Open - Into the Mountains

White light swirled through the air as though it were searching for something. After several minutes, the light pooled in the grass at the foot of a mountain surrounded by trees. Slowly, steadily, the white light began to move, writhing upward from its pool into a vaguely humanoid shape. One by one, each limb formed from the center mass that was likely a torso. Two arms, two legs, one head. Its work was done the light faded away, leaving in its place, a girl.

Soft purple hair blew back in a gentle breeze, allowing the gold streaks within it to sparkle brightly in the afternoon sun. Grey cat ears perked up and twitched slightly as she took in her surroundings. In front of her, she could see a large stretch of field that lead toward a mountain path. Quietly, she thought about what she could do. I could use Investigation Mode. As the thought came to her, she tried to remember what she had read in the help menu about that feature.

After several moments of trying to remember, she decided to just go to the tutorial menu. Quickly, she closed a hand into a fist and opened it again, revealing the palm menu. Tentatively, she trawled through it until she found what she was looking for. While she was looking through the menus, she also found her inventory where she saw, and equipped a Worn Grimoire.

As she pressed the equip button, a medium-sized tome materialized in the air in front of her. Surprised, she scrambled to grab it before it dropped to the ground. With a sigh of relief, she clutched the book to her chest. "Alright... Now where do I go?" Her voice was soft, and carried a hint of worry. The game had spawned her near a mountain, so maybe it wanted her to go there?

With a deep breath, she made her way forward. When she reached the foot of the mountain, she heard something strange. Muffled noises. Yelling? For a moment, she hesitated at the edge of the path, unsure if she wanted to continue further. Surely, it was just NPCs getting attacked by some low level mobs.

As if the game was reading her mind, a man dressed in what appeared to be miner's gear came running down the path. What he was running from she couldn't be sure, as she didn't see anything. She watched him as he ran, her bright purple eyes gleaming with curiosity.

When he was several feet from her the man tripped, and tumbled the rest of the way down the path until he was laying face first in the dirt at her feet. "Please. You have to help us." The beginning of his sentence was muffled by the ground, but as he spoke he pulled himself to his feet. The girl was too confused to offer her hand to help him up.

"Help you?"

"Kobolds. They keep attacking us whenever we try to mine. Please. You have to help us." As the man spoke, a dialog popped up in the girl's face.

Level 1 Quest: Protect The Miners

Objective: Defeat 15 Kobolds
Please Note: This quest is best attempted with a party.
Do You Accept?
[Yes] | [No]

​

 

The scent of Brisshal presented something painfully nostalgic to Nalla.

Once, she saw it as the gateway to freedom, to growth, to self betterment. The trap door between powerlessness and potential. The frame from which she transformed from feeble to fervent, from flawed to fluent, from forfeit to forte. She had a significant crown in this place, something she had previously been without.

Now, it the image was not so dreamy. From dream to nightmare, her eyes drooped from the lack of peaceful rest. It now stood, the warden of her cell. The place in which she came into, but could not go out of. As the setting filled her senses, she was taken by the lingering perception of a dog with its tail grabbed. An annoying nagging that pinched the corners of her brain, and brought ache between her eyes.

With a hand on either strap, just before her shoulders, she adjusted the bag upon her back that had come to replace the sub-space inventory pocket she once had. Sauntering through the forest with the excitement of a teenager at a sunshine museum.

She heard the screaming. Her head turned, eyes pointing the direction of the apparent distress. With a sigh, she pursued this sound, worrying for the safety of nearby players. Fortunately, the one that she came upon, @Amelia Tyrin, did not seem to be facing an imminent threat. Other than, of course, the foul presence of a quest dialog. On impulse, the pyromancer nearly attempted to check her palm menu, before agonizingly scoffing at herself for the thought.

A man begged for help, and Nalla pursed her lips. She approached the unknown player that stood before her. Her messy purple hair straggled in front of her face, swept to one side, and sticking up in a spot in the back. With her once clean robes now rugged and somewhat dirtied, she looked more like a fortunate beggar than a dangerous adversary.

"You don't have to help them, you know." She peered at the Felis. "It would probably be safer not to." She bit her lip. "Better not to endanger yourself for them, if you ask me."

 

It was a strange experience. His creation into the world itself was pretty disorienting, but this was even more so - the feeling of the world on him, the sensations that he perceived. As he felt himself in a body which he knew did not exist, he opened his eyes, blinking at the daylight. His eyes adjusted a bit to the light, before shaking his head. He had formed from a pool of light - itself already vanishing into nothingness - and he rose from it in some kind of slumber, his body fully formed and wearing a simple red and black kimono and hakama tied with an orange obi, a simple enough outfit. As he looked into the dying light of the pool he formed from, he saw grey eyes and red hair, and a confident face smirking back. He clenched his fist, delighting in the feeling.

He was in the game.

From what little he gleaned off the instructions, he opened his Palm Menu. His needs were all maxed out, as a newly spawned character. He opened his inventory, studying his gear. A Peasant Outfit, a Notched Wakizashi, and a Kiseru were his only starting equipment.

"Thrifty, huh?"

He equipped the weapon, and the pipe. With a flash of blue and red, a sheath appeared at his side, wooden and simple. Within it rested a wakizashi of fine make...but great wear, notched and chipped along the sharp edge. And between his fingers appeared a kiseru pipe, elaborately carved wood with metal bands fastening it. No leaf to smoke, though; after all, that'd count as a consumable.

Next, he checked his messages. Nothing, save for a greeting from the moderators. He studied his character interface with keen interest, checked his equipment once more and finally, opened the map.

He had been so excited in joining the game that he almost completely forgot to study his location. An empty field was where he stood, nothing around him for miles. Neither an NPC to greet nor another player. But of course, player traffic was low, with the game being so carefully distributed.

He checked the map once more. "Brisshal, and a path along the mountains to...Maithe Woodlands, and then Honeyhome. That's three whole zones before...gah, never mind." He didn't want to break the immersion. He let his mind sink, and that of Cyriac Felix rise up to take its place.

And Felix smirked, making his way briskly to the mountain foothills. He was keeping an eye on the map, when a notification popped up for him. Another player nearby...no, wait, two now. Excellent! He just hoped that they weren't the violent kind, or at least they don't manage to get the drop on him before he did on them.
With yet another grin, Felix would turn in the direction of the other players. Being literally his first hour into the game, he did not see any reason to act the rogue and try something nasty - perhaps instead, he might find allies, or companions for the road to Honeyhome. As he approached, he could see one of the other players, or adventurers as Felix would call them, stand near what looked like a laborer, getting to his feet. He quickened his pace a bit, placing his (still unlit) kiseru between his lips as he raised his right hand in greeting. And just as he reached earshot, just as he was about to hail them, he heard those magic words.

"...help us."

A shiver ran through his spine. Purpose. Direction. A quest, even if it might feel trivial. He stood, an observer watching the scene. But even as he heard the words of the other player, who seemed to be a lot more used to the game from their battle-worn, if ragged, appearance, he felt the sudden need to play Devil's Advocate.

"They're right, your life is not worth less than those of the threatened...but if you cannot face a scrounge of Kobolds, can you call yourself an adventurer?" He smirked as he studied the man, a miner from his appearance and his future employer from his assumption. "Let me be the fool who accepts then. I hear Kobolds carry precious ores on them, and I find myself lacking any form of legal tender to spend on the next town..."

 

After a moment of thinking, Amelia was just about to press [Yes] when she heard the voice of another player. Curious, the Felis turned to look upon the new face. It seemed a more experienced player had happened upon her. "Oh! Hello!" She greeted the other player warmly, a smile forming on her lightly glossed lips. She knew that it was evident that she was a new player, as her cloth garments were immaculate, even her leather boots had nary a trace of dirt on the soles.

"I know I don't have to help them, but what would be the point of playing this game if I didn't want to experience it?" Amelia's question was an innocent one, though shortly thereafter she realized she had inadvertently talked over another individual. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She apologized quickly, her hand coming to rest on the back of her head, an embarrassed blush coloring her cheeks as she turned to look at yet another new face.

"Well, it seems like I'm not the only one who wants to take part, and the dialog does say that this is better undertaken as a party." She smiled at the other two players. "Would you like to join me?" As she asked, she gestured toward where the dialog was floating in the air. The issuing NPC had long since stopped speaking, and was simply standing there, waiting on their decision. Whilst she waited for the other two to answer her, her mind wandered to the programming that made TerraSphere up.

Interally, she squealed with excitement. She was going to get to experience such an advanced game up close and personal. The girl couldn't be more enthusiastic if she tried.

"Oh, before I forget! I'm Amelia. It's nice to meet you both." A small, excited giggle escaped her lips as she finally introduced herself.

She was such a noob.

 

To be an adventurer... Hm. Nalla reached a hand up to rub one of her sleep deprived eyes. The dry iris was etched with red lines from the inner corner towards the center, evidence of an unhealthy lifestyle. Once, she had strived for that title. Well, to be less specific, she had wished to be a hero, rather than an adventurer, but one might say those terms were synonymous. Yet, this was less of a game to her now.

It would be safer not to. She sighed, reaching a hand behind her head in thought, fingers weaving through her short hair. But what if they get hurt. Her gaze flickered towards the other two. One was an optimist, with some smoking device. He is the one who suggested that adventurer sentiment. If she had met him a couple weeks prior, certainly she would have agreed, with very similar mindsets, but things change with time, and that... That had been changed. You should help them. The other, the first, seemed to be respectful, having been embarrassed by an accident. The imaginary detective inside of the pyromancer gathered these details into an imaginary file.

You can't help them. Another sigh, as she took her bag off of her back, spinning it over a shoulder so it came in front of her. Looking towards @Amelia Tyrin as she introduced herself, Nalla winced and turned her gaze away. The prompt that lingered in the air before this stranger was a painful reminder, a sharp memory that dug like a knife into her brain. They'll just keep playing. Closing her eyes a moment, she took a deep breath, mediating the arguing views. They'll end up like you.

"No." She spoke out loud, in a low tone. One that she hoped the strangers wouldn't hear. "No..." She repeated, a hand slipping into her bag that rested on the ground before her, pulling out her three crimson charms. "I-I can help. I suppose." She didn't agree with going on the mission at all, and she would not participate in the quest unless necessary, but she couldn't knowingly allow these players with... Lackluster equipment to delve into combat. For a once beautiful world, it was packed with dangers.

Kobolds, hah. A fiery voice in her head cackled. Can't say I don't want to cook a couple more of them. As she stood, she took a strap from her bag into her grasp, swinging it over her shoulder. With a hand on either strap, she fixed it once more, her trio of paper weapons floating around her defensively. They don't taste half bad though.

Turning her head away with a twitch, her head tilted to an uncomfortable angle. "H-hush!" She spat quietly to herself, before quickly turning herself back towards the two in front of her. Introductions were in order, definitely. She... Had not a menu above her head to be accessed now.

"I'm Nalla." Eleanor. Fire. Nothing.

@Cyriac Felix

 

Cyriac studied the pair. The first one, tasked with the decision, had similar thoughts, if a bit excited to kick off in her adventure! The other one seemed to have deep misgivings though, and was apparently sincerely worried. The Kobolds could not be so tough as to be undefeatable, yes? Two, or three people working together to ambush them one by one should be enough to get them. He rested his hand on the wakizashi's kashira - an equivalent of the pommel on Western swords - as he tapped his chin, reconsidering the wisdom of his statement with a strong bias for supporting his own.

But the first one was ready to go, and the second one was reluctant to let her go without help. Were these the makings of a party? It seems the decision was his to take, now: to join, or leave, and there's a further decision too of whether it will be reluctantly or eagerly. Besides, he had a feeling that he was holding up the group from proceeding...

Although the apparent tendency of the ragged one to talk to themselves was a bit disturbing, it did not seem truly dangerous. He nodded his head, a slight smile on his face. A subdued and moderated acceptance into the party. Fitting, for a wild card like him.

"Felix. Pleasure." He tipped his head, a short bow. Deciding that they had come to a kind of agreement, he walked over from his place - why had he chosen to stand so inordinately distant from the conversation?! - and gave a jaunty wave as he approached them.

"Time to grill that man for a bit of information! After all, we can't walk in there blind, regardless of whether we're being philanthropic or mercenary here..."

Truth be told, he was already planning and plotting about what rewards he should ask for, on top of whatever he was planning to claim as spoils of battle, but there was also the more practical aspect of where, how many, and perhaps a description of what the Kobolds are, just to refresh.