would improve her visual range at lease enough so that she could see if she knew anyone in the crowd. When it did exactly squat to help her, she frowned and crossed her arms over her chest before slipping between hips and legs, sometimes ducking between them if the stance of the person was wide enough.

She finally came to rest nearest a blonde hair male and a beautiful black hair female. Catching the tail end of the male’s question, she gave a small friendly smile and slid a little closer.

“Ah, do you mind if I listen in as well? I haven’t a clue what she’s talking about, but it sounds dangerous and I’d rather not…re-roll so soon into playing.”
@Mint Chip @Lucia Mierz ​

 

"It was time to work" he mused, Walking through the main hall, his presence commanded respect as the many players and NPC's moved out of his way, he sighed slightly seeing some rookie players speak to the princess as If they had any real purpose to speak with her other than they wanted to speak to a princess. "You two stand aside, this is no place for you two at the moment, you may speak to her afterwards." He spoke true and serious, he was in no mood to play with some new players at the moment, Astorea was at stake and he was sure as hell he wasn't going to let it burn, not If he any anything to do with it. With those two brats out of the way, he approached the young princess and bowed his head in respect for her, she may be a foreigner in these lands but she was still a princess which in returned demanded respect. Raising his head, he cleared his throat before he spoke serious as he displaying his iconic cold demeanor he was known for.​

"I apologize for my rudeness you just saw, I am Seto Kurama, The Black Duke of Southern Astorea and currently the most powerful man in this country when King Astor the first is not present. It is.....unfortunate we have to meet under these circumstances Princess D'vanngelline De Falder. I speak for all Astorea when I say thank you for delivering this information to us. I know this may be difficult but I need you to tell me everything on what has transpired, start from the beginning and work your way up, how did your....father become currupted or insane? What caused him to declaire this attack upon our King Astor and Astorea? How large will be this invasion be? What are his objectives? To capture Dormont and her castle? Or All Astorea? I apologize in advance for asking you so many questions princess, I know this might be difficult for you, perhaps me and the King can launch a counter attack to remove your father from power If.....he's deemed lost by you. Even though I look after our own people first, If we can, I'll do whatever I can to aid you in your struggle against your father If such a situation occurs. being warrior myself, I would gladly join your troop and fight where the fighting is thickist to make sure my King survived but being the Lord of these lands while he is away, I must head it's defenses and lead our forces If needed. I cannot offer any troops to aid in the battle most likely due to Astorea's situation in the last few months but we thank you princess. If you wish, you and your valiant knights may stay here as long as you need to before you depart on your noble mission, you cannot fight a battle exhausted."

@Asch
​

 

Mint turned to face the blue-skinned faerin with a slightly worried look. The girl was tiny, nearly two feet smaller than him at the very least, and she had a youthful air to her. Despite this all being a game, there was a tinge of worry that fluttered around Mint's stomach. Terrasphere, by what he had experienced so far, was frighteningly realistic and he wasn't even sure if kids this small were even allowed to play (the though that a person's avatar was fully customizable down to size and age didn't even occur to him).

"Hey, brat, why don't you stay away for a while, huh? Let us sort it out, got it?" he said, trying to seem the least bit intimidating. If this kid decided to play an illegal game regardless of its consequences, he was certain that a typical warning wouldn't do. It was frightening to consider the possible traumatizing repercussions a full-on war would have on the girl. It would be better for her to go and fight monsters and kill hogs rather than fight to the death with NPCs that looked and acted just like regular people.

Without a second thought, he reached out to grab the girl's hand to make sure she could flee, then he turned up to where the princess stood, raising his voice. "Got any place to keep the kids and stuff safe? If that King of yours wants to slaughter us all like livestock and we don't have the best fighters around, then how're we gonna protect the kiddos and the elder folk and all the dogs?! Shouldn't we find shelter for them first?!"

And, with that, he turned to the pair he was currently in cahoots with. He leaned in and whispered to Lucia. "Okay, I don't know you guys that well but we gotta get blue-skin here to safety and then you're gonna tell me just exactly what is happening here and then I'm gonna figure out how to use a baseball bat or something because goddammit I'm a singer, okay?! Don't expect me to decapitate lethal, trained knights when I sing karaoke for a living!"

@Asch @Lucia Mierz @Savannah Reed

 

Something was brewing at the castle. That was for sure. She saw all of the various adventurers gathering, they somehow received some sort of warning or message. Was there some sort of mind magic that allowed them to coordinate so well? Regardless, she found herself at the castle. So the Falderan King was planning on storming the region and killing all who dwelled within? To what end?

It didn't really matter all that much, did it? Fact was that war was coming to Astorea. Actual war, not just a group of people coming to kill one big thing. That was a slaying or assassination, depending on how sentient the thing in question was. She couldn't walk away from this now, even if she wanted to. And she didn't, how could she pass up on an opportunity to fight Falderan's best soldiers? The small army that came with the force would be an issue, but she figured that if the people here weren't very attached to the forest they could just set it on fire and cut them off. There would be enough people with Naturamancy to regrow what was left, right? Who knows, perhaps the king himself would storm the castle. That would be a once in his lifetime opportunity.

She stood towards the back of the room as per usual, taking in the various information flowing throughout the room. It was amazing what you could find out by just staying still and not drawing any attention. Various logistical setups, strategies and preparations started happening and despite all of the activity, she couldn't help but feel that this would be the calm before the storm. She hoped that the storm would be a battle, rather than a siege. Sieges were boring and dragged on for ages.

 

That…wasn’t the reaction she was expecting.

Instead of looking taken aback or worried or even intimidated, Savannah balled her hands into fists and placed them on her hips, her lavender eyes narrowing at the male while a frown furrowed her brow. Her first inclination in the outside world was always to bite back if bitten first and it translated easily over to the game.

“Hey! I’m just as capable as any fighter here! Don’t you underestimate me because of my size. I am not a child!”

Ah, she so didn’t want to draw any unneeded attention to herself, but Mint’s words seriously put a damper on her otherwise jovial mood and she couldn’t help the sudden escalation of her voice. She had even taken a step forward, her index finger pointing up and toward what would probably be his chest if she were a normal sized human being. Instead, she was hovering somewhere around his navel...

“If anyone should be locked away for safe keeping, perhaps it’s you. Sounds like you’d do better being a bedside nurse than a solider on the front lines. Sing people to sleep and nurse their wounds; perfect for you.”

Her tone was venomous for it to have come from such a small body, but she couldn’t relent. Just who did this dude think he was!

Honestly? Probably some super veteran that could one-shot her with a cantrip if he wanted to.

@Mint Chip @Lucia Mierz ​

 

As he had only planned on passing by for a day or two, Sean was caught off-guard by the sudden call to arms. He suddenly burst into a panic, talking to himself out loud. "An invasion? I'm not fit for this yet! How am I supposed to defend? How can I even ensure my safety?" He frantically searched around for anybody he recognized. "But I have to defend! It's my duty to defend!" After a moment, he started to regain his composure. "Okay. First, find out how to fight on the front lines," He whispered to himself before remembering about the princess that had given the warning. After a small moment of consideration, he navigated the crowd to get to her. "Excuse me... Mrs. Princess? I'm not fit for large-scale combat yet, but I'd like to fight on the front lines. What can I do?" The fire in his eyes burned brighter than ever.

@Asch

 

Woah, woah, woah, what was this? It looked like something big was going on here. The green-haired Felis wondered as hordes of both players and NPCs, the former being the majority, gathered in the main hall of Dormont Castle. Fortunately, Aria was hanging around the area when she saw the entourage entering the castle. Weaving through the crowd with her Felis grace, green eyes took in the elegant form of the warrior-princess on the staircase, enunciating her speech.

"Oh..." The Felis Ranger was a new player and as such, she didn't know the context behind the events mentioned in Princess Elline's speech. However, she got a gist of what was happening. So the Falderen King had somehow gone mad, whether by himself or foul machinations of a third party, then betrayed the King of Astorea along with his best men by making them go on a wild goose chase, leaving the castle vulnerable to an invasion.

"Hmm..." How sneaky, how clever, quite exciting if she could say so herself. The game masters thought up a nice event, certainly worthy of global participation of the whole playerbase. She wanted in! Participating in a big fight, maybe her talents could be useful. Even now, players were already clamoring with activity, some of them addressing the princess directly while others contend with their own groups. As a newbie, Aria didn't feel it was her place to talk with an important NPC like the Princess, other more veteran players deserved it, like that ponytail guy with a stick-up-his-ass over there. Hope he choked on all the attention. Still, he was a Duke, Aria didn't know the details of feudal society but it sounded important, so hats off to him.

In any case, she needed to find someone she knew, hmmm... who could it be? Oh... aha! A familiar face, specifically, a stoic fiery-eyed face. "Hey there, Stelluna~" The Felis gingerly approached the redheaded Yladian. "Fancy to see you here." From their last mission in the Dark Harvest, she knew how serious and 'in-character' the spearwoman was, it was almost as if she played her role naturally, like one of the NPCs. Well, whatever made her enjoy the game, Aria did her own. Still, they had worked together in the Capture Quest before even though she was apathetic to one and hated the guts of their other party member. It seemed they would do so again. "So, what's your plan for this event? Looks pretty big, I hope I can at least contribute something."

@Stelluna

 

King Astor's Bedroom

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Wow @Astor Balthas has come far hasn't he? A certain mascot looked around his extravagant quarters. Or well... they were pretty nice for a guy who was just a normal adventurer a few months ago! Things did move quickly didn't they?

The girl nodded to herself with a happy smile. It was so nice... the players were so into it all. To the point where they made a kingdom, and homes, and... welp it was just mega awesome! The mascot of Terrasphere's face was as usual frozen into one emotion, ultra beaming friendly enthusiasm. Trinity continued to think as she made her way to the window that looked out over the small kingdom to be... so much potential. So many stories will be made and tales sung! Now it might be tales of how Astor made a big mistake! That was good too as a story but...

"Astor. You should have thought stuff out a little better silly. Now look what's happening!"

Trinity said still smiling as if it didn't matter really. It was all the players choices that decided their destiny here. If the NPCs destroy this kingdom... this bastion of the players. How would it impact them overall?

"I think a Kingdom Building tutorial is going to be needed! Let's see.... do I have anything stored for that?"

The girl tilted her head and her eyes changed color as letters of various languages flew across them. After 'searching the mainframe' for a bit. Trinity fist pumped with a small jump of joy. Eureka!

"Time to find Astor! If the players win they will have to do this right! If they lose, he'll need it for any other kingdoms he wants to make down the road! He has his resets if he dies after all! Kay! Time to go!"

A quiet buzzing sound was heard and she was gone.

[EXITED THREAD]

 

Heading back to Dormont was for the best after the issues on the mountain. Alonso could have stuck around, but the trip upwards tired him, and that insane woman who insisted on flashing the enemy was just too much to handle. Granted, that did mean he left poor Eleanor up there, all alone and having to make her own trek wherever she decided to go. Waving off a servant, the Felis's tired eyes gazed upon a roster of the land's current materials. Nothing significant changed in Astorea's inventory, it seemed, a sigh escaping Alonso's lips as he slid back in his chair. The room was furnished enough to work for the moment, as the less important study rooms were further down on the list of repair priority.

Interruptions, as usual, flew towards the over sized cat man, a young woman stopping in front of he Marquees with bated breath. "Calm down, there's no point in getting out of breath. What is it," Alonso said, his vocal rumbles feeling a particular knack for giving orders. To not panic, the servant held a hand towards her mouth and whispered to him the arrival of the First Princess of Falderen. The emergency note ringing in Alonso's personal messages confirmed her claims to be true. "Thank you," the man nodded, "Deliver these reports back to the records for me, and I'll go and handle the situation." Refusing to dawdle on the specifics, as he was going to find out later, the Felis crouched and dashed out of the room.

Maybe he should have put on a shirt on before leaving the room. Bah. He was just adventuring, he had an excuse.

The princess's speech was forward and to the point. Should have expected as much. Yet, the man should have also expected the barrage of questions flung about by the gathering players, one of which was Seto Kurama. At least there were two of the Big Three here. That did not bold well for the fact their Marchioness was missing. Careful thoughts roamed Alonso's head, the large man nodding and turning his head towards the servants nearby, "Go find King Astor, NOW. Help him walk if he's still feeling ill if you have to." With that, Marquees Thorlion took a step forwards towards Princess D'Vangelline. Perhaps he was a surprise to notice with his appearance, although these nobles might just need to get use to the man wandering in day to day attire.

"Princess D'Vangelline de Falder, while I do understand your concerns about keeping these discussions with our King Astor, please know that some of us do insist on joining the conversation. Just as Duke Kurama here has taken an oath to assist with situations in Astorea, I also insist on giving my input. I am Marquees Alonso Thorlion, and have given the same oath. At least allow us to escort you to the King," the big man said, turning his body to start leading the princess.

@Raid Master @Seto Kurama

((Asch said it was fine for me to post here, since Alonso left the mountain after his WQ topic.))