There was something thrilling about adventuring alone. Do not be mistaken, Rayleigh loved spending time with Vincent. In fact, he had been the one who bought the gaming system for her, and introduced her to the world of Terrasphere. He had insisted it was a birthday gift, and that she ought to have at least one piece of technology from this century. But the truth was left unspoken between them. Now that they had graduated college, and hundreds of miles separated them, Terrasphere would be the only way that they could still see each other regularly. The virtual world would help keep them together, and just maybe, if they saw each other often enough, nothing would change. At least, that was what they both secretly hoped. Despite all of that, Ray found pleasure in roaming the countryside by herself. She was exploring, making discoveries, and doing it all by herself, for herself. The rolling hills of Pormont were like an optical illusion, rich, green swells spilling endlessly away from her. It was only the mountains that stopped them, rising skyward with a mighty, majestic grace. The wall raced along her right side, towering over her, both intimidating and comforting at the same time. It was, in a word, breathtaking. Lulled by the beauty, and a false sense of security, Rayleigh slipped into a trance-like state. It was all so overwhelming, so perfect. Her wide blue eyes drank in the sights, and she absorbed the various other sensations like a sponge. The smell of earth, and distant rain. The feel of the breeze on her skin, neither particularly hot or cold. She was content here, wandering the countryside, making the game hers. In fact, she was happy. She was also careless. The thick arm was around her chest before she knew what was happening. With a yelp of surprise, Rayleigh felt herself being lifted off the ground. Her first instinct was to fight, feet kicking out, fingers digging at the hair-covered arm that held her in a vice-grip. She was met with a tighter squeeze, ribbons of muscle rippling while her captor grunted low in his chest. Her next instinct was to scream. @Joen Panelis
The sun was high upon its celestial arc indicating that it was some time after noon, a gentle breeze blew out of the southeast carrying with it the smell of fresh rain. The buzzing of insects, the gentle swaying of the grass that covered the rolling hills of Pormont, leaves dancing along the breeze all of this made a natural symphony that caressed Joens long pointed Yladian ears bring with it a feeling of tranquility. Joen felt so at peace that had he been laying down he may have just fallen asleep, however that wasn't the case Joen had been roaming the countryside alone for some time by this point, there weren't many other Yladians that he came across and it almost seemed as if there was a prejudice against the elven race. However Joen hadn't let that dissuade him and at that particular moment Joen found himself staring into the mouth of a dark, damp and rather foul smelling cave. As Joen was just about to enter the cave a sound carried across the wind and caused the Yladian sorcerers ears to twitch slightly, it was the found of a female screaming. Ripping his head away from the cave, all thoughts of adventure and discovering what was inside gone from his head and the only thing that occupied it at the moment was what was causing the female to scream in the distance and if she needed assistance or not. Joen didn't hesitate as he turned and sprinted in the direction that the scream had come from, it didn't take him long to come across the scene of a silver haired female in the clutches of a rather large Grass Gnoll. Skidding to a halt Joen surveyed the scene and noticed that there were not one but two Grass Gnolls which caused him to narrow his eyes, he was after all still a new player and that being so he wasn't entire sure that he could take two Grass Gnolls. However an idea came to his mind as he surveyed the scene, bringing up his game menu Joen flicked over to his Illusion Magic and clicked on the spell that was inside of it, the Duplicate spell. An illusion spell that created the illusion that there were two of the user instead of just one, Joen allowed the in game assistance program to take over as his body involuntarily spoke the mystical chant needed for the spell and the air next to him shimmered before an exact replica of Joen came into view. With his illusionary companion created Joen rushed forward and switched over to his Pyromancy spells and clicked the only spell that was under that category, the Fireball spell which the name was pretty self explanatory. Once again the assistance program took over and Joen recited the mystical chant needed for his spell before a ball of fire exploded upon the face of the second Gnoll, the one that wasn't carrying the female "Oi drop her ya big oafs"
It was as humiliating as it was painful, being carted around like a sack of potatoes. With each step the beast took, her long body jolted like a rag-doll, and her head soon went to throbbing. What the hell is this, Rayleigh thought to herself as the gnoll carried her off. These were monsters who attacked! They were brainless data constructs with health bars floating over their stupid bodies. They were not supposed to have the intelligence to scoop her off her feet and carry her somewhere! Disgusted by what she experienced, Ray made a move to summon her menu and log out. But the gnoll had her arms pinned in just the right way, making even clencing and unclenching a fist difficult. It took her a full ten minutes to open her HUD, and when she finally maneuvered to the log out option, horror struck her. "Can't log out?" she muttered under her breath. Because she was in combat, or so the popup said. "This isn't combat! This is kidnapping!" For good measure, she beat her newly freed fist against the gnoll's sturdy body, but if he felt it, he gave no indication. Rayleigh had taken to sulking when the voice caught her attention. "Hey!" she called to him, eager to see a friendly face. She had not spent enough time in the game to distinguish NPCs from players, but in that moment, it did not matter. If the guy could distract the gnolls long enough for her to run for it, she could get out of the combat zone, and log out. Then, she would drink a beer, take a long shower, and try to burn the feeling of the gnoll's hands off her skin. The gnoll who had been struck by the fireball took a lumbering step back, clawing at its face. His companion, the one who held Rayleigh, opted for retaliation. With a low growl of anger, the beast leaped. In that moment of motion, Ray was able to catch sight of her rescuer. Or, more appropriately, rescuers. There were two of them?
Joen stood his ground and watched the two creatures closely, it appeared their humanoid form was for more than just show, they way they moved in response to his attack showed a level of intelligence that he hadn't expected to find in an NPC monster. He watched as the Grass Gnoll that had received his opening fireball to its face stumbled backwards from its force which caused its companion, the one still clutching the female tightly, to launched itself towards him which brought a small smile to his face. Joen watched the look of confusion spread across not only the face of the gnoll but that of the female as well as his body suddenly duplicated during their travels through the air. The gnoll came down hard expecting to crushing the Yladian under the weight of its body, however much to its surprise it did nothing more than crash down upon the grass earth of the field. Reaching into the folds of his robes right sleeve Joen withdrew a slender wand from within, a wand that he had crafted himself from ash-wood with a bone core, and shoved the tip of the wand into the gnolls mouth "Tangus", as soon as the word left his mouth a stream of fire flared to life and poured down the throat of the creature for a second viciously searing the internal flesh of the gnoll. As the fire died down the muscles of the gnoll went limp, releasing its grip upon the female as the gnoll slumped over dead. Turning his attention away from the dead creature Joen smiled slightly at the now free female "Hello there, name is Joen Panelis", he had forgotten all about the second gnoll only having been reminded that it was there by a very large and powerful fist connecting with the side of his face with enough force to lift him from his feet and throw him through the air almost a yard. Joen crashed onto the grassy plain and rolled several times before coming to a stop and a soft pained groan escaped his lips "Ow, that sucked"
