It was a beautiful evening in a certain noname village inside a certain Tavern. 'The Honest Worker' was the name of the fine establishment in which a certain girl was right now. Clearly, the small heroine had better things to do than getting virtually drunk, especially at her tender age. "I am telling you I, the heroic Seigi Ling Ling, can do it!" Engaged in a serious looking conversation with Marcus, the Tavern Keeper, who just frowned and looked upon her with pity. "Listen, little girl, what I need are real men with muscle. These beasts ain't your average house mouse. They're 2 foot tall and longer than your height!" Just what else did Seigi have to do to convince this guy?! She had found the 'Rat-slaying' quest earlier on this Taverns local quest board! The pay wasn't great, though Seigi already offered to work for free, but it was all about doing good and putting your name out there! Clearly, the tavern keeper didn't look eye to eye with the small girl, talking about her age and size and whatnot. For 15 minutes straight Marcus had been keeping up with her antics, until. "Well, since you clearly haven't realized how awesome I am, yet..." Seigi turned around. The tavern was mostly full of drunks, villagers as soldiers. But, amongst all these people, there had to be others like-minded people? People with muscle. And height! Or something, right? Getting up on a chair and waving the piece of paper around Seigi spoke out loud. "LISTEN UP, Patrons of The Honest Worker! I, Seigi Ling Ling the great hero of Justice, am delighted to announce that today is YOUR lucky day! This is your chance, your calling, your fate! To make it big! Join my yet greatest and grandest quest. Our mission will be to slay the Evil Rats of Darkdeath Evil Doom and save the World from certain destruction! Learn how to be a real hero, just like me, by watching!" Closing her eyes, Seigi was thinking. This sounded all good enough, didn't it? Clearly it did! It should, though, maybe. "On top of being my side-kick you are the first of many who shall get an autograph of your very own, favorite, super heroine! Limited edition." Now THAT sweetened the deal, didn't it?! @Lyre
Taverns often followed a strict naming convention. Always an adjective followed by a noun, and almost always a combination that was either entirely inappropriate or severely hinting at being inappropriate. It was always a nice change of pace when Aaron stumbled upon a tavern that didn't have a name following the second of those conventions, and only at these rare establishments would Aaron spend the extra coin to purchase any beverage containing alcohol. It was as he was finishing his meal and drink that he noticed a commotion. A girl seemed to be having an argument with someone - possibly the owner of the tavern? It escalated. The girl climbed onto a chair and started yelling at the patrons. He smirked and couldn't contain a small, quiet laugh as he heard her words. He opened his inventory and messed with his equipment a bit, putting on all his old equipment so that he looked like any other starting player. His rusty starting sword, his wooden starting shield, and his pathetic starting heavy armor. He smiled. Time to make someone's day. He stood up and approached the girl, clearing his throat. "Miss?" he called. "You say you're a hero of justice? If that's the case, this really is my lucky day, just like you said! I want to learn how to be a hero. If you can teach me, I would love to accompany you on this quest. Are you really Seigi Ling Ling, though? I've heard she's already saved the world at least twice before!" He hoped that last part wasn't too far. The way he saw it, there was two benefits to this. First the psychological effect on the girl, helping her feel good about herself and giving her a chance to be a leader. The second was that if this quest did end up being dangerous, he could make a point of protecting her, hopefully without breaking his cover of being a new player. Being a paladin, a hero... helping people... it wasn't always about swooping in and fighting away the monsters. It was even more about instilling hope in others, and teaching them that they could be their own hero.
Alpha popped her head out from under a table, staring inquisitively at the loud, boisterous voice that had echoed through the tavern as she was right about to fetch a nice, hearty meal from the couple sitting around and above her. She'd heard that The Honest Worker had been the best tavern and pseudo-restaurant in the entire village and she'd had enough of the plain wheat bread all the townsfolk were trying to sell her. It was the obvious choice for her to slip on in and dine on the customers' leftovers; but, nothing could've really prepared her for this spectacle. She slipped a piece of pre-cut steak down into her little hiding spot while the couple was distracted and peeked out from the table covers. "Evil Rats of Darkdeath and Doom?" she could practically hear the capitalization and importance of the rodents' title. It interested and intrigued her immensely to hear about such creatures that seemed to originate from the blood-cursed region of Norforva or the plane of Azog (for where else could such an abominable yet imaginably cute species come from?). And then the last of the orange-haired girls words ran through her mind and there was a ka-ching that could be heard from the back of her mind. If this was a comedic show of any sort then you'd probably see literal stars replacing the pupils of her eyes. "A superhero?!" she'd often fantasize about being a superhero or a magical girl or anything of a similar profession since long before she'd even entered the game. The appearance of girls like Magi had merely branded that ideal title and job into her mind and labeled it with sparkles and sugar and everything nice. She was right about to take a step out and announce her existence (and volunteer for active duty) when a familiar visage joined the fray. Was that Aaron? As soon as the blonde man spoke, she immediately confirmed him to be her dear friend and she couldn't wait a second longer. She sprung out, cheering. "Aaron Marone and Seigi Ling Ling and Alphabet Chocolate! The Three Musketeers! The Three Stooges! The Three Bears from Goldilocks! The Three Little Pigs! The Good, The Bad, and The Very Ugly Middle-Aged Blonde Dude!" she proclaimed, hopping up next to Seigi as she gave a dramatic bow to their drunken audience. A few crumbs still stained the edge of her lips as she took Seigi's hand and shook it vigorously and with much enthusiasm. "Nice to meet ya, partner!" She gave a salute to Aaron as well. "And nice to see ya again...uh, what's another cool word for partner? Buddy? Ally? Friend? Hmmm...Colleague! Yes, my esteemed colleague!" @Aaron Marone @Seigi
Hah! Would one look at that! An actual fan! And also Dark Lord Alphabet! Seigi believed strongly there was good in everybody, no matter how evil they were. So this would be the perfect chance to turn the ninja girl back to the good side! Regardless, with two trusty companions now added to the party, one of them being an actual muscly male, victory was assured. "Twice the world already?! Hah! I'm even more awesome than I thought to be! Hahaha." Wow, was Seigi really already that famous?! That was great! "Alright, Alphabet." Seigi stared a hole into Alphabet's eyes. "I will turn you into a good person! Just you watch. Nobody can withstand the power of love, justice and friendship!" With that said, Seigi now turned back to Marcus. "Well, well Mr. Tavern Keeper. As you can see my reputation precedes me! Twice the world already, as you heard. And my other trusty side-kick is strong enough, she could rip out the entire cellar with her pinky finger!" How could he refuse that offer, especially after she didn't even want the fishy amount of 500 gold pieces for rat extermination anyways!? The Tavern keepers face darkened for a while, seriously troubled and thinking, before he finally sighed. "Alright, little girl, do what you want." He seemed rather sad, for a moment? Before motioning the group of three towards an old, clunky, metal trap-door in a separate storage room. Pulling out a bunch of keys he opened the heavy door before pointing towards the deep dark. "There are four rooms in this cellar. Just do a quick sweep and kill anything you see. After, come back quickly, you understand?!" Seigi nodded before she pointed into the dark complex. "Alright, my trusty side-kicks! Time to do GOOD! With guts and effort." With that, the three of them were to venture into the damp cellar. As the group ventured deeper into the first room, the trap-door closed before one could hear the lock turn. It was, literally, pitch black. "One lesson to being not just a great, but GREATEST, hero is to always be prepared. In one way or another. Like a source of light!" Seigi nodded with crossed arms to herself. Though not like anyone could see that. "So, my friends, I ask you, are you prepared?!" Seigi knew all too well that there was a night vision option BUT this way she would get to know her team-mates better! @Aaron Marone @Alphabet Chocolate
When Alphabet Chocolate suddenly appeared out of no where, Aaron prayed his cover wouldn't be blown. That was until he heard the girl's singsong-like chant. "Hey, I'm not middle aged or ugly! ABC, what the hell? And what are you doing here? You're way too young to be in a tavern!" He was equal parts glad to see her, concerned for her being here, a tad agitated she might blow his cover and for calling him middle aged, and humored by her calling him middle aged. All that drained except concern when Seigi spoke to Alphabet, though. "Wait, what?" he tiled his head. "ABC, what does she mean by that? Turn you into a good person?" He spent the next several moments in a slight fog of confusion, trying to figure out what the girl could have meant by that. He didn't interact with the Tavern Keeper at all, despite his original plans to assure the man he would make sure everything was okay quietly when he believed Seigi to be out of earshot. It wasn't until they entered the pitch black room that Aaron snapped out of the slump that had covered over him. He cleared his throat and took a step forward, raising a hand. "Est Lux," he spoke. An orb of light formed in his hand, filling the room with sight-granting illumination. He offered the orb to Seigi, before creating two more. One for himself, and one for ABC. "Once you touch them, they'll float near you, so you don't have to worry about having to change your combat style, no matter what it may be," he explained. He let go of his own orb, and it floated up to hover above and behind his head.
“Hah!” Alpha crowed, giving Seigi at teasing pat at her amusing words. “In your dreams! The Dark Lord Alphabet Chocolate shall live on and destroy the world of the muggles!” she cackled, curling her fingers as she tossed her face up to the skies (er, well, the tavern ceiling considering that she was currently indoors). She gave a sly wink over to Aaron before she clapped her hand behind him (not quite reaching his shoulders due to the height disparity between them) and laughed triumphantly. “Do not let his appearance fool you, Seigi! He is my top Death Eater!” Perhaps she shouldn’t have watched that new Harry Potter remake that’s been trending lately but she couldn’t help but care. If Terrasphere was a fantasy world with fantasy themes, why couldn’t there be a dark lord without a nose (she’ll get plastic surgery once she turned eighteen to fit the role better) trying to commit a genocide on muggles and squibs? Maybe there’d be a world boss like that later that was a terrifying conglomeration of Voldemort, Darth Vader, and Plankton (you know, from Spongebob Squarepants). She particular liked the fiftieth season of Plankton once he finally got his character development arc and eloped with Mr. Krabs (or was that just a piece of fan fiction that she read a long time ago?). “Anyways! Onwards we go, right?!” she had obviously grown bored with the conversation as she gave Aaron’s little ball of light a tickle and continued on her way to wherever it was that the tavern keep wanted them to go. “Off to destroy evil Rats of Doom and Darkdeath and Grimdarkness!” @Aaron Marone @Seigi
"Muggles?" Seigi seemed confused for a second. Where did she hear that term before? It seemed familiar.... Before the hero girl could put any more thought into it however she got interrupted by 'Est Lux.' Yay, now they had light! Did they just love that immersion or really weren't aware of THAT future? Nonetheless, Seigi knew better than to take whatshisname feeling of accomplishment away. Right... whatshisname? "Hey, lighter side-kick person! What's your name even?! I am Seigi Ling Ling, Hero of Justice, Defender of the Weak, Liberator of Worlds! And sometimes also a genius detective. My motto is 'With Guts and Effort'!" It was only fair she introduced herself, too. With that out of the way Seigi now pointed at Alphabet once again. "I don't know what the muggles did to you but an enemy is simply a friend you haven't made yet!" Hah! She learned that piece of wisdom from another great hero. "Denial is just one of many steps to turn a bad person into a good one. The very fact you're helping me to destroy the evil Rats of Doom and Darkdeath and Grimdarkness and cookie-stealing stands proof to that!" With that, the great team leader turned around to take a better look at their surroundings. It was... a pretty mundane storage cellar. In fact, the room didn't even have any rats! BUT, instead, two doors! Both secured with simple wooden braces. "Here's another piece of heroic wisdom when it comes to directions! A hero is NEVER lost! A wise hero once said: If in doubt, left." @Aaron Marone @Alphabet Chocolate Have a Map:
