Dempsey sat cross legged on a rough-hewn bench that was part of a semi permanent camp site that had since been left dormant and abandoned. The ring of stones that had once been a firepit sat to her left, and a square patch of yellow grass to her right marked where a tent once stood for a good while. She was in a slightly sour mood, having lost a bet to join the "Help a new player" quest that most avoided like the plague. Of all things, it was a friend of hers and the two were idly musing on the outcome of a scuffle between two pigeons over a scrap of bread. The exchange went like this; "My bird is kicking your birds ass" "Bet me then!" "Seven gold!" "Newbie quest, Done!" "Fuck!" And with that her fate was sealed. The dreaded newbie quest meant joining a random queue and helping a new player complete a handful of beginner level quests. Not only was it boring, but the questions never stopped, and the reward Would be worth it if it ever took as long as the description said it would. Savvy new players would load up on every quest they could before taking on the "help a beginner quest" and then cherry pick the most tedious or time consuming ones to do with their new friends. Dempsey was understandably sour as she waited for the games matchmaking system to find her a partner. It was early in the morning when she began her vigil, and it shouldn't take too long now. Just as she was pondering this, an unknown face was added to her party, along with the redundant notification that her instance of the "help a beginner" quest had begin, and that it was, in fact repeatable. She dismissed the notification with an irritated gesture and took off in the direction her overlay indicated her new friend was in. At least she sounded tolerable based on first impression. Maybe, JUST maybe, she would get lucky, and this would go smoothly. Probably not though. Just in case, she brought snacks and a bottle of liquor. @Alia
Alia wasn't really sure why she had cued into the beginner questing area but since she had gotten some Tips from Seto and because he was offline at the moment and she didn't feel like full on grinding she figured she might as well do some of the beginner quests. They couldn't be that hard and plus it wasn't like she didn't need a few of the things that came out of the beginner quests right. She just hoped that the person she was matched with wouldn't be to overly excited to help her and to underly excited though a part of her was pretty sure most players that had been in the game longer would rather they didn't have to cue up for something like this. She knew she wasn't really all that good with certain people but hey it would allow her to meet someone knew and other then Seto and Catherina she knew no one else playing. So she had to bite the bullet right? She shrugged it off and she half jumped being lost in her own thoughts when it told her she had a partner. The funny thing about the match up system. It told you were the other was and it just so happened that they both started walking at the same time and when Alia noticed this she paused thinking she might as well stay in one spot and at least she wasn't just standing around in an area where they could get trampled or where there were too many overly excited and annoying people hanging out. If she was going to finish with these quests she might as well be quick about it right. When she noticed the dot on her overlay getting closer she looked up and stopped watching it. She was standing near a stand on the outskirts to keep away from people. At least today was a day off at home and she didn't have to make herself all pretty for anything there which meant she could get through as many beginner quests as she wanted to get through hopefully with someone helping her out. @Dempsey Fabijain
Dempsey reached the pointer on her map and saw Alia standing there by herself, clad in typical beginner gear and a somewhat pensive look on her face. Dempsey decided to get right to it, stepping close and waving. She put on her best "Trying to look friendly and approachable" face as she introduced herself. The girl looked young, and she'd have to ask about that later, but she was also reasonably cute, and having some eye candy to tag along was never a bad thing. You couldn't imagine how many new players try TOO hard to make their avatars attractive, and wind up simply creating a disturbing self parody of their own ideal of beauty. This girl was actually almost plain looking, with just enough exotic looking features to catch her interest. She was dressed in her regular adventuring gear, leather chest armor with a mix and match assortment of cloth pieces to aid her mobility and help her move silently when the situation called for it. Based on the other players equipment and two handed weapon, she doubted she'd have much call for stealth today, but one never knew, and she preferred to always be prepared. "So hey. I'm here. If you have any questions, let me know before we get started. I don't want to sound too harsh, but I don't get credit for completing this if you die... so If there's anything on your mind, or any questions, Let's take care of that first. It's actually kind of hard to get killed in this zone, but somehow people manage it every day." She finished by tilting her head to the side with a hint of a curious expression. She didn't want to come off as rude or impatient, because she'd gotten herself into this mess on her own and that wasn't the girls fault. As an afterthought, she chimed in once again. "Oh, right. I'm Dempsey. who are you?" @Alia
Alia was watching for a wave of something. When it came she smiled slightly. Or course this was only because she was actually kind and really kind. The feline that came up to her was actually looking rather friendly though she could tell she was trying too. She took a moment and being blunt as she usually was. "you don't need to try to act like anything. I know this isn't something that many of the players that have been in here longer like doing. I don't really blame you either. But thanks for actually showing up." She gave her a smile. She didn't like it when people acted. And most of the time she could see right through. Call it the fact that she had to pay attention to detail. Attention to the way people moved and how they blocked themselves or didn't block themselves. She wouldn't be a strategist or even a good swordswoman if she didn't know that. Dempsey was dressed in leather chest armor and a mix match of clothing pieces that got Alia wondering. And when Dempsey was done speaking and finally giving her name. She wouldn't have ever thought of what her first impression might have seemed like to Dempsey. Alia had made her avatar to look somewhat like her but not overly exotic or anything like that because she found no reason to do so. She had no idea that in the fact that she looked so plain she was actually pretty to anyone. That just by passed her completely. As far as the question went though she did have a few. And she would of course give her name first. "Alia, and its a pleasure to meet you Dempsey. That's a unique name. Where did you happen to get your leather chest armor?" She had a few others but she didn't want to go through too many at a time. "If its hard to get killed in this zone, what might the others be doing wrong that gets them killed regardless?" She had to question that as she wasn't too sure how one would die so easy. She had not died yet herself. @Dempsey Fabijain
Dempsey clucked her tongue and immediately dropped the "super happy to be here" act. She was never good at faking her emotions, and apparently today was no different. She resisted the urge to sigh, and simply started by explaining herself. "You're right. I lost a bet and now I'm here. No reason we can't do this and not have a miserable time while we're at it. It was over a couple birds quarreling, just in case you're curious. The bet, I mean." She looked from side to side out of habit. She'd learned to be cautious, if not downright paranoid while outside the safe zones of city walls and other unprotected regions. Even in the new player areas, dangerous things could happen from time to time. "uhm... I got my armor from other players with the right crafting skill. You can get stuff from doing quests, but it's kind of hard. Get a good set of Poor quality equipment and you should be good to go till you get your fourth mastery. It can be hard saving money early on though. As for your other question, It's hard to do, but people DO manage to get killed here from time to time. The biggest trap people fall into here is they go around thinking that Terrasphere works like a video game, and just because they're in a starting zone means that nothing is a major threat... But it DOES happen every once in a while." She qrung her hands together with a curious expression, wondering if Alia had any more questions. "Want to get started?" @Alia
Alia listened to how Dempsey had gotten herself into having to do something like this. "Where the birds fighting over food by any chance?" She questioned knowing how the birds got back at home. "Best thing to do when they do that is to not bet. It can go any way literally. Back home i've seen a pidgeon kill another pidegon over a crumb." She really didn't understand the birds back a home most of the time. She shook her head and then listened to what the other hand to say noting how she checked the area. Something Alia had been doing herself even if she wasn't making it look completely obvious. She seemed to nod along with what Dempsey had to say about getting at least poor quality equipment from others so she would need to meet some crafters. Other than Seto he had at least set her up with a katana. "well that makes sense. even with it being a beginner area there has to be something challenging if not the monsters others players. Anything can happen. Even I who haven't exactly played many games knows that. Seeing as this game is what we want to make of it or so i hear." she thought for a moment but Dempsey had pretty much answered all the questions that she had at the current moment. She knew how to get good gear if she needed it. She also knew that in this place you found all the beginning quests and all that. And then she also knew how to fight. Maybe not as good as some but she knew how to fight. "Yes let's get started." She opened her menu to make sure to send what she had to Dempsey. @Dempsey Fabijain
She nodded slowly in conformation of the womans first question; her assumption as to the nature of the wager she'd lost being correct. Though her chosen champion had fought valiantly, it's efforts were in vain, and so she was bound by momentary honor to complete the "help a beginner" quest. It wasn't that she minded, and had someone asked, she probably would have done it just for an excuse to kill an afternoon with some light exercise and maybe a laugh or two along the way. she stopped to look over the list of challenges the other woman had already accepted, then made a mental list of the ones she would like to tackle first. The one called "Bad seeds" had given her and her group of newbie adventurers trouble back when she'd attempted it, and decided that a bit of comeuppance was due to the sketchy plant monsters that had nearly killed her the first time around. "Let's do bad seeds. I'd love another whack at those monsters after they almost killed me the first time around. They have a... a vine tangle thingy attack that immobilizes players, and if someone hits it while you're trapped, you usually wind up taking damage too. So, there I was thinking I'd just walk up and beat on the thing when Snap!. Next thing I cant know I'm all wrapped up in vines and I cant move. the pyromancer I was with decided to lob some fireballs at it thinking I wouldn't get hurt for whatever reason... It was a rough day for us all." She looked toward Alia questioningly, wondering if the girl had any objections, or wanted to do something else first. @Alia
Alia was glad when Dempsey nodded in confirmation to her words. She waited as Dempsey looked over the list that she had give her wondering which Dempsey would choose to do. It didn't matter to her. She felt confident enough that she wouldn't get automatically killed in any of them with someone else along but she did know how easy it could be to get in over one's head specially at this stage. And she didn't want to make a fool of herself or anything. So she was going to go with the flow and since Dempsey was helping she'd let Dempsey choose what it was they were going to do. After all that seemed like a fair price to pay for having someone helping her. She listened to what had happened to Dempsey and her group the first time they had tried the quest. she wasn't worried but she blinked and rolled her eyes at the comment about the pyromancer. "Well it certainly sounds that way. And i'm good with starting off on that one. Sounds like you need to get the plant back a little bit and so i'm fine with that. Sounds like fun." She gave her a smile and got ready to head off in the direction of the quest. After all might as well get through as many of them as they could before either one of them needed to sign off. "So just gotta attempt to not get stunned and all should go well right?" She said as she started to move slowly watching around them at first. @Dempsey Fabijain
Dempsey grinned with genuine enthusiasm now, relishing the opportunity to unleash her updated skill set on the compatarively weak plant monsters that ad given her her fist brush with death here in Terraspehre. "Well, I'm assuming you're going for a tanky build, so avoid using taunts so they don't snatch you up. there's some pigs nearby that you can kill if you ahve any abilities that require a corpse... She scratched her head thoughtfully, trying to remember if there's anything else. Oh, last time there was a well right in the middle of the farm. If you're in trouble, jump in there and tread water till I can get a handle on things and come to fish you out. Other than that, it should be easy, yeah." Dempsey took a quick look at her map, then took off in the correct direction. She looked back to Alia, making sure the girl was following, and she whistled as she walked, in much better spirits than she was previously. @Alia
Alia smiled at Dempsey as she looked happy that she could do a number to the plant that had caused her trouble in the first place. She thought for a moment. "Well I don't know if you could call what I do tanky. I am a damage dealer. I don't have any guard skills nor do i have taunts." So that took care of that. she didn't need to taunt anyone. But she was kinda more just a damage dealer and a weapons wielder after all she wielded right not a two handed sword. That was kinda what she was built for. Though she figured she might go that way later. "Okay that makes sense." She said about the well and what could be done if they got into more trouble than they thought. She watched as Dempsey started in the direction that they needed to go. Alia was going to be a duel wielder. She had seen it when she was making her character. so it was why she had what she had. she wanted to be able to fight and fight well and she supposed defend but she didn't have that mastery just yet. She shook it off. They could do this. It was good there was no need for taunts at least form her. She was thinking about what had been explained to her as they walked. "Dempsey how long have you been playing if i may ask?" Thinking that perhaps trying conversation would make the walking go faster. @Dempsey Fabijain
Dempsey listened to Alia speak, then replied with a smile "No worries then. I just never like to assume things. See, if you taunt these things, they all snatch you up with vines, or spray pollen everywhere, and it just makes things more difficult unless you have a proper group to deal with them. We're going to do this the completely wrong way and just run in and start beating on them though, because I feel like it.... I mean if you really want, we can queue up and get a healer and a tank for this, but that's just going to cost us time we don't need to spend." Dempsey started walking after Alia, letting the girl lead the way, both to see how she carried herself, and to have a look at her behind as well. No harm in a peek here and there, right? She didn't think the two would ever hit it off well enough for her to inquire as to Alias preference in intimate partners, and she came across as the type who didn't indulge in-game either way. Alais next question snapped Dempsey back to reality however, and she paused thoughtfully before answering. "Hmm. I'm a little fuzzy on the exact day now, but I want to say that it was only a few days after the game launched, so a while now. Almost a month I think. Why do you ask?" she would tilt her head slightly to the side with curiosity as she finished speaking. @Alia
Alia could understand the need to make sure that they didn't need to worry about things that might have gotten Dempsey and her group hurt the first time. She was actually glad she didn't have taunts it made life a lot easier. At least it did in her mind she might have taunts later but that was besides the point she didn't like the idea of shields in the first place. She listened to how Dempsey wanted to do this and nodded. "Queuing takes to long so let's not and just go in as planned. I mean if I die i die but I highly doubt that will be the case. At least I hope I do have what you told me and the know how to jump back when I need too. Don't gotta worry about rage or anything like that." She laughed a little bit to herself and then really didn't notice all that much that Dempsey was letting her lead. She held herself like anyone keeping an eye on her surroundings and being ready to attack at any moment if need be but not making it look obvious that she was ready for the attack. She knew that there were things other than the monsters and creatures of the region that could kill them. When Dempsey answered her question about how long she smiled. "Well that's longer then I've been in. Was just wondering how long it took some people to get better as opposed to others. I'm still working on getting my skills up. And i've only been in game for likely two weeks less then you but not grinding or on as much thanks to real life." She was always interested in how many people really just were on every moment they could spare to be on. She couldn't be but she stole the time when she needed too and she had done some grinding with Seto so she wasn't completely useless or anything but she was still fairly young to the game and so she was curious if the player with her was as well. But if they had been playing a month they had an advantage on her and that was good. @Dempsey Fabijain
