Private - An Over-Complicated Reunion

Rivers looked around for any sign of his friend. It really didn't help that you could change your appearance to be anything you wanted in this game. It also didn't help that they hadn't traded usernames. Really, they hadn't specified anything but a rough meeting time and place.

I know I should've asked for more information, but Zin seemed so busy.

Maybe he should log out and text his friend. That'd probably be easier. But what if doing that meant he missed the meeting and Zin wasted his time? Would Zin even see the message if he sent it now? Surely not if Zin was already logged onto Terrasphere. Ugh, this was bad.

Luckily, they'd decided to meet at the market, so Rivers could look at a bunch of weapons that he could not yet afford. He'd tried out some spears and lance to get a feel for their weight when the shopkeepers assured him that it wasn't a bother. He'd looked at some armor to see how much it would run him to buy a set of protection. But...that only lasted so long. Maybe he shouldn't have gotten to the meeting place an hour early. But, what if Zin had gotten there early and wasted his time?! That'd be terrible.

So, Rivers was content to wait. Rivers waited well beyond the meeting time. He'd looked at the same lances and armor several times but there was nothing new about them. After looking at the same medium-weight armor for the fifteenth time, Rivers turned but stubbed his toe on the leg of the display table. "Fuckshit," he cursed.

 

Fashionably late... How long does that phrase mean exactly? Raid wondered this as he stood propped against a large tree just outside of Honeyhome Village. His friend Theo had told him about acquiring Terrasphere and even though Raid was hesitant to tell his friends IRL about owning it as well, Theo's excitement had been so intoxicating Raid couldn't help but confess to having it as well. He told his friend that they should meet in Honeyhome village today, as it was the closest safe zone he knew of to in the spawn zone.

Raid looked up to the sky admiring the realistic view for a moment before opening his HUD to look at the time. Perhaps he would look up how long it should be later tonight.

Hmm... Fifteen minutes late seems long enough.

Raid pushed off the tree he was leaning on and began walking toward the village. It was a small quiet town, a few NPCs walked about living a seemingly normal life doing mundane things. He noted the bee hives scattered about the town as he walked toward the market where they were to meet.

I bet there is some NPC that wants you to collect the honey from those hives...

Soon, raid found himself in the market and looked around. A few players seemed to be there looking various items at the shops, as well as NPCs going about their bussness.

Not Theo, not Theo, not... wait shit!

It had totally escaped his mind. How could he have been so careless? Raid had no idea what Theo's In game name was! Trying not to look panicked Raid walked forward and began to causally scan the players for some sign that they were Theo. He had know Theo for years, surely this wouldn't be too hard. There was a couple of players that looked like they might fit Theo's aesthetic but Raid really was not sure. Just as he was about to say screw it and call out Theo's name Raid caught a lucky break. One of the players turned from the stall he was at and stubbed his toe so hard he took a point of damage.

"Fuckshit!"

That's a classic Theo phrase Raid thought to himself immediately feeling relived he was not going to have to do something as embarrassing as call out his friends name to find him. Quickly he made his way to Theo and said in the most casual voice he could muster.

Still getting used to the walking mechanics Theo?

 

"Still getting used to the walking mechanics Theo?"

Rivers's head pivoted to see a tall, silver-haired man looking right at him. Was that Zin? It looked like a character Zin would make. They traded facial expressions for a second as the pair sized each other up. Yeah. That was Zin. Rivers donned a broad grin. "Hiya Zin! How're you?" After waiting for his friend to respond, Rivers looked around the market area which was full of players like them.

"Wanna move a bit away from the city? There's a lot of people around." Rivers failed to mention that a driving factor for leaving the market was to drive away the temptation of doing shady things so he could afford a pair of spears.

Rivers then walked away from the market towards the coast. He'd spent too much time in the forest lately. He couldn't look at dogs the same again after fighting so many wolves... On the way, Rivers did his best to make small talk before arriving at the coast together.

"Oh! We should trade player names. In this world I go by Rivers Asteire. What about you? Here actually...can we add each other as friends?" Rivers wasn't familiar with the interface for Terrasphere but in most MMOs you had a friendslist so you could see when people were online. That'd be convenient. That way it wouldn't be an inconvenience to Zin to know when he was online.

"How did you spec your character out? You generally go with mages right? I bet you took Black Magic." Rivers raised his eyebrows. They'd been friends for years and had played several games together. It was no secret that Zin played magic users and Theo played physical damage users. This was a bit new for Theo though, as he wasn't playing a ranged character for the first time in years. Playing DPS in MOBAs had been fun but stressful; he was looking forward to doing dumb melee things in this game. Also, swinging a pair of heavy lances looked a lot cooler than firing arrows or shooting guns. There was just no getting around that. And why play the game if you weren't going to look cool?

"I wonder how many girls play this game..." he thought aloud. It was no secret to Zin that Theo had been trying to find a girlfriend for a while now. Maybe it was a secret that he was turning to online means to do so now. But...maybe Theo only thought it was a secret.

 

Raid and the character he assumed was his friend stared at each other for a moment. Theo's face quickly lit up with recognition and Raid cracked a half smile to his old friend.

"Hiya Zin! How're you?"

Raid silently let out a sigh of relief as his friend greeted him. That was close to being extremely embarrassing. Raid causally glanced around to see if anyone was paying any mind to their conversation or presence. While it was true they were so low level no one would care about either of them, Raid just didn't want his real name attached to his account for... various reasons.

Not bad, just got here.

Theo looked at some of the nearby players seemingly concerned with the amount of people around as well, then turned back to raid,

"Wanna move a bit away from the city? There's a lot of people around."

That worked for Raid, he simply nodded and the two of them headed of toward the coast. As they walked they talk about various intricacies of the game they had discovered, as well as their early interactions with the players here so far.

As they talked Raid began to feel guilty, not once had Theo made mention of Raid's being late to their meeting. Perhaps he had thought the confusion regarding their names had been the problem. Regardless Raid decided he was going to have to tone down the edgy cool thing so he didn't just come off as an "asshat" as Theo may put it. Especially with people he already knew IRL.

"Oh! We should trade player names. In this world I go by Rivers Asteire. What about you? Here actually...can we add each other as friends?"

Theo stopped as he stared into his HUD trying to figure out how to add him.

Umm.. Yeah, we should be able to do that... I'm Raid. Don't laugh I see that look.

Theo only smiled and after a moment of the two of them messing with their HUD they both successful added each other. After that was settled Theo raised his eyebrows and asked,

"How did you spec your character out? You generally go with mages right? I bet you took Black Magic."

Well, it was no secret he had a preference to Magical classes, though Raid always appreciated a good gunslinger/steampunk character as well. Magic classes though were by far his specialty. Here he hoped to play as a mysterious spell caster that would eventually become strong enough that his presence alone was one that rivaled an entire raid party. He looked back at his friend and nodded.

Yes I did, though I also took Pyromancy and Spellbane. I currently plan to focus Pyromancy, but we will see how the game goes.

Raid inspected Rivers now to try and figure out what he was playing as this time. He never seemed to go for tanks, the large slow mountains of health and armor didn't seem to fit his fantasy. No, he usually went for roguish or ranged classes. As Raid saw no bow, he was leaning toward some kind of rogue this time. As raid opened his mouth to ask for confirmation Theo muttered,

"I wonder how many girls play this game..."

Raid resisted the urge to audibly sigh, his friend was a man that was desperate to find a connection with a person of the opposite sex. Rivers had found himself in trouble multiple times offline and online to that end. In the last game they had played Rivers had a "secret" girlfriend online. It hadn't ended well. Raid could only imagine in a game like this Rivers could be really taken advantage of if he wasn't careful. Still, it wasn't up to Zin to make him stop or be more cautious and it certainly wasn't Raid's concern. So he simply shrugged,

I don't have any statistics, but the game is so popular there is no doubt there is a good number girls that play the game... May be hard to be certain here though, considering the avatar options.

As Rivers responded Raid thought of how he could change the subject. He was much more interested in advancing Raid's goals, than contemplating the female population on the servers. Currently Raid was pathetically broke and his levels were not at all better. They needed to find something to do to help fix that.

Rivers, have you haven't taken on any quests yet right? we should look into finding one to accept. It should help us gain experience and gold. Plus if it requires a larger party it will be a good time to, um meet people.

With River's agreement Raid looked around them, he wasn't sure they would be able to find a quest just sitting out here near the coast. Perhaps they should head back to the town to find one.

Heh, maybe we will fetch some honey for an old lady or something...

So, I guess the first obvious step is to find a quest, perhaps that town will have something... Unless you know of something else or feel like looking around more?

 

"Umm.. Yeah, we should be able to do that... I'm Raid. Don't laugh I see that look."

Rivers tried to suppress his smirk. "I didn't say anything." That was "edgy" for like no reason. But, Zin definitely knew that. Hell, he probably did that on purpose to seem "edgy". Which was odd, why wouldn't you want to seem friendly? But, Rivers wouldn't bother Raid with the philosophical questions. Raid had his reasons and that was good enough for Rivers. Well, after some teasing that was good enough for Rivers. But, they'd have plenty of time to taunt each other.

"Yes I did, though I also took Pyromancy and Spellbane. I currently plan to focus Pyromancy, but we will see how the game goes."

"Spellbane? Isn't that a defensive Mastery? Doesn't that uhhhhh...mess with the whole glass cannon thing you've got going on? Like...you can't put some armor on a glass cannon...it'll break."

Rivers laughed. It really wasn't often he saw his friend worry about defense...like at all. Generally, he just played burst mages and after he did his thing, he'd die. But, in Terrasphere it was a permanent effect to die, so maybe that would explain the caution. Rivers had also taken a defensive mastery, but that was less surprising. He tended to air towards the timid side of things despite gravitating towards damage roles.

"Rivers, have you haven't taken on any quests yet right? we should look into finding one to accept. It should help us gain experience and gold. Plus if it requires a larger party it will be a good time to, um meet people."

Rivers thought for a second. Would he like doing a quest right now? It wasn't like he had anything else to do...and some money and levels would definitely help him out. It was hard to be a hero when you were low-leveled and broke. So, that sounded fair. Rivers knew some people he could maybe contact from his earlier adventure in the forest. Perhaps Aristides, Futaba, or Lin would like to do a quest with him and Raid. Then again, it might be weird for Raid to party with Rivers and someone Rivers had already met. It might feel like someone was getting third wheeled there, and Rivers didn't want anyone to feel excluded.

"That sounds fun! I guess we should probably head back towards the town to grab a quest. I met some people earlier I could contact if you want, or we could try to find some new people if you want. I'm fine with either. Let's head back!"

Rivers started the walk back to the town so they could claim a quest to do. He wondered what sorts of quests this game had. Hopefully not kill quests given neither of them had a weapon...or considerable masteries. But maybe there was some diplomacy or fetch quests they could that were more suited to beginners. That'd be ideal. Surely this game wouldn't start you off without a weapon and make you do kill quests to level up? That just wouldn't be fair...

 

"Spellbane? Isn't that a defensive Mastery? Doesn't that uhhhhh...mess with the whole glass cannon thing you've got going on? Like...you can't put some armor on a glass cannon...it'll break."

It seemed obvious to Raid that any good Magic caster would be able to cancel another Mage's spells. He hadn't even considered taking spellbane for the ability to wear armor or anything like that.

"No... It just felt like it fit the aesthetic of this character. I'm going for a Mage, not necessarily an intentional glass cannon."

After Raid brought up questing, Rivers considered it for a moment before responding. It seemed as though he was into the idea because he lit up once more responding with,

"That sounds fun! I guess we should probably head back towards the town to grab a quest. I met some people earlier I could contact if you want, or we could try to find some new people if you want. I'm fine with either. Let's head back!"

That worked for Raid, he didn't mind how they got more players to join them, so long as they joined. If Rivers knew people already that just meant they wouldn't have to look as hard.

"Sure, if you have friends you want to bring in feel free. I don't mind at all. Go ahead and message them or something and see if they are interested."

The Two of them quickly made their way back to Honeyhome Village. There Raid waited to see if Rivers friends would be showing up or if they would have to find someone else.