Dempsey had met with Alonso early in the morning, and after a quick discussion, the two had agreed to travel to Norfova together. Dempsey was in dire need of funding, and assumed that Alonso was in a similar situation, though the slight humor of the 'cats vs dogs' motif was not lost on her. She considered sharing her mirth with her quiet companion, but decided against it. The man wasn't much for humor or conversation in general. The journey to their destination took quite a while, but for the felis duo were both well traveled and in excellent physical condition. More than once, she was tempted to stop and challenge the man to a sparring match, but she figured that could wait until after. It was best that they conserved their energy for the challenge ahead. Their opponents this time were a pack of four blood-cursed wolves. The predators, warped by twisted magics, did little to conceal their presence. Instead, they seemed driven to make their presence known as blatantly impossible. They were already panting and frothing at the mouth from the exertion of charging at the felis duo since having caught their scent on the wind. Dempsey took a glance over to her partner to make sure he was ready for the battle to come, then focused on her mudras, channeling her inner energies into a defensive barrier as she waited for the wolves to close the distance. It was obvious what their intentions were, so she simply prepared and waited. Thrown die: 63 +20 @Alonso Thorlion
Now was a good time to go out and do quests for once. He wandered for the most part, not doing anything of particular note. That needed to change. Part of dealing with the MMO world was accomplishing various tasks and gaining rewards for all that hard work. Lucky for him, or perhaps unlucky depending on how the quest went, Dempsey gave the large Felis an offer to take down some Blood-Cursed Wolves. It was going to be difficult, but some form of challenge was preferred over none at all. He could trust his ally, and if need be the man could always retreat and rethink his plan. Alonso's sole equipment slot in use was his pair of gloves which proved themselves useful in combat thus far. Using his weapon in a more difficult quest would test just how well lower tier items worked. "They wasted no time in coming at us like the flea infested mutts they are," Alonso said, crouching akin to a wrestler's stance. Mobs packed in at least a group of four tended to be weaker as per individual standards. Divide that by two and each of the Felis had equal work to manage. The bearish man waited, eyes narrow as the wolves closed in on the party's location. He did not need to be a complete burden to Dempsey by rushing in and trying to take the beasts down all by himself. Veteran knowledge of gaming was ingrained into the lion like Felis's head at this point too. Once one of the wolves lunged at Alonso, the man swung a right hook, bashing the dog in the face. He was not going to let another one get to him either. Grabbing the wolf he punched by the tail, he let out a grunt and slammed it into its brother. Or sister. He did not know what the familial relations between the two wolves were if at all. Thrown die: 9 +15 @Dempsey Fabijain
Dempsey drew her katar with a cold and purposeful stare as the wolves closed the last of the distance between themselves and the two would-be heroes. Her training in chakras lead her to a different understanding of the flow of battle, and she understood that while Alosno reflected the earth element in his desire to remain steadfast and connected with the earth, she was like water, moving freely and allowing the flow of her own unique energy to carry her body as she weaved past a lunging leap and retaliated with an elbow driven into the muscular back of the attacking wolf. The attack did not cripple the thing as she'd hoped, as the animal was indeed strong, but the thing landed in a heap and felt the force of a savage spinning low-kick before the thing had time to recover. Before she could finish the beast off, the other wolf that had singled her out was on her back, attempting to bear her down under it's weight, but she reached behind and caught the wolf by the scruff of it's neck before it's fangs could penetrate her defensive barer and tumbled forward, using her momentum to toss the thing over her shoulder. the wolf collided with it's prone companion and sprung to it's feet, ready to attack again. Thrown die: 63 +20 @Alonso Thorlion
Both of the wolves rose from the ground, snarling as they began to circle their meat filled prey. Alonso would not go down easy. The canines' nature was still there to an extent, yet distorted like the rest of their mental state, wandering near each other instead of surrounding the Felis. Made them easier to manages and beat down into oblivion. The man deemed it plausible to rush in for the attack, charging at the beasts who barked in retaliation. He clasped both fists together, bashing in the skull of one before spinning around and smacking it into the other. The wolves were sent flying, albeit away from Dempsey and her pack issues, yelping as they landed on the ground. A growl came from Alonso's throat. His targets scrambled back to their feet and rushed at him. Typical. However, the over sized Felis placed his focus on one target, giving the wolf a swift kick to its body. Due to the lack of insight the other wolf leapt at Alonso, chomping down into his side to get at the dense muscle. The man let out a roar, and the moment his health meter went down a peg his mood changed from the quiet, serious man to a vengeance filled monster. "My goddamn patience ends now," the hulking cat man said to the wolf. With his Berserk status starting up, he felt his strength begin to surge. He grabbed the wolf by its snout, tearing it off his body and slamming the mutt into the ground. Thrown die: 74 +15 @Dempsey Fabijain
She turned to see how her partner was faring. though she had her own hands full with her own pair of enemies, she didn't want the mans blood on her hands, and she was fairly confident that she could take on more than her current allotment of adversaries should the man be in need of assistance. Seeing that he was doing well however, she turned to face her opponents. They were both on their feet now, but one was walking with a clear limp. She choose to avoid that one, and focus on the one that posed more of a thread. Normal wolves would circle in either direction and attempt t surround her, but these blood crazed specimen made no such attempt. She backpedaled and formed another odd hand seal in preparation to counter whichever wolf chose to attack first. Both wolves played into her plan perfectly and advanced dlowly on her as she gathered energy for her next attack. The injured one simply snapped and snarled, but the other decided to lunge again, and she met the creature with a powerful burst of white energy which sent the thing flying limp an impressive distance. She recovered from the exertion and slowly stalked towards her next target. She coldly kicked the thing in it's underbelly before it had a chance to attack, then finished it with a simple foot stomp to the things neck
In this state he would not be removed from the primal ranking as a beast in his own right. His current target remained stunned for a moment, part of the ground now broken, and his gaze returned to the other wolf he punted away. Alonso wanted to end this with the small boost of power he had. The canine was charging again, and the Felis charged back. Both of them collided with the big man gaining advantage. He continued rushed forward, snarling through the pain from a few chomps the wolf gave him, slamming the mutt's backside into a tree. Once Alonso did that, he grabbed the creature by its neck and tail and crushed its back upon his knee. That did the frenzied beast in. All the berserker needed to do was drop the now dead monster and turn his attention back to the other wolf. The final wolf had stood up readying its fight or flight response. Unfortunate mental states indicated its sole desire was to fight and kill. The hulking Felis shared a mutual feeling, and these two ran at each other. Feeling a bit generous, the man reached up and blocked the wolf's chomp with a forearm, but the pain he felt was almost nonexistent at this point. Rage had taken over. With his free hand, Alonso grabbed this wolf's snout again. The canine flailed about, but was unable to do anything as the berserker threw out a swift grasp upon the other side of its snout. Alonso used his fearsome might to pull the wolf's jaw apart as his roar echoed through the area. It all ended with a final snap, a canine's body lying limp and its jaws overextended beyond the norm to where it would meet death soon if it were still alive. Shoulders heaved up and down, Alonso's chest showing signs of deep breathing, "Hmm. Well, I suppose we're done here unless you found something?" ((Rolling for grins and giggles.)) Thrown die: 58 @Dempsey Fabijain
She looked up, still lost in the adrenaline and chakra induce haze that clouded her mind. It was almost like being in a dream, where she was herself, but felt somehow disassociated from her own persona. She was still getting used to the rush that her chakra manipulation skills brought on as she peered around, half expecting something to leap from the bushes. That fight was a lot easier than she thought it would be, or perhaps she was just a little spooked of anything related to blood magic given her prior experiences. Arachne had almost killed her once, and the red mountain was something that she didn't plan on discussing with anyone for a good while. "No, I believe that's all we needed to do here. Maybe we should head home before another giant spider woman decides to level another city or something. Norfova always gives me the heebies. I mean, I know it's not the most inviting place, but there;s just something in the air here that always puts me on edge. I don't like this place." She dusted off her hands and gave one of the wold corpses a tentative nudge to be sure that it was finished before she turned back to Alonso "Ready when you are." @Alonso Thorlion (Super sorry it took this long to post. Why did not you poke for me?)
"To be honest I don't blame you. I wasn't able to be there for the entire fight, but for a world boss to take that long so soon after release I can tell something is amiss. Now, I'm not saying there aren't MMOs made for those who call themselves hardcore, but my experience over the years at least helps me understand the concept of balance," he said. Alonso's wounds for the wolves healed at a steady rate. The attacks he took did not faze him too much, nor did they hinder the Felis's body movements. It was an odd feeling. The world was a mix of a fantastical reality and being just a game, letting the players have just enough game to defy physics. Some part of the man was concerned about the latter. Nodding, he turned his massive frame and began taking his natural, long strides from the way they came. To his knowledge it was the most direct route to the safer areas. Norforva was not a map he was familiar with even after coming all this way. Pondering the nature of the world, and his prolonged silence, he spoke up, "We're out of any NPCs hearing range, so I figured it best to mention this. In reality if we were struck with a weapon we'd be going into shock, and here where the inhabitants have no knowledge of reality, we are not prone to such things. Have you considered the issues that may occur once NPCs start realizing something is wrong with us?" A sigh escaped the large man's lips. He shook his head and continued, "I apologize, I might just be overthinking all of this." Tag: @Dempsey Fabijain ((No worries. I took forever myself. |D))
Dempsey surveyed their surroundings as Alsonso spoke. It was true that she wasn't overly fond of Norfova, both because of the obvious influence of blood magic, and the general aesthetics of the region. She considered Alonsos words, and her reply before she spoke. "It's an entertaining thought, to say the least. They're programmed to be as realistic as possible, but at the same time their behavior is forced into an unrealistic pattern. They're intelligent enough to figure out what's going on, obviously, but are forbade from ever reaching a logical conclusion that they would otherwise come to easily. I AM curious as to the implications of this, but you have to remember that everyone here has at least heard of the SAO incident. It's hard not to know about something that big.... Then all of a sudden, a shady full dive MMO client that obviously took a ton of money and effort to create starts showing up. If anyone isn't at least a little apprehensive, I'd be amazed." She turned to face Alonso directly and summarized her thoughts. "Something bigger than 'just a video game' IS going to happen, and I for one want to be there when it does."
She had taken his words with some amount of effort, indicating not all was lost on his ramblings. Dempsey had a stable head on her shoulders, and proved she was wise enough to understand the bigger things stirring, causing Alonso to loosen up. Perhaps he was still tense from combat with the wolves. Or the environment. Maybe it was his being unwilling to remain silent any longer, and getting significant matters through before the worst came to fruition was a better way to plan. A bass line hum echoed from his throat. The man's quiet nature was not out of being shy, rather, he preferred taking as much consideration as possible in his stance. Alonso nodded, regaining his composure, "I'm old enough to have lived during the SAO incidents. Grant you, I was not directly involved, but everyone was in an uproar both during and after the fact. Trust me, I too was hesitant at first before logging into this game." The reputation of VR gaming had dwindled after those predicaments, but on the plus side there were no more death games once everything was settled. A hand rose to the man's chin, fiddling with his beard, "On that note, I have been looking to copy the game files and look into them to see if something is amiss beyond our sight. Might have to wait a bit longer though since I plan on buying another system for it. No need to risk my good equipment if there's going to be a flood of viruses due to my curiosity." Once again he considered the factor of the woman in his party. Part of him was concerned for her safety, but knew holding back was not going to solve any problems that decided to crop up. Removing his hand from his chin he reached out and slid the interface menus into his sight. His friends list was almost nonexistent, and that was an issue. He could not go about this alone. "If you would, do me a favor. Anything that would be considered worthwhile to know I would appreciate being informed of. Even smaller pieces are better than nothing," he said, pressing a button to send out a friend request, "In exchange I'll try and inform you in return. Whether or not you wish to act on this is up to you." The man did not lose anybody to the SAO days, but his lifetime thus far proved that there will always be some situation where a force will take away something important with sadistic glee. Even a single person who began to matter less and less was still heartbreaking. His ex-wife had left the Earth without closure to his own faults and regrets. Tag: @Dempsey Fabijain
She ran her fingers through her hair thoughtfully, and considered the mans thoughts. There were a lot of variables in play here. For one, it wouldn't be wise to cross the people whom had the power to create and clandestinely distribute such a massive project. At least one very important meat space person had to have been bribed a considerable amount in order to keep this entire project from being drug into the light of day. Another issue was that she was extremely attached to this tapestry of light and sound that was Terra sphere, and though she was excited for what may or may not come, she worried that tugging at lose threads would cause the whole thing to unravel. Her reply was measured and cautious, to say the least. "Look. I don't know who you are in the real world, but reverse engineering a piece of software as complex as the terrasphere client would be quite the feat, and even if you did pull it off there's no guarantee that the client software even has any useful information. If someone has an evil trick up there sleeve, it could all be server side, or just ninja-patched in overnight. I don't know what you're planning on doing, but as long as you know that you might make some powerful enemies, I won't stop you." She stepped back and cocked her head to the side, thinking that the man should try to be a little more careful in the future with discussing things like that in game. "I'd be careful about who you talked to about this though, especially in here. Set up a meeting in meat space if you want to go poking lions and bears. For all we know, everything we say and do could be stored on a database somewhere, and they obviously already know where you live, or at least they can find out fairly easily. " She walked away, leaving things at that. She didn't want to burn any bridges with Alonso but at the same time who knows if 'someone' was watching. She hoped to come off as neutral but cautious. She had her own ideas about what might happen next, but she was reluctant to share them with others. For now, she simply left things as they were, making a mental note to keep half an eye on Alonso. If he was going to lead the charge, no reason not to let nature take its course and see how well he fared. @Alonso Thorlion
