Learning (and teaching) the ropes

Aaron swung his sword through the air, feeling the weight of the blade. It was finally starting to feel right in his hand. He sheathed his sword after a few practice swings. He figured that this area, the starting forest, would be the best place for him to practice swinging the sword around. After all, it made sense that the very first place that people would spawn in wouldn't have any monsters of a crazy level trying to kill people, right?

Aaron mused for a moment. Was there a place to look up what types of enemies spawned in what areas? That could be pretty helpful, he figured. He opened up his menu and began to browse it, mumbling to himself as he looked for anything that might indicate where he could look for some weak monsters to fight.

@Felicitas Hellewege

 

Felicitas' eyes opened with a snap, and she looked down. She gave a short yell, noticing just how much farther the ground was here than in the real world. She looked back up, took a step forward, and promptly fell on her face.
"Maybe I should have noticed that." She muttered, glancing back at the tree root she had immediately tripped over. "Well, while I'm here..." she shifted to sit up against the tree, reveling in the realistic feel of the trunk behind her. Her palm closed, then opened, and she began examining the Palm menu, quickly becoming engrossed.

 

Aaron looked up as he heard a yell. Was someone hurt? He drew his sword and made his way through the woods and began looking for the source of the shout. "Hello?" he called out.

Before long, he came upon a tall girl sitting against a tree. She seemed to be examining her palm menu, and by how engrossed she was, Aaron figured this was probably the first time she had ever opened it. Her white hair made guessing her age difficult, but Aaron figured she was around his age, more or less. Maybe two years younger, five years older at tops. Somewhere in that range, at least.

"Hello there," he said. "And I suppose a 'Welcome to Terrasphere' might be in order?" he asked with a smile. "My name's Aaron, paladin in training. What's your name?" He shifted his sword to his off hand so that it was ready if he needed it for any reason, but would make him appear a bit less threatening - unless, that is, she assume he was left handed and was preparing himself for a fight even more. He mused for a moment, and decided it was probably fine. So long he wasn't pointing the sword at her, which he wasn't, she should get the picture well enough. "If you need help figuring anything out, let me know. I'm kind of new myself, but apparently not as new as yourself."

 

Felicitas looked up as he addressed her, her eyes immediately meeting his, before looking him over appraisingly, noting his sword. Her face retained a focused look, a hint of a smile threatening to overtake her face. She decided to let it, and timed it to spread at the Welcome, but it didn't quite seem to reach her eyes.

"I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to some assistance," she admitted, closing the menu and standing to her full height, "My name is Felicitas."
The main points she was missing was where, exactly, she could get better equipment than this, and what low level creatures she could divest of their lives for the means to do so.
"I'm... a little iffy on how to get started. I'm not seeing any prompts for a tutorial or a beginning quest, is there one?"

 

Aaron looked the girl over once again when she stood. "Oh wow, you're tall," he said out loud, despite himself. He shook his head. "Well then, Fel, uh, there's not really much of a tutorial quest that I could find myself. You kinda do just get thrown into things. But that's alright, more or less. I always liked games that never really held your hand or treated you like a kid."

Aaron mused for a moment, looking over the girl once again. "So first things first, we're going to want to consider what equipment you're going to need. I wouldn't suggest getting anything right away, it's more of a hindrance than a help until you've put some mastery points into the use of things." Aaron shrugged his shoulders. "Right then, what type of armor are you thinking of getting, and what type of weapon, if any? I know some people go full mage or unarmed combat, so that could be a valid option, if you chose those starting masteries. If what you need isn't too much, I could foot you a few coins. Like, this sword cost me just 22 gold. I'm saving up for a shield and some armor as well, but after that, I can help you get whatever you need, if you'd like. Just, uh, you know, return the favor to other people later on, you know?"

 

Felicitas nodded, smiling for real. Then this world really did hold the freedom, and the costs thereof, that it seemed to promise.
"Is it very difficult to get money in this world? I don't want to make myself beholden to you." she replied, shaking her head slightly, "But I am also thinking heavy armor, once I can afford it, and move in it, and I'll be wielding a one handed hammer when I find one."
She thought for a moment, "If there's no beginning tutorial, are there really beginning monsters? How hard does the learning curve seem so far?"

 

Aaron shrugged. "I mean, it's not too bad to get money. Perseverance, and what not, is all you really need," he said. "You wouldn't be beholden to me at all. I like helping people."

"Heavy armor and a one handed hammer?" he said. "That doesn't sound too bad. I doubt it'll be very expensive. That I think you'll be able to afford yourself, by the time you can actually use them, but I'll pitch in any help you still need by that point. Does that sound good?" he asked.

"That's actually what I'm trying to figure out myself," he said in regards to the beginning monsters. "I actually haven't fought much, except for a poacher so far. He was hunting a pig... I also found some wolves with a friend, but we weren't hunting them, she wanted to tame the wolf, and the one she tamed was cute, so I don't know if I can bring myself to kill them unless they start the fight..." Aaron sighed. "Ah man, I hope I'm not useless to you."

Aaron opened up his menu. "Here," he said. He sent the woman a friend request and then a party request. "I think if we're in a party, we'll get stuff together, and the friend request is so we can stay in contact if we get separated. You can delete me, later, if you don't want me actually to be on your friend list. Don't want to feel like I'm forcing myself toward you like that or anything."

 

She nodded as he kept speaking, eventually responding to the requests, "I mean, there's usually strength in numbers.. so long we actually fight together."
She opened the palm menu again, reading the information on spellcasting, and pulling up the spell menu.
"I'm... gonna familiarize myself with my only weapon so far, if you don't mind," she said, turning slightly away and selecting the first spell on the list. It seemed promising, saying something to the effect of fireball. She started slightly as her mouth started reciting a chant on its own, and watched her outstretched hand expectantly.
Felicitas felt the energy drain out of her, toward her fingers, and was startled into a wide grin as she finished the chant with enthusiasm. A bright spark blossomed into a small plume of fire, which didn't have much distance, apparently. She sighed.
"Well, I suppose that's what level zero is... Maybe it can singe some fur?"

 

Aaron grinned as he watched the girl experiment with her magic. "Oh man, do you want to see something really fucking cool?" He asked. He took a few steps back and held his sword up. There was about one spell he had actually bothered memorizing completely so far. "Est quia omnis metallum!" He said, brandishing his sword high. The blade began to glow brightly, casting light into the forest. If any of the light fell specifically on the girl, she'd feel comfortably warm in it. "Isn't that awesome?" He asked.

He lowered his sword and cut off the spell. "It's not just for looks, either. It applies extra holy damage to anything I hit with my sword. I also have a healing spell, but I've not memorized that chant yet, but I can always cast it from the menu. Just takes a bit longer is all."

Aaron sheathed his sword. "Right then. If you'd like, we could head into town, see if any of the locals need our assistance with anything. I can foot the bill for a hammer for you while we're there, just so you have it. No good being protected if you can't fight back without making yourself pass out from a lack of mana after a certain point."

 

Felicitas stared at the bright, welcoming light emanating from this paladin-in-training's weapon, bewildered that he would give up such information so readily, and to a complete stranger.
Although, she reasoned, she was way weaker than him so far, and he could easily overtake her if need be.
She resolved to change that fact as quickly as possible. She refused to fall or be left behind in anything, even a game.
"You'd think the healing spell would be the important one to memorize," she commented quietly, "but damage is pretty important too."

She nodded at the suggestion. An easy task or quest, whichever was the appropriate name in this world, would be very welcome right now.
"I would gladly assist you in helping the townspeople," she said pointedly, "In exchange for the hammer instead of my half of the quest rewards. I thank you for your generosity, and I know you wouldn't hold me in debt, but my conscience will nonetheless."

 

Aaron laughed a bit when the girl mentioned that healing would be more important. "You know, you'd think that would be the case. But I've not run into any instances yet where someone has needed healing, and it's done them any good, and there wasn't time to pull the menu all the way up," he said. "But I am working on memorizing that chant too."

Aaron mused for a moment. "There doesn't really seem to be an active armor smith in town yet, sadly, so we're both going to have to wait on armor a while longer it seems. At least until a player decides to invest in armorsmithing themselves. From my understanding, that part of things is going to be almost entirely operated by the players, so the NPCs aren't very useful in that regard. In fact, I think even the sword I have now was actually from a player blacksmith, just sold to the NPC shopkeeper."

An idea formed in Aaron's head, and he snapped his fingers. "I have an idea, goes against what we just planned, though. Some of the tasks the newer players are being given are really basic things. Maybe we could try to find you someone else who hasn't really gotten the hang of things, and you and that person can work on something together? That way, you wouldn't be in my debt at all. Besides, I have this little theory that the longer it takes for people to do something, the more they seem to get out of it. I might be a bit crazy, because that seems to reward being slow, so I think there's probably a checks and balance in there I'm not aware of. But I think the system recognizes how much effort is put into something. If I just carried you through it, and you hardly did much, I don't think you'd get as much out of it, and neither would I because it might be too easy for me. But if you and someone else struggle together a bit, maybe something good will come out of that?"

"So then, want me to help you find someone to go on a basic task with, or do you want to test how us hunting some weak monsters together, and me doing most of the work turns out for us?" he offered, decided to let the girl decide.

 

She made a nondescript noise at the mention of armorsmithing, and nodded thoughtfully at the mention of crafting being player-controlled, "That is a really interesting choice the developers made. I suppose it increases the realism, and possibly the amount one has to interact with other players, especially if they need a specific item for a quest or their custom class and can't find it in the NPC shops. I wonder if it will be possible to set up player shops eventually?"
She stifled a little twitch at the snap of his fingers, and frowned thoughtfully, "You know, that might be the better idea here..." she admitted, "And surely there are still more players joining up."
She looked around, "Which way is town? Also, are food and drink player crafts as well, or do those seem to be NPC made? I didn't pay much attention after I'd chosen my masteries..."

 

Aaron nodded when the woman asked about player shops. "It already is, actually. There's a weaver making light armor, but not too many people are using light armor currently, so he's a little out of luck, from everything I've gathered so far."

He pointed in the direction of town. "If we head just straight that way, you'll get to town. Food and drink are both NPC and player crafts. From what I understand, players will eventually be able to make stuff a lot better than what the NPCs make, but currently it's all the same, more or less."

"Right then, so I'll escort you to town. When we get there, if you'd like, I can show you where the NPCs who are teaching players who have crafting skills some basic recipes are usually at. I know some people hang around there to vulture if they see someone buying a recipe they need, but can't craft themselves, and a lot of them could even offer to help pay."

 

Well, that was sad, if the weaver wasn't getting business. Although, physical armor would be useful now, before magic skills got leveled up too much.
"...Is Heavy armor in more demand, I assume? Armorsmithing is one of my masteries, and if I could make money that way... it would be nice. Of course, I plan to practice and sink mastery points into my other masteries, but armorsmithing sure will be useful if that's the case."

She nodded, looking where he pointed, "We should probably get started that way then, I'd like to see what culture in this world is like at this point. Have you tried any food or drink, yourself?"

"Maybe one of those NPC crafters will want materials gathered, and I can see what's around."
To experiment, she touched her first two fingers to her temple and looked around. It didn't seem to her like much was around, at least nothing that she could recognize yet, but she appreciated being able to see 'Aaron Marone' next to her current party member.

 

Aaron turned toward her with near-lightning speed when the girl mentioned that armorsmithing is one of her masteries. "Holy hell, yes! Yes, it's in demand. Here, let's get to town, I will give you all the money you need to buy the recipes, and then you make me the first set of armor, deal? I'll also provide the materials for that. Then, for anyone else, you can charge a bit of each, though, don't charge too much money, to stay competitive."

"The food and drink I've had so far has been pretty good. It's ranged from a variety of quality, from essentially junk food to full meals," he said. "It's all tasted almost exactly like food in the real world, so I'm excited to see what higher level stuff gets done."

Once the girl was done experimenting with the "investigative mode", Aaron would lead the girl into town.