Rod? Check.
Small bag of supplies? Check.
Extra room in bag to store ingredients? Check.
A lunch for mid gathering break? Double check.

Meruru was all ready to go! She left Stokbon and made her way to the fields of Brisshal. This was not just any fields though. It was a bit less populated where she was heading. A forest with a bunch of nice places for her to gather. Meruru had tried before but it was more just bunnies in there. There were wolves and... well wolves! That was not something the alchemy princess was equipped to deal with right now. She was still getting used to this region let alone bashing wolf brains in with nothing but her rod! That would be pretty awesome to be able to do though.

Meruru had placed a request up around the area to try and find good partners for her trip today. Not only did she need the help but it was always better to do things with others around. Solo traveling was boring, like really boring. Meruru had a small bag strapped to her waste that fitted a lot more than it looked. Honestly she did not remember where she got it but that was okay! It was useful for this task so who cared? There were a lot of weirder things out there she was sure.

Shifting her mini crown some as she eyed the entrance of the woods. The girl started to stretch out while waiting for her party to show up. Hopefully they would... she really had no clue how trustworthy the people in Falderen might be. What a day though, this would be her first time seriously trying to do a decent gathering trip. Her eyes went in a bit of cross eyed look as she got lost in thought about what the alchemy book told her. After a few basic stretches of her arm sand legs to just be ready to run like heck if a giant killer boar appeared or something. She would fall down into the grass and stare at the sky. It sure was a weird turn of events lately.... she was not sure how she felt about being so far from home. She was not even sure she ever wanted to go back.

Meruru felt relaxed by the gentle breeze and her eyes closed.

@Claire Thalassa @Bob

 

Claire saw the request for aid on a gathering trip and figured that she would be able to do a decent job. It wasn't like she was an expert at combat and being someone's bodyguard, but Brisshal was supposed to be the easy region, after all. Likely they wouldn't encounter enemies that would really put up that much of a fight.

She made her way over to the designated meeting point at a rather leisurely pace. This was quite the beautiful forest and grasslands area, and it was a rather pleasant and warm day. Wind wasn't too strong, sun wasn't too glaring. It would be a shame to waste weather like this indoors.

She did, however, keep a pretty good grasp on her quarterstaff. Though the enemies were likely to be weak, a good ambush could negate any advantage.

Thankfully though, she didn't run into anything untoward along the way to the meeting point. Ah, and it seemed like their client was here already. The young girl was lying in the grass with her eyes closed, looking rather peaceful as she relaxed.

Claire made her footsteps quite obvious as she approached, so that she wouldn't startle the girl when she called out to her, "Ah, hello? Are you Meruru Blanchimont? My name is Claire Thalassa, I'm here for your request."

@Meruru Blanchimont

 

Having one’s mental state transferred into a virtual plane felt odd to say the very least. It was not the first time he had undergone the process. If the experience was as good as everybody and their mother had hyped it up to be, perhaps it would not be the last. A tutorial was a much needed event at that time for him. Whatever this spawn was came immediately after a character creation. Needless to say, it took him by surprise.

Bob lifted his hands and began to clench and unclench his fists slowly in front of himself.

Open.

Close.

Open.

Close.

Simple enough. Next thing that came to mind was possibly his most difficult task. Walking. Except it was not as hard or unwieldy as he had earlier assumed it was. One foot ahead of the other and there he was, approaching a nearby tree.

Strange. The ground beneath him felt oddly solid. Not at all like he was floating in a space or simply manoeuvring a character around using thought. Upon coming to think about his situation, he realised that he could feel much more than what he stood upon.

The clothes he wore. The rustic smell of unintended plant life. The gentle lick of wind against his face. Even the slightest movement from an undergrowth. All were sensed around him in some of the slightest ways.

“Geez, you’d think people would have more important things to do than work on some ga-“ Bob froze, bringing his right hand to his mouth. That was his voice. He had just heard his voice come directly from his vocal chords and out of his mouth. Albeit, slightly deeper than he had expected.

It took a few minutes for him to uncover his lips once more to test out his new voice. “Hah,” he looked into a puddle whilst making silly expressions. “Hooooo-mamma-jamma. Ping pong. Kentucky Fried Chicken. Two for one.” The adolescent rattled off random phrases and words in awe of the sheer detail behind the movements of his facial features. Reflective surfaces just might be one thing that he would never get used to.

“Alright, so it said in the email to just. . .” With a quick clench and flip of a hand, he would open it to reveal a menu. An exclamation mark within a red circle notified him of the quest he had taken earlier on his first test run. Run. That was exactly what he did when he realised that it was going to be taking place rat that moment.

Reality or not, first impressions were not something that he would want to mess up anytime soon. One moment is all it would take for someone to judge another. Usually it would be the first glance. Their appearance.

Hence when the people he was supposed to meet came into view, he straightened his posture and placed his hands inside of his pockets. Tough guy act- maybe they would buy it, maybe they would not. It hardly mattered either way.

Eyebrows slanted downwards in an expression on the edge of being a straight out glare. Leaning slightly backwards, he sauntered towards the two of them.

“Name’s Bob. Would be pretty convenient if you’re the girl this lady just mentioned.”

 

When the two that would be her first ever gathering party arrived. Meruru was ecstatic! She did not want to chase anyone away thinking she was weird though, so she kept the excitement as tame as she could manage. These were people from this region and she had not too much experience with how things went here. So she did not want to upset anyone. The first girl was really elegant looking and had a almost mystical quality to her. The other guy was tough, and kind of scary looking. She hoped he was not going to rob her when she was not looking! It is not really nice to judge by appearances though...

"Hi Claire! H-hi Bob! I'm Meruru so yeah you got the right person! I'm trying to go gathering in this forest and it might be dangerous. So I will need your help with some stuff. You guys can keep anything you find off of the monsters! I just need to go to gathering spots and collect some ingredients for my future workshop. I'm pretty helpless while gathering..."

Merruru was not sure they would understand. Was alchemy all that known here? Bob said something kinda weird earlier like... something about a ga-ga....gaga? Kentucky fried chicken? mmmm that sounded good! There was nothing like that in Blanch! She could feel her stomach rumbling, awwww. She would have to ask around when she got back to Stokbon. Maybe she would ask Bob how it tasted later too! Maybe she could figure out a way to make some herself! Taking her mind off of chicken she focused on what she was now doing.Wandering a forest with her party on a adventure. Her eyes always seemed to be really good at spotting things that somehow registered immediately as gathering spots. It was weird and she could not remember exactly when it started but it was useful.

So the gathering mission had begun. Meruru would begin collecting from the grass patches, fruit trees, and rocks strewn about. Items would just fill up in her bag as if magically. The whole process was kinda weird and Meruru did not actively consider the issues at this moment. Meanwhile the local wildlife had noticed the groups presence....

@Claire Thalassa @Bob

 

Claire nodded at Meruru's explanation of the task. Things seemed quite straightforward, and she didn't foresee anything unexpected jumping out at them as the young girl saw to her task. Meruru seemed to know exactly where she needed to find her materials so she and Bob leisurely followed behind Meruru as the younger girl found fruit-bearing trees, mossy rocks with apparently special algae, and all sorts of things. Claire wouldn't pretend to know what she was collecting them all for.

As they sauntered through Brisshal, Claire kept an eye on their other companion. Bob didn't seem very forthcoming about himself, but that was all right, Claire supposed. His attitude was somewhat dour at the beginning, but hopefully it wouldn't impede any coordination they would have to do in battle.

And speaking of which... Meruru wandered over to a patch of grass, crouching down and picking whichever herbs and plants were apparently special. Everything seemed fine. But suddenly screeching started echoing through the clearing. It seemed to be growing louder and louder and Claire frantically gazed about, trying to find the source of the screeching.

She almost didn't look up until it was too late. As it was, Claire glanced upwards just in time to see the flurry of feathers and talons rushing towards her, and lifted her battered old quarterstaff over her head. Instinctively, she felt a blast of magic leave her fingers and a thin shell of ice formed over her head, shielding her and the rest just before the four hawks that divebombed them struck.

Claire moved backwards, still keeping her arms up and ready to blast any hawks that came their way. "Stay back!" she said to Meruru, and turned to meet Bob's eyes. Looks like it was time to get this part of their protection detail started.

@Bob

 

_____Another day job, another time Reaper gets himself mixed up in something he was not planning on. He was just relaxing in the shadows when the sounds started to annoy him, at a distance it was fine but as those annoying birds got closer it woke up a slightly darker side that hated daylight. Figure shifting as the cloaked male fastened his blindfold, though truly he could see through it with ease but seeing his focus was the mystery. Black gloves crackling as he clenched his fist and moved to follow the sounds quietly as he could.

_____What he did notice before the hawks was the two women, a light tisk from his tongue as he switch from his maleformancy to arcanamancy with a bit of annoyance across his face. ‘Not once can I end an annoyance with dark magic here it seems.’ His thoughts tracing his mind as he slowly waved his hands in a circular motion at his sides as purple light broke from the shadows and shot after two hawks. Hit or miss his presence would be known so he walked forward while charging the next set.

”Sorry for the sudden appearance but it would appear you might need some help.”

_____Reaper did not exactly look like someone who offered help, the slightly annoyed expression on his face was still there but clearly directed at the hawks, his black cloak covered almost every detail of him and with the hood over his head it was hard to get any real details about his face. But as she shot another set of orbs at the hawks to try and get them to move, or their attention it seemed he was working with them, but no indication of how long.
@Meruru Blanchimont

Reaper

100 HP

MAX HP

70 EN

MAX EN

 

"One two a three, one two a three four!
Gather stuff, picking stuff, cause i needIn' stuff, yep yep yep.
Gather gather gathering till ya drop!
Drop drop drop gotta go for a romp till ya drop!
Yeppers, we're off on a romp romp romp!"

Meruru sang a truly ridiculous little tune to herself happily as she worked. It was her first ever party gathering mission! Awesome did not begin to describe it! Back in Blanch it always had to be kept a secret or else she would have to deal with a lot of moaning from her dad and her steward but here she could do it with friends! No fuss and no muss!

That was until she heard the shouts to look out because of hawks and stuff. Why would she need to look for hawks, they were not useful items for alchemy? They were birds! Silly Claire! Then the thought came to her as the spells of both Claire and some strange new person showed up. Oh right... hawks as in... monsters. Oh okay, never mind...

Meruru pulled herself away from from her work and saw the hawks circling over head and diving in for more and more attacks. There were a few lying on the ground writhing as they died from something, probably magic from the looks of these two. Meruru kinda could not help but wish she was a mage sometimes. That does it! Merruru would figure out a way to use Alchemy just like magic! Then she could be like them and use attacks and stuff with flashy magic items! Eventually, like... really eventually... as in in a few month of practicing maybe.

She honestly did not really have a way to help them fight monsters that were flying like that. So Meruru just ran right by them and said as she was passing...

"H-Hold on just a few more spots! I'm almost done! Promise!"

She hoped they did not think she was useless but yeah, she was useless for fighting right now. Meruru was not really sure who the black robed guy was but he was kinda cute so she decided he was cool too.

@Claire Thalassa @Reaper

 

Claire was ready to take on the hawks with Bob's help, but she reared back in surprise as he suddenly vanished into thin air. Damn it, he must have logged off, or his connection to the game dropped, or something! And now, of all times...

She didn't think the hawks were that much of a threat, but it would be troublesome dealing with all four on her own while keeping them off Meruru at the same time.

The blast of purple light from the opposite side of the clearing was therefore a very welcome distraction. Two of the hawks screeched as they were singed by the blast, and Claire's attention was momentarily diverted to the cloaked figure that stepped out from the tree line. She called out a, "Much appreciated!" to him and moved to take advantage of the surprise.

Concentrating deeply, she clenched her fist and conjured some sharpened chunks of ice in the air. With another flick of her wrist, the deadly hail shot down towards the ground, slicing the hawks that still circled around. One spiraled into the ground, its wings damaged severely, and Claire turned her quarterstaff into a spear with an icy point to stab at the remaining ones.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Meruru dart past and bit down on a curse. What was she doing, she could get hurt in this mess! But it looked like the hawk problem was cleanly dealt with, aside from a few scratches and bruises.

"Thanks for your assistance," she said to the stranger, offering him a small smile. "If you hadn't been there, that probably wouldn't have ended so quickly."

Claire

80 HP

MAX HP

60 EN

MAX EN

 

”Sorry I could not arrive before you had been injured. I simply thought they had been a passing group of loud hawks.”

_____Reaper slowly reached to remove his hood as the last of the hawks had been finished. His white hair slightly matching the women’s hair as he smiled faintly in reply to her’s. Moving his gaze back to the younger girl who seemed to be the reason the other women was here. Moving his hands into his pockets he decided to follow them for a bit. Mostly in the event more monsters approached them he could train, but also to look after them as was the ‘noble’ thing to do. Since currently it was still a bit early to be seen as a villain.

”Been some time since I have seen others inside the forest here, most tend to avoid these parts due to monster activity being slightly higher. Might not help with the fact you're holding food on you when you entered miss.”

_____Reaper’s nose twitched slightly as he made the remake, a slight gesture he could smell it and not so much see it. He did not fully know how he could smell it so easily but if he could he figured it was worth noting if they did not wish to encounter too many foes. It also gave him ideas on how to raise the number of enemies he could fight if he entered the woods alone a different time. A win-win in his mind as he loosely followed them, if they did not like his company and spoke up he would leave, or if he felt them at unease he would simply excuse himself at that time.
@Meruru Blanchimont

Reaper

95 HP

MAX HP

65 EN

MAX EN

 

The hawks would have died a bit faster than Meruru took finishing up her gathering. She would frown a little seeing just how basic these items were, but it was a start. That was good enough for now! She rose from her gathering spot and returned to the other two. She would grimace a little when the robed guy mentioned smelling food on one of them. Oh yeah... that was probably her bag lunch.

"Haha.... Alchemy requires quite a few ingrediants and yeah. A lot of them can smell like food or even be food. Um, I am kinda a monster magnet out here. Do you want to quit the job? I have some apples if you want them as payment?"

Meruru pulled out a apple in each hand after shuffling about in her bag. She offered them to the others band if they refused she would sigh and put them away. She grabbed her rod again pointed it semi dramatically towards a denser area in a "let's charge" type of gesture. Meruru smiled nervously and hoped they were still with her. The gathering quest was not done quite yet. She still had some space and energy to spare! Hopefully everyone was up for it. Including maybe this new guy? Meruru never did this with a party before so good teamwork was a bit beyond her at the moment. Hopefully she was doing okay.

"There is still a bit more I want to try and get from deeper in the woods. Ummm... you okay with that Mr....?"

Meruru pulled her rod back slightly from where it was pointing at the path ahead, and turned just her head at the man with a puzzled look. She restrained herself from charging ahead like she usually does, this guy was kind of creepy somehow. Probably his outfit. Meruru had Claire though whp seemed like a good person so far. So everything would be alright. If they agreed to continue with her, Meruru would lead the way with her rod in hand. The truth was that even with danger. Adventure was something she wanted to get good at too. So this was exciting for her, even if she was not doing any fighting... yet. Actually if she needed to... she might be screwed. Well better not to worry about those things!

@Claire Thalassa @Reaper

 

Upon hearing that there was still more to do, Claire simply nodded. "I did agree to go with you until you completed your activities out here. I suppose that we'll just have to keep a closer watch for any possible attacks."

She refused the apple, seeing as how this was part of the quest she had signed up for, and accepting extra payment seemed unreasonable. She glanced over at the deeper part of the woods where the younger girl wanted to go, trying to see if she could spot anything sinister about it. Not really, to be honest; she wasn't that familiar with this part of Brisshal. But it always paid to be cautious.

Then she turned to look at the stranger who had stepped in, waiting to listen to his response to Meruru's request. A name would be good to have, too. "If you're willing, I'd appreciate some assistance. The quest indicated that this would be a three person ordeal and we seem to have lost one of our companions. But if you have something else you need to do, that's understandable as well," she added.

 

”If you don’t mind my slightly offsetting choice of attire, then i would be glad to continue assisting you.”

_____Reaper would slowly move his right hand across his chest and bow his head to them before declining the apple with a slight smile. He was not fully hungry and had some trust issues leaving him to decline a lot of offerings from others. When they asked for his name he moved his hand to tap his head and stuck his tongue out slightly before a light laugh.

”Where are my manners, My name is Reaper, sorry if it sounds dark but that is my last name and i have the worst creativity.”

_____Reaper would bow for apology due to his delayed introduction, most times people he met would have been killed before that question crossed their minds so it drew a small smile to his face as he followed them. To help lower the amount of likely suspicion about him he removed his blindfold to reveal his sea green eyes, but also showed the slightly faded glow from them that came from seeing a bit too much of the darker parts of the world.

”If we want to avoid too much fighting we should take the heavier dense bushes over there, might get a bit dirty but the scent from those bushes keeps some of the creatures away, they are also not good for burning I came to find out recently.”

_____Reaper pointed to the bushes and held his head slightly, he could still recall the massive headache it caused him to burn some of the leafs from that bush, and could not remember what happen some time between the first spark of fire and waking with a bleeding skull. Hopefully just passing in them would not cause the same effect as burning them, or maybe it was something he mixed with the fire to cause the gap in his memory, he truly did not know.

 

The party would continue deeper into the forest. Meruru herself gathering a good amount of crappy ingredients but they were great for her needs at the moment. Meruru was basically just making sure that once she had a workshop she could really go to town and have a successful business helping everyone out and improving her own skills too! Her goals were pretty simple actually, if you don't count the endless search for even more adventures that would lead to even more ingredients. A cycle that has quite a distant endgame.

They had arrived at a lake which was when Meruru finally stopped and stretched her arms, still holding her rod, far over her head. This was far enough. She did not want to have too much trouble getting back and anyway, she was wearing out. This was her first real trip in Falderen after all. She did not want to push her new companions too hard either. They were probably disappointed with the loot on this quest. It was actually a bit worse than she thought it would be honestly.

"Okay guys let's take a short break and then head back. I've got a good bag of stuff! Or we could just turn back now? Think I can do that, but it's better to get a rest in, right?"

Meruru would see if they agreed, Then plop down by the water and check her items she had found. She pulled out her alchemy book, the very tome that had gotten her so caught up in the topic a few years ago. To think she was on the way to making the stuff in this book! So cool! She hummed a song to herself as she turned the pages a bit and if anyone came close to talk to her she would look up and reply if she could. Claire especially she would ask about her magic. Meruru was very curious how magic worked compared to alchemy. She had no real magical skills herself. So it must be really something. Especially with how many magic users she knew that were kinda snobby.

@Claire Thalassa @Reaper

 

Claire stayed alert as she followed Meruru through the forest. The young girl stopped occasionally to pick some ingredients, and she kept a careful look out. Reaper's warning of the possibility of getting swarmed by creatures remained fresh in her mind. Fortunately, they made it through this part of their quest without issue and emerged at a nearby lake.

"A break sounds good," Claire agreed. Might as well take a chance while things were peaceful to regain some energy. And it was lovely weather too. She hardly ever got a chance to relax, especially not with such beautiful scenery to admire.

She looked over to where Meruru was reading a large tome and going through her ingredients, and curiosity got the better of her. She had spent about half the day on this quest and she hardly knew what Meruru was after in the first place. She made her way over and sat down next to the girl, giving her a brief greeting.

"So, what kind of materials were you looking for? What kind of potions do you make with those?"

 

_____Reaper was not so relaxed as the other two seemed to get so quickly. Moving himself to a low branched tree before climbing up and staying off the ground as he kept scanning for places to jump to and get higher up to overlook the area. He still had his own reason for being in the area and trust issues to deal with so hopefully they just allowed him to be alone until it was time to move out again. It might have seemed slightly rude, but as he jumped over to another branch he looked down before quickly shifting his gaze away from them.

”No sign of ruins or temples in this area, unless they are more hidden or closer to the ground. Truly annoying…”

_____Reaper would soon fall from his high ground and stretch, his rogue skill coming in handy after all as he simply scanned the area from ground level near the two and moved towards the water. One might have been keen to notice he did not look at his own reflect, even while filling a small bottle and looking it over. It was tinted just enough to avoid reflects, but not hamper the details of the natural liquid or content. Moving towards a heavily shadowed area Reaper finally decided to lay down, his arms reaching to pull his hood back over his face as he seemed to fade into the shadows themselves.