[PP - F1] Begin the journey already. (Adhaerere, Verus) COMPLETE

[Adhaerere 0]

Adhae slogged along the road, only occasionally lifting her head to look around. Her primary worry was being ambushed by some big monster, one that severely outranked her at a mere level 1. She shuddered slightly at the thought. She wasn't used to being such a low level in a MMORPG like this. All her games at home had characters leveled plenty past 20, at least, depending on the level cap of said game. She started thinking about home, and her usually pleasant expression fell, reminded of what she had lost not long ago. Her freedom, her home, and her video games. 

This train of thought caused her to slow her walking, only for a few moments. Once she realized her footsteps weren't going as far as she wanted, and she still could not see the village of Horunka on the horizon. 

Her journey here was a beginning of her adventure towards the front lines, or at least somewhere where she could be useful. She had come from the Starting Town, where two people she met in a tavern had gotten into a fight. Adhae had broken it up and they had agreed to the party, but as they partied up, the girl she met suddenly changed her mind and left. Both Adhae and her new companion, Verus, were slightly stunned. She was angry, but she wouldn't let that stop her from her goal of becoming stronger, and keeping her and her companion's spirits up. 

So now they were left here, trekking along towards the first village where they would actually encounter some monsters. Adhae began the adventure buzzing with excitement and adrenaline. It faded quickly as the walking made her impatient. She wanted to kill things faster. She tried to keep herself busy, taking out her battleaxe and touching it, trying to get a feel for the weapon. She knew it wasn't real, but it would soon become her best friend in this world full of hostility. Now all she needed was her ideal paladin armour, and she was set to kill some baddies.

As she walked, she would look back at Verus, who she still was a stranger to. She wanted to be friends with him, and she felt that required some conversation. "What sort of class do you want to be?" She asked as she turned around and walked backwards to face him. She wore a wide, winning smile on her lips, hoping the welcoming facial expression would win over some of his cold hostility. It would also work to cheer herself up too. 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Adhaerere

[trenttrent20 0]

Verus had been silent most of the trip, not having anything on his mind. The world he was in was beautifully constructed, laid out in such a way that all the little details of the world were exemplified. Grassy hills and mountains could be seen off in the horizon, the sun hitting them in such a way that was very appealing. In a hell such as the one he was trapped in, he was thankful that it was made well. 

"You know, I haven't really gotten that far yet." He replied to his new traveling buddy. She had also been somewhat quiet on the trip, which brought up a slight suspicion. She seems like a regular player, but he figured anyone in this world could screw people over, and he did not want to be the one on the wrong end. 

The road they had walked on was very open. It progressed through seemingly endless amounts of rolling plains, with semi-tall grass that would rise up to each of their waists. It was relaxing to watch it wisp and flow when a gust of wind would come by, grass waves rolling to the horizon. "What about you miss Adhae? By the looks of that little battle-axe I could assume you to be heading on the skill tree of a berserker of some sort."

[Adhaerere 0]

 Adhae listened happily, glad he was finally talking. She frowned a little as he spoke. "Well, you have time to choose, I guess. But you probably should choose before you level up any more." She smiled at him, happy to give her input. She felt a little closer to him, because at least he was talking openly to her. She pulled out the axe again, quickly swiping through the menu that she had become familiar with already. She gave it an experimental swing, taking a few steps back to make sure she was far enough away from Verus that he didn't get hit with her somewhat clumsy swing. She felt a little embarrassed because she didn't have a full mastery of the weapon yet but covered it up with her response. "Nah, I want to be a paladin. That's my typical class for games like this. And, since this is a much more high-stakes game," at these words her voice got a little strained, "I want to be with something I'm comfortable with. What do you usually play?" As she spoke, she turned back around to look at where they were going. She had stumbled a little bit from walking backwards, which provoked her to look towards their destination. They rounded the crest of the hill, and it was then she spotted it, on the horizon. It was a small village, but it looked so peaceful and beautiful silhouetted by the sun, she stopped and took an involuntary gasp. She shook her head, her eyes still on the quaint houses. "I can't get over how amazing this game is. Especially with it being Virtual Reality and all. It's so real." She got over herself, and continued on the path, wanting to reach the village sooner rather than later. 

[trenttrent20 0]

 Her swing was lackluster, but then again they were both beginner players with extremely low stats. It would take weeks to progress and he believed that it may even take longer in this sort of game setting. "A paladin eh?" Verus grinned slightly, not thinking of her as a full on holy style warrior. "Wouldn't have guessed in a million years hun." He moved slightly past her, taking lead of the small two man party. The village was a standard beginner quest giving town, those that would typically draw in the newbies for easy quests and gear. It was a destination they needed to visit, as he and Adhae were in need of just about everything. He put his hands behind his head and flexed his arms slightly, pushing his neck back and letting out a loud yawn.

"You know, I usually play ranged style characters; bowmen, mages, you get the type." He was fond of taking advantage of situations from afar, trying to control them before they could control themselves. It was fun to just play around with magic in other games, things he knew were impossible. In other games, he was the one that would try to boost up the spirits and power of the others in his party, usually building into something like a cleric or another supporting type character. In this world though, it seemed that speed based characters were the way to go; hence his chose on the rapier. "However, I think a class that's quick and light will do me best here."

[Adhaerere 0]

 She pouted as he spoke, taking offense at the words. "Why wouldn't you think I would be a paladin? Do I not look like one? What would you even define as 'looking like a paladin'?" She crossed her arms as she followed him into the village, looking up at the buildings around them, and the people they passed. She sort of thought she would recognize one of them, though this was a fantasy she knew was improbable. She looked back at Verus as he spoke. "Well, that's a good a class as any." She grunted noisily, not trying to conceal it, and was silent for a few minutes. 

 "Shall we go kill some things, then? I want to get my armour and some Col. And preferably quickly." Then, getting over her anger a little, another question popped into her head. "Do you plan to go to the front lines? We can help the big leveled guys and maybe make some friends, or join a big guild." It didn't occur to Adhae that Verus might not want to party with her during their whole adventure. She just assumed he would be there.

[trenttrent20 0]

"I mean, you sorta struck me as a tavern girl at first glance." Verus smirked, staring her down while speaking. "I kid, you'll come to learn that later on." He waved to some of the NPC children who were running around, trying to appear friendly. He had no idea how NPC contact worked in this game, so he figured seeming as nice as possible would be as good as a strategy as ever to appeal to the non players. "I define a paladin as well..." He stopped, turned to her, and began to look her up and down. "...now that you mention it I can picture you in all the heavy gear." Verus held up his hands to form a box with his index fingers and thumbs, acting as if he was looking through a camera. "I see it." He laughed and spun around, walking through the town as they were before.

"I mean, do you think we'd survive against a boar or monster or something? If it's true we can you know...die... we should be one hundred percent certain that we'll be able to take on what we are up against." He nodded after his last words, truly believing his statement. Her front lines question was answered with a slight shrug, being that he honestly did not know what the future of the game held for him, and he figured he'd just decide as they went forward.

[Adhaerere 0]

 She stared back at him as he teased her, her lips set in a line and her arms folded still. Once he made the jab about her being a tavern girl, she stopped and leaned all her weight on one leg, allowing the other to be bent and her body to list at an angle. It set a picture of rebellious youth to her, even though she was nearly thirty years old. "Really? A tavern girl?" She turned up her nose, miffed, just adding to the picture. She responded to him after he said something nicer. "You better be able to see me in that armour. I'll have it soon enough. Then maybe I can smack you in the head with it and knock some sense into you. Show you not to mess with me." She smiled to show she was teasing. She had no intention of hurting him at all. She felt a sense of loyalty to him for accepting that first party request, putting his life in the hands of a near-stranger. 

 Once he began walking again, she walked faster to fall into step beside him. She nodded in agreement as he voiced his concerns about the monsters. "Well, if we find something really weak, we should at least have a chance. I wouldn't underrate yourself, or me for that matter. If this game was so difficult that we all died on the first floor at level 1 then there would be nobody on the further levels. And where's the fun in that?" She smiled at her grim humor. "We might as well take a chance. There's no point in sitting on our butts and waiting for everyone else to do the work. No fun at all." She noticed the shrug to her last question, but decided to not pursue the topic. She had time to do that later, when the two of them weren't completely helpless and thoughts of the Front Lines were within reason. 

[trenttrent20 0]

He nodded as she continued on about fighting, down to earn some quick cash. He'd eyed some good looking light armor in the Town of Beginnings that he knew would look good on him. Then again, he'd probably look good in just about anything he wore in this world. However, style wasn't the point; he was outfitted in simple civilian clothes with literally no armor or thickness. They were extremely exposed and needed some sort of protection fast. 

"Im down to kill some small things just to practice." He gripped his fist together and pointed it out forwards, slightly raising his voice as his sentence progressed. "For blood!" Verus stopped, restating what he just said back to him in his head. "That sounded really stupid. You can hit me if you want." 

He looked around slightly, trying to judge where they were in the town. It was decently sized with occasional stores and shops. "You think we could find like, a mini quest or hunt? I'd be down to split the col."
 

[Adhaerere 0]

 Adhae laughed out loud, resting one hand on her stomach as she did. She reached her hand up and cuffed him over the ear, trying to be playful with her strength. "Next time it's with that armour." The smile remained on her face as he spoke again, asking about their next actions. "Hmm... Well, I haven't seen any quests around, and I don't know how to work them honestly. We can always find them out later." She nodded in confirmation of her own words. "We should wander off in..." She paused again, stopping in place, and raised her arm to point in a random direction. "That direction. We're close enough to the Town of Beginnings that things shouldn't be really difficult, like I said before." Now, with a spring in her step, she started off in that direction. "Come on, we don't have anything else to do here." She turned back and flashed a winning smile at him, and then kept walking. 

 She didn't wait long for him. She only stopped after she was out of the small village, turning back to see if he was still following her. She smiled at him again, trying to keep up her cheery attitude. "You're such a slowpoke."

 Not long after that, Adhae yelped in excitement. She pointed towards the top of a hill, bouncing on her toes. She had spotted a boar. "Verus, Verus! I see one!!" She didn't try to keep the giddiness out of her voice. This would be her first fight in this new game that was her world now, and she was very excited. She had low expectations for the animal she and Verus would encounter, seeing as it was on only the first level of Aincrad, and near the starting city at that. She started off at a run towards it. "Oh, come on, hurry!" She shouted back at her companion. 

Edited June 8, 2016 by Adhaerere

[trenttrent20 0]

Verus followed along, trying to keep quiet after embarrassing himself as he did. Ahae was quick for someone who was wanting to be tanky, speedily leading us from the small village on the outskirts of the Town of Beginnings to the plains where low level mobs spawned. We arrived faster than expected due to her being somewhat over-excited to go fight. Verus had lost a little determination after his little slip up earlier, but it slowly crept back as he approached what would soon to be his first mob kill.

He lifted his hands up and used it to block the artificial sun from his eyes, giving the area a decent survey. "I'm not slow....you're.." His voice trailed off as she kept going on about spotting what looked to be a boar. Verus smirked and put his hands down, remembering the weapon that was sheathed at his side. "So, how do we uh, approach this? Just balls to the wall it or what?" His hand found the grip of his sword, unsheathing it slowly and pointing it down towards his foot. It would probably be best just to rush the thing since it was two on one, but that could bring some issues. 

"We should double check to make sure it's just one of them and not a group. Farming these would be best if we just did them each one by one."

Edited June 8, 2016 by trenttrent20
did not mean to edit

[Adhaerere 0]

 Adhae nodded quickly, getting somewhat light-headed due to her vigor. She took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself, though she could not kill the grin on her face. "Okay, We'll circle around it. Hopefully we can stay a distance away from it enough that it doesn't agro as we try to figure out if there are any more." She began leading the way in a wide, large arc around the beast, who was calmly grazing at the top of the hill. She looked up at it every so often as she trod as lightly as she could along the grass, though she had no idea if the sound of her footsteps would be the thing to agro it. And she wasn't the most graceful of beings, which would make sense due to her chosen class. As she got halfway around in her arc, she went faster, impatient as always. Once she'd gone a full 180 degrees without a reaction from the boar, or any of the boar's possible friends, she turned back to Verus. "Okay, let's kill it now." She quickly reached down and whipped out her axe, then took a deep breath, and started screaming. She ran full force at the boar, who was still quite a few meters away from them both, yelling all the time.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Adhaerere

[trenttrent20 0]

Verus dug the tip of sword into the ground just enough to make some a small cloud of dust. "I call first, come in behind me." He started walking ahead, giving a slight two fingered peace sign over his shoulder. The light was to his right side now and the boar had his backed turned just at an angle to where it would not be able to see him. This would be his first attack ever in this game, and he was assuming it wouldn't be too tough. With his rapier at his side, he took off in a jogging pace towards the beast, keeping his eyes on it. It was a loner in a clear patch of grass, nothing else in sight. Verus whistled to let it know he was coming and dashed forward, thrusting his weapon towards the animal. He watched as his attack landed, grinning just slightly after the boar's retaliation had missed. A red streak of what looked to be gaming code and lines had appeared on the boar's body, acting as a gash would. "Let's go Adhae!"
 

The boar took the attack head on, turning slightly to its side at the last second to make the blow hit its mid section. In retaliation, it tried to pounce toward Verus, hoping to bite at his left arm only to fall short, missing it's target attack spot by a decent margin. It was now facing towards the boy, dragging its feet on the grown to scuff up some of the dirt and grass. 

Dice Roll: ( ID# 61084 results: Battle: 8 Craft: 3 Loot: 5 MOB: 4 ) 

    Damage Dealt / Received (Boar and Verus)

        Boar: Health: 4/4 (-2) = 2/4

        Verus: Health 4/4 (-0) = 2/4

 

 

 

[Adhaerere 0]

ID: 61071

Battle Dice: 7
Craft Dice: 3
Loot Dice: 6
Mob Dice: 9

 Still screaming, Adhae's battleaxe smashed into the side of the boar, knocking it a decent amount backwards. Or so Adhae thought, at least. To an observed eye it wasn't the greatest attack, but Adhae had never used a battle axe as a weapon before, so she thought it was sound. It cut a red pixelated gash in the boar's side, and it stopped moving for a few seconds before it exploded into hundreds of blue crystals. She set her axe down on the ground so it was sticking straight up, handle first, and leaned on it. Her breath was a little short, just because of the adrenaline. "Well, there's our first monster." She grinned wide, but frowned again as a white rectangle appeared where the boar died. It listed the loot had gotten from killing the beast. She hadn't known what it was at first, but she recognized the "Col" section and realized what it was then, and smiled. She leaned further on the axe shaft and her smile widened, going over the fight in her head. "We did good," she said. She looked up at Verus. "Nice first hit, I guess we're lucky it missed." She smiled and then looked around the surrounding area, not spotting another lone boar anywhere near them. She did see a pack of the creatures far away, though. She shuddered inwardly. Wouldn't want to get into that mess with only two level 1 characters. 

 Damage Dealt / Received (Boar and Adhaerere)

        Boar: Health: 2/4 (-2) = 0/4

        Adhaerere: Health 4/4 (-0) = 4/4

((OOC: Just saying that the monster gave loot to account for the SP & Col given at the end of the thread, we didn't actually get anything directly from the boar because the boar was too weak (0 mitigation) to result in loot. ))

Edited June 9, 2016 by Adhaerere

[trenttrent20 0]

He watched as the particles fluttered in the air around them; the beast was dead. "That wasn't too bad I guess." He took his sword and moved it through the floating pieces of the boar code to see if they would do anything, only to be see a result of his rapier passing through the hundreds of bits. His arm fell down and sword returned to its spot at his side. That boar almost bit him, and if he remembered right it would have done damage that would have resulted in almost all of his fairly low health. It was a weird feeling knowing that he got lucky. It wouldn't happen a lot in the future. He'd make sure of it. 

"We wouldn't be able to take on multiple numbers of these. And with our health as it is at the moment...." Verus paused, pulling up his profile info through his menu with the swipe of the fingers on his left hand. His health was unscathed, and he knew that Adhae's was as well. "...we should be able to take on at least one more or so before needing to heal up." His head tilted towards her, looking for any sort of confirmation. "That okay with you sugar?"

[Adhaerere 0]

 She scoffed. "Not too bad? That was amazing!" She raised her fist in the air like a silent cheer, smiling. She walked over and nudged him in the shoulder, giving him a playful shove. "But don't get your hopes up kid, it'll only get harder from here on out." She smiled a little wider. "We'll level up soon, it looks like the level arc in the beginning levels is pretty short. Like any other game. So we'll get more health quickly, and be able to fight more monsters without the fear of dying each time." She nodded afterwards.

 She waited while he spoke again. "Yep, let's go for it. No reason to sit around," she said, repeating a similar statement she had made earlier in their journey. She turned up her face to the sky, looking at the sun that shone too brightly and the sky that was too blue. Not real. "We should have time to do it and get back to the Town of Beginnings and buy some things. Yeah." She looked back down at him, and smiled, then looked around them. She began walking in a direction that was safely away from the group of pigs she had spotted earlier. Soon after, she saw another small boar. She pointed it out to Verus. "There one is. I can take the first attack, if you want. You did it last time." She smiled reassuringly.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Adhaerere

[trenttrent20 0]

"Up to you if you wish to attack first, though i'm not sure if you can beat how perfect I was." He smirked and pointed at the boar with his sword. "Straight at it this time. No reason to try and trap it since it will lock on to one of us." This one shouldn't be too bad either, and with his experience bar almost about to level up, it would be good to get one or two more. They'd need the col if they would want to eat later tonight. His coffers were very loose and all he had on him was the essentials that were given out at the start of the game. The clothing he wore bore little protection, and it was almost scary that he could essentially get one shotted at any point and time. His first purchase would be that of some form of armor, probably something light to accent the speed of his weapon. His grin faded slightly as he remembered what it was just like to use it. It was his first time striking at something and he did it rather well for a beginner. The points he put into the sword skill were well put, but he'd have to keep on leveling up to ensure a safe travel ahead. "Your move sweetie."

[Adhaerere 0]

 She shrugged. "Aight. And stop calling me names, it's creepy. I'm like 10 years older than you squirt." She sniggered and turned to the boar, getting a better grip on her axe. She began to advance towards it, holding her axe tight in both hands. 

 The boar turned to face her as it heard her coming, and wasted no time charging at her. It came tusks first, dipping its head down to point their sharp ends at the player. Adhae heard its footsteps, and time seemed to slow down for her. She could see the boar coming at her, heard it, could see the glint of the artificial sunlight on one of its eyes as it came rushing towards her. The adrenaline mounted in her blood, and finally she attacked. 

ID: #61093

BD: 8
CD: 9
LD: 12
MD: 1

 As she swung, the boar stumbled. It fell face first in the dirt, its tusks digging into the ground and holding there. It would have struggled to release itself, but Adhae's battleaxe was already on its way towards the boar's side. It got unstuck from the ground and skidded to the side as the attack hit, where it looked up at her and prepared to attack again, disgruntled but not dead. There was the gleam in its eye again, infuriated by the player's attack. 

 Damage Dealt / Received (Boar and Adhaerere)

        Boar: Health: 4/4 (-2) = 2/4

        Adhaerere: Health 4/4 (-0) = 4/4

[trenttrent20 0]

"Ok mom." Verus smiled for the first time they had been together, watching as she ran off with the grace of a freshly steamed vegetable. She was the one that needed more armor, not me. If we were to stay together, she would be taking all the blows and aggro anyway; as is the way of a tank. Verus hoped to live up to his damage per second dreams of a class, but that would be many levels ahead of him. 

Adhae had been rushed by the boar; it having tried and attacked first. We must have been on a lucky streak today because it missed her entirely. She retaliated with her axe coming down on the boar's back, and I figured it was as good of a time as ever to go in. Verus rushed to her right, the boar's backside, and thrusted his sword towards its back leg.

Dice Roll: ( ID# 61095 results: Battle: 6 Craft: 3 Loot: 3 MOB: 7 ) 

    Damage Dealt / Received (Boar and Verus)

        Boar: Health: 4/4 (-2) = 0/4

        Verus: Health 4/4 (0) = 4/4

 

His rapier thrust through the back of the boars leg and upwards; a clean shot straight through. The boar faded away into a thousand particles and Verus sat backwards, gripping at his right shoulder with his left arm.There sat Verus, watching as Adhae came to pull him up. "Not too shabby."

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by trenttrent20
didn't get hit

[Adhaerere 0]

 She watched in approval as he finished off the boar, sticking the battleaxe into the ground again. "Nice!" She leaned down to help him up from the ground, grasping his forearm to give extra support when she lifted him off the ground. "Were we lucky, or are those boars just... Bad?" She smiled, and heard a chime from her end. She looked around, trying to see where it was from, when she realized she had leveled up. She gasped, letting go of him. "Hey, did you level up!?" She looked at him, trying to find confirmation. She wore that wide grin on her face again, showing all her teeth. It would seem her poor cheek muscles would get tired after smiling so much, but she was practiced.

 She had time to think over the moments before they rushed the animal, and a certain phrase Verus had uttered sprung to her mind. "Ok mom." She couldn't hide the little spurt of happiness that swelled up inside her chest. She'd made an impression on this young man, even if the comment he made was sarcastic. ...Was it sarcastic? Was he calling her old? She immediately felt hurt, and got quiet. 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Adhaerere

[trenttrent20 0]

"Let's just say the boars were bad." He pulled on her arm and sprung up, reaching his feet just as he heard the notification sound. He swiped his fingers and low and behold a level up interface was shown, with an area to decide on where to invest it. He grinned, seeing as his partner had the same fate bestowed onto her. There was no second thought on how he'd spend it; getting some points into an armor class. They were both in desperate need of some protection against the outside forces, and it would also give them a small safety net in case anything bad happened. 

Verus held up his hand for a quick high five, nodding to Adhae. "Good work today, let's head back"