Private - Square One

She wasn’t lost.

The forest was large and she had absolutely no points in tracking or survival so she wasn’t entirely sure where she was going. She hadn’t seen any tracks other than foot prints belonging to other players and the occasional squirrel here or there. But, she could hear the others fumbling around in the forest, just as turned around as she was and dealing with similar luck.

The quest called for the pelt of a bear to be given to the woodcutter’s family to prove that the damned beast was dead. Apparently, as quest text went, the beast had mauled the youngest child. The father would’ve gone and killed the bear himself, but he needed to take the kid into town to the doctor and yadda, yadda, yadda.

It wasn’t that Savannah didn’t care. She read all the quest text when offered, listened to all the NPCs voice their concerns and tell her why she should help them. But she was preoccupied.

The war had come and gone and now it was back to day-to-day life within TerraSphere…and she wasn’t sure how to cope with that. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do or needed to do or anything. So, she left the main went, went into the sticks, found this event, and began going through the motions of trying to complete it. She had turned her online availability to red so she wasn’t even getting private messages at the moment.

Instead, she was sitting with her back against a thick tree trunk with her weapon gripped in both hands. Her eyes stared ahead, zoning in and out in the foliage around her, the noises having faded to the background of her consciousness. Crouched there, with her ears pressed back against her head and staring into the nothingness in front of her, she almost looked feral. It was the worn appearance of her armor that gave any indication that she was from some civilized place in this game.​

@Scon Carvalho

 

"I have a tail. This is so cool!" Scon's first virtual words were far from dignified. Then again, Scon was far from dignified. He had spawned into this mysterious game all of ten seconds previously, sandalled feet impacting the soft leaf litter with a crinkle. The rags that hung from his burly frame were the beginning items, no meaningful stats and a far cry from the ornate vanity items he wore in his other games. But, even so, he couldn't help but notice how detailed they were. Every fibre seemed to be visibly woven, the male's own tanned skin able to be discerned through the meticulously articulated stretches and holes the garment possessed.

As Silvestre, he had to marvel at the grandiose nature of this game's graphics. The visual arms race had exploded through this millenium; the last twenty-something years spent improving anti-aliasing, definition, detail and lighting effects, before the VR revolution completely redefined what people expected. And now, he was playing a (rather shady) game that exactly mimicked real-life visuals. It was insane. It also made him lament the progress his own studio had made - they were a million years away from anything this detailed. This was just from looking down at his own attire.

Around him, the forest was even more awe-inspiring; deep browns, vibrant greens and manifold flickers of azure above. Each tree had a woven pattern in its bark that portrayed a story of decades of growth, the leaves that scattered around the ground were each an independent item - that was a coding monstrosity in itself... He was getting too caught up in the professionalism of the game. He had to get into his own... profession.

In Scon's hand was a halberd. It really wasn't a good one, that much had been painstakingly detailed into the item's appearance. Indeed, when he inspected the item, it was labelled as 'Trash.' Lovely. There was also a shield in his inventory, presumably a reflection on the masteries he had chosen. He had also chosen shouts, so where was his megaphone..? He gave the polearm a few lazy swings, noting (or rather marvelling) at how responsive every inch of his body was. It was exactly as though he were standing there, in real life, moving his body. He knew, deep down, that he was laying on his sofa with a neural headset on, but this was amazingly responsive... The rumours he had decided to investigate were all holding true.

The male took his first ginger steps through the landscape. He had plenty of experience using VR and was comfortable with performing a lot of the more complicated movements, even if his character wasn't. He had chosen polearms in character creation because he had a bit of experience using them when testing his employer(Werecat)'s own game - it wasn't anything like this, but Scon, or rather Silvestre, was familar with the basics of wielding such weapons - he could feel, though, the unit hindering his movements when he swung the object ahead of him. Cloudy. Like he was drunk (again...)

I need to find someone else around here... Scon mused to himself as his pace increased. He had seemingly spawned in the wilderness, RNGesus opting not to deposit him in a nice safe town, and that meant finding someone less new than he was, to help him out. He didn't know nearly enough about how to play, how to use the interface, what was happening lore-wise (there was talk of sex and fighting and even war..?) and a myriad other things.

Instead, he found a bear. Frick.

It was yellow. Well, the name above its head was yellow. Grizzly Bear(Q) in a golden tint glistened above the beast when he focused on it. He assumed that was a warning - if it were safe it'd likely be white, knowing game design, and he doubted he would spawn in powerful enough to take down a bear anyway.

So, Scon charged the brown mass of fur, drawing his halberd back behind his head and lunging in to swing the blade at the beast's side. He let out a pointless warcry as he did so, serving only to alert the mob to his presence as his weapon connected with its arm. Barely. He might have caused a bald patch under the tricep.

"Heeeeeelp!!" was the subsequent yell as the male now turned tail and attempted to distance himself from his overbearing foe. He didn't know what he was doing. At all.

 

Her ears perked forward. She thought she had heard something in the distance, something that wasn’t people stomping around in their vain attempt to find the bear or yelling at each other about stupid shitty memes that everyone had seen before. She rolled her eyes at that and slowly got to her feet, her legs stiff and the muscles cramped. Just how long had she been crouching there?

Taking a step forward, the leaves crunched under her boot. The weather was mild, sun was blazing in the sky, but there was a cool wind that ruffled her blond pigtails and made her shiver. There was no reason for her to be afraid. A bear was child’s play in comparison to the hell that was war. Grinding her teeth, she shook her head and took another step forward. One thought at a time, she told herself.

There! This time, the cry for help was loud and panicked. Shit, had some under leveled newbie stumbled into this quest by accident? Or maybe someone had found the bear and were down and bleeding out?

Without a second thought, Savannah took off towards the sound, her small legs carrying her quickly over the ground. She hadn’t placed a lot of point into her run speed – being a tank, she didn’t see a need for it – but the “cloudy sunspear soup” she had eaten before the quest gave her a speed buff. Sure, it would immediately drop once she was in combat, but for now, it was helping her clear the distance between her current position and whoever needed help.

And, seeing who it was that called out for help, Savannah couldn’t help but skid to a comedic halt at the very large, very scared, male Felis before her. What the—

Right, there was the bear that she and all the other adventurers had been looking for.

Tiny little Savannah immediately charged in, getting in between the male and his enemy, her halberd up and held diagonally across her body. She waited for the bear to charge into her, using the momentum to fall back on her foot and then spring forward in a counter attack, the movement pushing the bear back and refocusing the attention on the little Faerin.

Run, while I have its attention!​

 

As his weapon disappeared into his inventory and Scon's motions returned to the out-of-combat speed he came to expect from a VR game's standard running, he hoped he was losing the pursuing beast. A glance over his shoulder confirmed otherwise. The grizzly was on his ankles, not having yet connected but sure as hell trying - if it weren't for the additional distance he created each time it reared up to attack, the beast would likely be savaging the hapless male by now. He had been unlucky to spawn here, for sure, but he lamented not being more prepared in the first place - where was his chance to adjust to this amazing game in the comfort of a beginner area?

Fortune was quick to change around here, it seemed - no sooner did the cat lament his situation than a midget saved the day! He had no idea about the races in the game - the default setting when creating a character was human and Scon had gotten as far as Felis on the list - The other species hadn't even gotten a look in - Cats rule. And so Scon was completely oblivious even to the type of person putting their life on the line to rescue him, as they utilised a gutsy counter attack on the brown ball of death and fluff. That was a good move! He would have to practise that. Assuming he made it out alive...

"Run, while I have its attention!"

Her command was simple and concise, a short order for the male to follow that he couldn't possibly get wrong. So, he ran. He summoned his blunt halberd to his hands, angled it as though it were a jousting pole, and ran head first over the tiny fae into the bear, jamming the spear-tip of his weapon into their enemy. He wasn't aware of the female's presence being so... obtrusive when he had 'planned' his assault, feet getting tangled in her back as he stumbled through the female and his weapon jabbed weakly at the enemy. There was a mass of limbs, that much he was aware of. And snarling.

...Was the bear's breath supposed to be so vividly disgusting?

 

What…what in the hell was he doing?!

Savannah was having a stare down contest with it, her lavender eyes versus the grizzly’s crimson red when, suddenly, she felt a very tall and very heavy figure pushing into her back. Of course, this figure decided to do this genius maneuver while the grizzly decided to charge, one massive paw swiping out at her as the two – no, three – forces collided.

It was a tangle of legs, arms, weapons, and fur as two persons and one animal crashed into one another. The musk of the grizzly coupled with Savannah’s sweat and the stink of cat fur had the young Faerin internally groaning while trying to detangle herself. Getting this up close and personal with a bear wasn’t on her list of things to do. And while the damned thing couldn’t outright kill her, it could do enough damage that she would wish she was dead.

As if on cue, she felt teeth and hot breath on her shoulder followed by immense pressure and a tearing sensation. The grizzly had bitten down on her shoulder. With a yank, she went flying head over heels and tumbled into a thorny berry bush. They scraped at her exposed skin, leaving long gashes that bled slightly. Her shoulder, however, was more a flood than a drizzle like the scars on her face.

A warcry on her lips, she stood, grabbed her weapon and went charging back in as the bear turned on the unknown male.

Get outta here, you idiot! the Faerin said again, her halberd slicing a wide overhead arc before coming down on the bear. It groaned in pain and immediately turned back to her, the paw swipes dealing damage, but the bite being too slow as she danced backward out of the way.

You’re in way over your head and you aren’t helping! Just…just…head to the farmstead!​

 

Even as his head rang and he became certain his midriff had been scratched, Scon couldn't help but let his real-world self marvel at how... good it all was. The pain was dulled, definitely; some sort of slider reducing the mental effects of the damage this virtual body had sustained. But, at the same time, the sensations rattling his mind were exactly what he would expect in this situation. Terrasphere exceeded all expectations of simulating physical feeling. If he were to attack a bear and stumble over a dwarf en-route, he would feel, smell, see, hear and taste every little bit of it!

...Well, he had screwed that one up.

"Sorry smol person." Scon grunted through the haze of sweat and bad bear breath that clung to his tongue. As he (very) slowly reacted to being caught betwixt the fighting pair, they had continued their confrontation, the wild beast grabbing the female and throwing her off. She had pulled it to her thereafter, just before the grizzly could turn its attention to himself. That left Scon untangled and alone on the leaf-litter, heavily panting as he attempted to catch his virtual breath. He pulled himself up as his first encounters fought further, his FLUFFY CAT EARS YESSSS filling in what occurred between them while he rose to his feet.

Once he had taken stable footing, he looked to the female and saw the state she was in, undeniably his fault. She had donned the proverbial crimson mask and there was a heavy flow of blood from her shoulder, too. The injuries looked so realistic! He wondered briefly if she felt the hurt of having been bitten on the shoulder and, if so, how much pain it was actually causing her. Knowing how accurately this game's system aligned itself with the real world was useful to uncover. He hoped she wasn't legitimately suffering. Then her words washed over him and he snapped out of it, needing to return to actually playing this game. That and she called him an idiot, meaning he stopped caring.

She had instructed him to head somewhere, informing him along the way that he was useless. That didn't sit well with Scon, who felt he had just been caught on the unfortunate side of things. The bear had its back to him, now, having bounded after his discourteous saviour, and that represented an opportunity to make things better. Or at least make him feel less indebted to the brazen blonde. He stalked towards the chestnut pile of fur and raised his halberd over his shoulder; a back-swing as he took aim.

"But, I have an opening..." He called as he brought his 'trash' blade down and forward into the bear. He felt the satisfying crunch of metal on flesh and bone and the immediate reaction of the beast further heightened his enjoyment - it stumbled inanely forward with the force, tumbling towards the female. How was that for in-over-his-head? Unfortunately, hairy mcgrizzle also flailed around to swing an arm behind itself at Scon. The dangerous paw barely caught his midriff and he was knocked off his feet, both fluffy giants crashing down in unison. The fact Scon hadn't invested in any skills or stats or whatever this game had was apparent, as he couldn't even keep his balance from a light tap. Not even a chance to boast...

Now was the time to push the advantage on the opponent and he scrambled to his feet, desperate to actually get his attack in on the lumbering bear. He stormed forward as he rose, in the style of an athlete's sprint-start, again brandishing his halberd's pointed tip like a spear as he launched it forward. The grizzly, also rising, remained exposed and Scon's blade sliced across the underarm of the being - he only grazed his mark. Nonetheless, his momentum carried him forward and he felt his weapon, after leaving the bear's fresh wound, connect with something else.

Uhm...

 

Small person.

She was tired of it. Mouse girl, small person, smurf; like, did no one look at any other race besides the humans and elves and cat-people? Did no one listen to that omnipresent voice that described the character races as the player chose one? Sure enough, they listened to the weapons and abilities shit after the initial character creation screen, but oh, look for the humans or the elves or the freaking cat people and that’s it! Look no further!

It was infuriating! Her jaw clenched in abject anger and frustration. It was this SMALL PERSON that was saving this damn cat-person’s furry ass! Why, though? Why bother! He wouldn’t be thankful just like the others she protected on the Southwatch Wall hadn’t been thankful. She hadn’t received a single thanks, a single buff, a single heal; they were all such an ungrateful lot.

The Faerin was so wrapped up in her hateful inner monologue that she lost concentration on the battle. She went in for another attack and missed completely. The male’s blade sliced off a bit of fur from the underarm of the bear before it went sailing through the empty space with the propulsion of his attack. The blade sunk into Savannah’s stomach with a sickening sucking sound.

She gasped as crimson liquid bubbled from her mouth and splattered onto the ground. Sinking to her knees, she dropped her own weapon and found her hands grasping the blade that was currently draining her hit points by the second. And since she had approached this event as a DPS character – because who needed an actual tank in an open world event, pfft – there was no second wind to get her back up on her feet. She coughed again, a wet gurgling sound that caused more blood to spurt forth along with a tiny whimper of pain.

Her blurry vision could just make out the bear rearing back again and one massive paw careening toward her unprotected head… ​

 

Blood. It was dark, viscous and eerie. Maybe that was a subconscious leap, to associate the obvious link between blood and horror such that the mere sight of the liquid inspired dread. But, at this moment, Scon had a good reason to feel dread. His halberd had embedded itself in the guts of his supposed saviour; easily piercing her armour, her skin and, by the feels of it, her internal organs, too. That was not good. Shouldn't there have been some friendly fire option? Then again, they were strangers and hadn't partied up either... He, as far as an automated system was to know, had viciously attacked this other person fighting a bear.

The worry spilled over him as the blood did from her; the small avatar's gruesome murder quickly settled any notion Scon might have had that this game was in any way suitable for the underage. He lamented the bloody passing of the female before his peripheral gave way to a brown fuzz and he was sharply reminded of the bear. His panic was immediate and he apologised to the remains of the faeris as he scrambled from the beast. It was still alive and kicking, or rather swiping, though it had sustained a significant few wounds - the cuts he had inflicted were slowing the mob significantly.

Even though she had been killed, Scon was relatively certain the female would respawn - This was no Sword Art Online, mysterious as it was. He just had to readjust his conscience for that fact; the problem with such a realistic game was that a gruesome death (notmurdernotmurdernotmurder) did trigger realistic guilt. But this was a game and death wasn't permanent... Probably wasn't even painful. He hoped. The poor girl...

Towering over him was the bear, injured and leaking, having taken its moment to advance on the cat who remained on all fours after his fatal stumble. Scon did the only thing he ever did - attack - and he lunged up into the bear's midriff, driving the tip of his weapon into the being once more. This time it was enough, the blood seeping around the blade as he drove it into the bear from point-blank range. Gravity helped, too, as the drained beast fell deeper onto the halberd.

His first kill? Well, no...