Pamela finished the final adjustments to the character model, finally satisfied with how she was. She was nervous, but determined to play. She knew, somehow, this game would help her and make her happier in life. She took a deep breath, listening for any footsteps in the hall, before entering the game proper for the first time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As she materialized, Yuca had one brief look around, before she began stumbling down the side of a mountain. She maintained balance for only a moment, before falling and rolling down till she stopped on a cliff jutting outward from the side of the mountain. At least she now knew the rumors about this game literally hurting were not false. She took a moment to rub her aching body, suppressing moans of pain, before standing and looking out over the scenery, and being greeted by lush green forests and tall snow peaked mountains. It was more beautiful than she thought it would be. Maybe it would be worth the pain of playing if she could feel more free here.
Valdrada sighed and stood up from the log she was sitting on, giving her arms and legs a good stretch as she did so. "Need to get moving," she muttered to herself, looking up at the mountain ahead of her. She'd agreed to help some a nearby village with a missing person request. Apparently there was a miner who had taken a break a day ago by going out for a walk in the nearby forest. But, he didn't return, and his family and friends got worried. Picking up her sword and shield, she started making her way up the mountain path. The miners were at work at the moment, so she had to go up to ask them some questions first before setting off into the forest. The mine shouldn't be too far away now- Huh? Was that someone up ahead? Craning her neck up, Val squinted as she tried to see who it was. White hair and pointed cat-like ears, similar to hers. Hmm. Well, someone probably wouldn't be up on the mountain if they also weren't heading to the same mine, so maybe the stranger was also doing this quest. Well, one way to find out. "Uh, hi!" Val called, raising her shield hand to wave. "What are you doing up here?" @Yuca Shimi
Yuca blinked out of her wonder, and looked around to see who was calling to who. It turns out there was a blue haired cat person, almost a child by the looks of it, and she waved back. "Oh, um hello! I was.... Just getting a good look around! I haven't been to this place yet, and thought I'd get a view above so I could decide where to go next!" Though partially a lie, it wasn't completely. "Wh-what brings you here? Are you treasure hunting, or searching for some beast to slay?" She was genuinely curious, and didn't know if this was normally how someone appeared in game. She found it strange she couldn't see a name over the other person's head or anything, and decided to introduce herself the normal way, "I'm P- I mean, Yuca. Yuca Shimi." She almost gave her real name instead of her character name. She would need to remember that in the future.
Well, there went that idea. Hmm, so what was this person doing up here? She continued walking up until she was at around the same level as- as, Yuca, okay. Yuca Shimi, she'd remember that. Now at least they wouldn't have to shout at each other. "Oh, okay." Valdrada tilted her head, and glanced back down the mountain. It was true that the sight of the forest spreading out below them was magnificent. Hmm. Maybe Yuca had the right idea about this all. The next time Val had a bit of a break, maybe she'd find a mountain and just enjoy the view. "My name's Valdrada." Now she really was starting to get used to her in-game name. The first few times she tried introducing herself, she tripped up, and it took her forever to learn how to respond to the name when someone called her. "But just Val is fine. I'm going to the mine over there," Val said, pointing in the vague direction. "A miner went missing from a nearby village, so I'm going to ask if anyone would have an idea of where he went." Mulling it over a bit, Val looked up at Yuca. Well... She did want to do this request by herself, to prove that she could. But, it was quite the big forest down there, as she now realized after looking down on it. "Do you want to help? I don't know if I'll be able to find him by myself." @Yuca Shimi
She listened to what Val had to say, and nodded every so often. "Oh, that's a wonderful thing to do! Yes, I will join you! I hope they are not hurt!" She was excited and happy to have someone to follow around so she could learn how to do everything. She would follow behind whenever Val would begin walking again. "Do you know how long the miner has been missing?" She was unaware of how quests worked here, and wasn't sure if it was a random question or a pregenerated one from the beginning of the game. She looked around a lot as they went, taking in all the sights and sounds, stumbling every once in a while due to her not paying attention to her footing, but not falling this time around. @Valdrada
"Okay! The mine is just nearby so it won't take long." So, looks like they were a party of two for this mission. All the better for getting this done, quickly, she supposed. Val began leading the way. "Since yesterday, I think." Valdrada glanced back down, wondering if she could see the village through here. Probably not, it was probably covered by all the trees. "I was just passing through this part of Brisshal but I saw some people out like they were looking for someone. His name is Matias Smithwick and his family asked if I could find him." Val shrugged. She had helped some people a few times before, and these little jobs never really started out the same way. They were small things like people asking for help in getting rid of a monster that was wandering too close to their house, or finding a missing item, or gathering some materials in the woods. Nothing that was too difficult to do or get to. Which was very good, since there weren't really any markers that she could see on her menus to keep track of all the requests. That made getting directions from all the NPCs even more important. There would be nothing worse or more embarrassing than getting lost on her way to a routine little job like this one. As they approached the mine, the sound of clanking tools grew louder. "That should be it," Val said, perking up. "I guess everyone's working inside. We should ask them if they would have any idea of where he could go." @Yuca Shimi
She looked in the direction she was pointing, and after only a moment, she could hear the clinking and clanging of shovels and pickaxes on stone. It was different from how she thought it would sound, louder, but the ringing of each still seemed more real than she would have thought possible for a game. "Wonderful! Then let us hurry, the sooner we can find this... Matias Smithwick, was it? Well, the more likely he will be ok!" She stumbled on his name, trying to get it right. She didn't want to get information on a guy who just so happened to have a similar name, after all. She would walk with Valdrada up to the mouth or the mine, and greet any standing outside. "Hello! We are adventurers seeking information about a man who has recently gone lost. He works here normally, so we've been told." She would let Val give any other details about the person, as she wasn't even confident she knew the missing persons name correctly. @Valdrada
"Uh, hi!" Val said, peeking in through the mine entrance. There weren't very many miners around here, probably because most of them were still working deeper inside, but she saw a few people around. Hopefully they'd have some information they could use to narrow down the scope of their search. A few workers looked up at the greeting, and Val supposed that was her cue to walk a bit closer. She made her way towards a stout-looking Faerin man who seemed the most approachable of the lot. "We just came from the village," Valdrada began, "and um, we heard that Matias Smithwick went missing yesterday. His family asked us to find him. Do you know if there's anywhere he would like to go?" "Mat, huh?" The man scratched at his head, pushing his brightly-colored mining helmet to the side. "Well, yeah, guess he didn't come in today." A few more miners had walked over and began talking among each other, discussing that they hadn't noticed Matias anywhere that morning. After a brief discussion, the man turned back to Val and Yuca. "You could try the lake nearby. Sometimes he likes to go fishing or take a little dip to cool down. Though, not really the time of year for it, what with it still being winter and all." Hmm. A lake. Having a landmark to start from would be good. She looked at Yuca, then back to the man. "Thank you," she said, bowing her head slightly. "We'll go look there first!" "Good luck to the both of ya," the man said, waving them off. "When you find him, tell him to get back to work! We've had to pick up the slack with him gone." With a chuckle, he pulled his helmet back on and turned back to head deeper into the mineshaft. That left Val and Yuca standing by the entrance. "So, I guess we should go?" Val said, looking at the woman. @Yuca Shimi
"Thank you sir!" She would call out to the man as he turned to leave. She looked back at her Companion, and nodded, "Yes, lets! ... Do you know where the lake is? I do not recall seeing it when I looked out over the forest earlier." She hadn't been looking for long, but perhaps her companion had seen something. She let her lead the way, following close behind, and again observing the area and scenery around them. "Do you think he will be at the lake? He did say that it wasn't the time to be swimming, being Winter..." She frowned, hoping they didn't find a frozen body of the man they were looking for. That would be a sad end to her first rescue mission in this new place. @Valdrada
"I think I heard some people talking about the lake at the village. It didn't sound like it was very far," she said, ears twitching as she tried hard to remember. She hadn't seen a lake from the cliffside, but that sounded about right. She did recall seeing a board of drying fish in the village, so that meant there had to be fishmongers, and that meant that the lake couldn't be too far away. So, yes! Reasonably confident, Val nodded decisively. "Yeah, we can get to it. I can find the way there." As for Yuca's other question, though. Valdrada frowned. "Maybe... I don't think he'd be swimming. You'd have to be really weird to want to go swimming when it's still this cold. Maybe he got lost...?" Her half-hearted attempt at thinking of a reason Matias hadn't returned fell flat. What kind of person got lost in a place where they'd lived their whole life? She tried to rally again, "But I'm sure we'll find him! So let's go!" With that, Valdrada began leading the way down the mountain path. The trek downwards wasn't that long, so they were quickly making their way into the trees before long. Out of reflex, she got her sword and shield ready. Brisshal was apparently not as dangerous as other places, but she still remembered a time when a wolf jumped out at her as she was just minding her own business. It never hurt to be prepared. She looked towards Yuca. "Do you have a weapon?" @Yuca Shimi
"Alright!" she called as she followed enthusiastically down the mountain side. She didn't trip nearly as much this time around, and as they entered the forest, everything got a little darker, with patches of light poking through the canopy here and there. She blinked at the question of weapons, and looked herself over before responding, "Oh, um, technically no, but I should be ok! I can still protect myself!" So she believed, and just to make sure, she checked her keyboard and made sure her fingers were on the right keys for just in case she needed to do anything right away. After that quick check, she looked back to Valdrada and smiled innocently, though she felt kinda awkward, what with her only having basic cloth starting clothes, and she having at least some armor. But, if her build was at least ok, she shouldn't need heavy armor like that to keep herself safe, or so she hoped. @Valdrada
No weapon? Well, that didn't sound good. But, Yuca seemed relatively confident about her ability to defend herself. "So do you know like, kung fu or something like that?" She'd definitely seen other people in the game get into fights with their bare hands and feet a few times, her friend/mentor included. Just privately, Val thought that they were half-crazy, but she wasn't about to say that out loud. She'd just be over here with her boring old sword and shield, thank you very much. But, anyway, that wasn't really important right now. Right now, Val just had to focus on getting them to that lake! The village wasn't too far from the mountains, so heading in that general direction wasn't too hard. There was even a little worn dirt path, the crushed grass easy to spot. "We're not too far from the village now," Val said after a while of walking. "So the lake shouldn't be that far either..." They could probably begin to circle around- wait, what was that faint noise in the distance? Valdrada's catlike ears began to twitch as she tried pinpointing the noise. It was faint, but that was definitely the sound of running water. So, a river was nearby! That had to lead into a lake somewhere, right?! "Do you hear that?" Val said excitedly, looking to Yuca. "There's a river somewhere close, so if we follow it, we should be able to get to the lake!" @Yuca Shimi
After waiting and listening, Yuca smiled and nodded, also hearing it. "That is sound reasoning! we should be there in no time at all!" It was nice being able to find such an easy way to their destination, it was almost like it was meant to happen this way. As they got closer to the river, she saw there were some small and a few large rocks jutting from the ground near the waters edge. She was about to go climb on one, but stopped short, her ears twitching slightly. There was more sounds than just the river running by, but it was hard to distinguish. She waited and watched, unsure of where it was coming from. "I... I think the rocks are.... clicking?" She looked around, and picked up a small stick, and threw it at the rocks,wondering if they would do anything, or at least stop. Instead, they got up, and revealed themselves to be crabs blending in with some real rocks. They were surprisingly large, and though the smaller ones ran off, some of the bigger ones made their way towards them, claws snapping. Taking a step back, she would set her feet and lift her arms in a readying stance. "I-I guess we have to defend ourselves." She was nervous, hoping her companion would give her the confidence to crack a few shells. She was going to try not to let her first fight end with her doing nothing at all. @Valdrada
Valdrada should have known by now that things never turned out so easily. Thanks to Yuca's quick thinking, they were able to discover the crabs before they got too close. Judging from how the crabs blended in with the rocks, it was pretty likely that they camouflaged so they could ambush their prey. And, judging from their size, a pair of little adventurers seemed like the perfect meal for those crabs. "Yeah, guess so." Val held up her arms and settled in a stance. Fighting by a riverside was going to be tricky, since they would have to watch their footing: rocks worn down over time from the coursing waters until they were smooth and slick, and mud at the banks that could bog them down. Well, Valdrada was getting confident in her abilities after a while. Swinging about a sword wasn't too difficult, and with her shield she could stay relatively protected as she fought. A few crabs were nothing compared to a pack of aggressive wolves, or a giant angry bear, or any of the other monsters that could be lurking in Brisshal's woods. A quick glance over them using Investigation Mode showed that her initial assessment was pretty spot on. The names of the creatures, that the game helpfully identified as Floodplain Crabs, were lit up a decently dark blue: a Mild threat level. From a quick glance, it didn't seem like they had that much HP either. "These guys should be easy!" Val chirped, getting ready to meet the crabs head on. "And there's not too many of them. We can fight them one at a time and I can use my shield to keep the rest of them away, so we don't get surrounded." Brief battle plan formed, Val started making her way to meet their foes. @Yuca Shimi
Yuca nodded, "Got it! L-lets do this!" She followed behind her ally, and then next to her, trying to watch her footing as she did, and as the first crab came up to them, she stopped and didn't know what to do for a moment, but in a panic, thrust a fist in a downward slamming motion towards it, closing her eyes as she did. She didn't know what she was doing, she just hoped it would do something. She drew her hand away quickly after the impact, the edge of her fist stinging from the impact, but at least there was a cracking sound when she did it. She opened to see the crab wasn't dead, but had a visible splintering in its shell, though it was small. It snapped at her, and she scrambled back as it did, slipping but not falling, doing her best to avoid the claws grip. @Valdrada
