Salem had absolutely no idea what she was doing, which probably ran in the Harper family, as when Faye first started playing as Nalani, she too became lost. But Salem wasn't exactly lost... Well, she just didn't really care to follow the structure of the game or do whatever you needed to do first. She was more about following her own path and getting things done in the most efficient way. Besides, she'd played these type of games before, there was no need for a silly little tutorial. Soon enough she found herself walking through a forest, running a hand absentmindedly through her silver hair, mind else where. Where? On food, of course, Hm, I wonder what Jin is making for dinner... Man, that guy could cook. Licking her lips in expectation for the dinner to come after doing some of her own exploring in the game, she paused as two voices reached her ears, one leg out in front of her as she went to take another step and her arms frozen in mid air, almost as if trying to get caught. It took a couple moments to find their general location, before Salem carefully took off before them, Other adventurers, finally~ She'd been walking around so randomly that adventurers were really scarce, and if she saw someone she didn't like the looks of, she'd walk by ignorantly. What? Not everyone looked trustworthy around her, okay? Peaking out around a tree, she spotted two female figures- A white cat lady and a small kid with multiple little fuzzy animals, which were absolutely adorable, by the way. She moved back to stand around the opposite side of the tree for a moment before taking a deep breath, sliding herself silently around the tree stump and leaning against it, grinning mischievously at the strange pair in front of her, "Hey there y'all~ What's cooking?" she asked cheerfully, bounding on over as if she knew both of them like friends, peering at the keyhole in the rock with curiousity, Now this... This is worth something. She'd have to stick around to see what was up. "Whats up? I'm Salem, Salem Varley." She added, turning towards the two and holding out her hand in the most polite manner, blinking at them both innocently, "No?" she removed her hand as quickly as she had it stuck out, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at the keyhole, "Look, I'm new to the game and am honestly looking for something to do, and can't really get some help from a bunch of newbs. So, I hope you don't mind me sticking around?" Another short pause, but then she smiled, "Great!~ Let's get to it then." Salem snickered mentally to herself- She'd probably never do something like that in real life. Kinda rude, very pushy, but it was also kinda a little... Well, fun. Faye would definitely disagree if this was the turn she was taking with her character, but she didn't care- It was just a game, anyways~ @Dempsey Fabijain @Alphabet Chocolate
Alpha's attention and ire was solely focused on that one object at the moment and, off the corner of her mind that wasn't preoccupied with thoughts and ideas on how to open this lock, she somewhat wished that she had learnt pyromancy instead of naturamancy. She'd really like to blow this thing up into shreds and dust right now. With another groan, she set off back to work, not even noticing Dempsey's comments, the newfound dove which perched on her hand, nor the stranger's welcome. Her tongue stuck out of her lip as she bit it softly in concentration, working her way around the basics of her knowledge and moving upwards, trying to decipher the best way to unlock this contraption. Although she had felt her companions' stare on her and their sudden tenseness after the surprising intrusion, she ignored it in favor of her work. Normally she'd love to greet company and bounce around and have laughs and all of that; but now it felt like this door was personally challenging and taunting her. As if it stayed close of its own volition with the intent and motivation on making Alpha so frustrated that her face would turn red and her head would burst like a volcanic eruption. If that was the modus operandi of this door, she could consider it a serial killer already. It must've taken so many lives and egos along the ways of its existence. She wasn't, however, deprived completely of her politeness though. She gave the woman an enthusiastic wave, ripping her attention away from the mesmerizing door for a second before diving back in, eyes locked in like an eagle on its prey. She'd figure out this puzzle and find whatever is hidden underneath if it was the last thing she did. The curiosity was a killer. @Asch @Dempsey Fabijain @Salem Varley
She was watching when Salem approached, and offered the woman a casual nod. She was waiting patiently for Alpha to finish her turn at the mysterious stone lock, and this may be the diversion that Dempsey needed to pass the time while she waited. Also, having such a low level player around meant that it would probably attack her first, whatever the large and probably angry "It" was. She would normally have some sort of internal dialogue before deciding to allow the new player to be used a a sort of offering, but since she'd been so eager to include herself, the decision was made for her. Dempsey did have a moment of mirth as she realized this new player had just to happen upon the two strongest characters in the game at the time tackling a challenge that was likely incredibly dangerous even for them. She offered Salem a word of caution however; "This could be dangerous, if we can ever get that damn lock open. Are you sure you want to be here for this?" She glanced behind her to see Alpha working furiously at the lock, and her racist dog lying nearby, staring at Dempsey intently. @Salem Varley @Alphabet Chocolate
Alpha continued working at the lock, bringing out her Professional's Lockpicks as she attempted to decipher the puzzle. Focusing solely on the lock, she ignored any type of conversation sprouting around her and closely examined the lock. The easily-observable items would be the intricate pattern detailed on the stone panel and the obviously large size of the trap door on the forest floor. The harder to distinguish and notice items would be the tiny mechanisms which held the lock together. Never before had Alpha seen a lock like this and it took all her effort to attempt to break through it. After her first few attempts, however, irritation firmly settled on her face as she fiddled and tampered with it to little to no effect. Finally, with the anger of a thousand suns, she withdrew the dagger sheathed on her waist as Terry began scratching his ear. "Oooh, this is so it!" she stared the door down viciously as if it were a taunting enemy. After she got rid of her anger by attempting to stab the door a few times through with her sharp, pointy weapon, she sighed and got back to her lockpicks, attempting to crack open the door once again. "I got this," she whispered to herself for mental health reasons more than anything as her right eye twitched. She didn't like doing difficult tasks that proved to be quite frustrating but the others were depending on her and the door was a curiosity that she had to solve. "Cmon, cmon..." she whispered, staring straight at the lock with unblinking eyes. It would later become slightly red and unhinged but she supposed it would be worth it if she could make some progress in opening this annoying lock. @Asch
