[SP - F01] Do, a Deer, a Femlae Deer <<Earning a Living: Performer>>

[Tsuisuta 0]

Awateru was wandering around the Town of Beginnings, still looking for her sisters. She had been looking for them since it was announced that they were all stuck in this game until it was beaten. She wasn't too worried about her older sister as she was always the one to look out for them. Her younger sister was the one she was more worried about. Ilulu was always getting herself into trouble. Knowing her, though, it was quite likely she hadn't even really realized that she was stuck. Neither of their names had shown up on the monument of life, which she checked regularly, so it seemed as though the two of them have either begun to level themselves up already or have just stayed in the starter town.

As Awateru was searching, she heard a beautiful voice coming from one of the buildings. Though she knew it couldn't be one of her sisters, she couldn't help but be entranced by the melody and drawn in with the harmonies. It was truly a lovely tune, gently flowing like the breeze.

[Tsuisuta 0]

She walked into the apartment, and let the sound wash over her. It was intoxicating, and suddenly stopped.

"Hello, I'm guessing you came in to listen to my music some more."

Wiping the dumb look off of her face, Awateru fixed into more of a frown. "So, what does it matter to you?"

"Many people seem drawn to my music, and it seems that you are no exception."

"I wasn't drawn by your music, I was just looking around for my sisters."

"In here? Surely they wouldn't be found in such a small space."

Awateru fidgeted a little, knowing she was defeated. "Fine, you caught me. I enjoyed your music."

The singer grew a little smile on her face. "Say, would you be interested in trying it out for yourself? I don't know what it is, but I just get the feeling you would make for a great singer."

Awateru gave a shrug. "I don't see why not."

[Tsuisuta 0]

The woman, which Awateru had figured out was an NPC, rummaged around some of her boxes.

"While I could just have you sing, it would be fitting to get your first performance on a recording crystal." She kept rummaging through boxes until she got a defeated look on her face.

"It seems as I have ran out, though. Say, could you be a dear and go get some materials for me. I could also show you how to make them into recording crystals."

Awateru gave an indifferent shrug. "Sure, what do I need to look for?"

A smile came across the lady's face. "That would be wonderful, just go into the fields and you should see some translucent stones poking out of the ground. Anything will work, but those have some of the best quality."

Awateru gave a nod of her head, and turned towards the exit of the town. It would be her first time out on the fields, and hopefully not her last. She had wanted to find her sisters before heading out, but maybe she could show that she could actually achieve something this way.

[Tsuisuta 0]

Walking through the Town of Beginnings, Awateru kept looking for her sisters. Though it wasn't likely she would find them on such a short jaunt, she didn't want to abandon her search entirely. She walked out of the starting town with a sense of gruff confidence, and many got out of her way. Once out into the fields, her angry face dissipated a little to be replaced by a very contemplated look. She knew she was looking for 'crystals poking out of the ground' but didn't know how large they were or what shape to look for. As kind as the NPC was, it had skimped out on some crucial details. Not long after leaving the town, she went off the beaten path and found what appeared to be a crystal in the ground. A prompt to gather it popped up when she approached it. "Guess this is what I'm looking for then. They did say anything will work."

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103671

LD: 19 - Found material (1/5)

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

Awateru continued to walk down the path, and her thoughts turned towards where her sisters might be. She knew that they weren't dead. They had all told each other their usernames, and Awateru had even told her little sister what username they should use. Because of this, she could check the monument of life for their names. What she couldn't tell from any statistic, was whether or not they had left the town of beginnings and had begun to work their way towards something in this game. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as she stumbled over another crystal sticking out of the ground. It seemed that if you went where not as many others had gone, there were more things to be found. Thankfully, none of the monsters had attacked her. As cruel as the premise of this game was, it still seemed to take things a little easy on people the first time around.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103672

LD: 15 - Material found (2/5)

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

With another crystal harvested, Awateru let her thoughts turn towards her sisters once more. She knew that her older sister would likely be in a similar place as herself. She would either be looking around for the two youngest or working to get them out as quickly as possible. Hopefully Ilulu had found her already. If she was still wandering around, she was likely still in the Town of Beginnings. She wouldn't be able to handle the combat terribly well, at least not without some guidance. And he hadn't attempted and failed, because she knew she wasn't dead. The problem was that the starting town was also the largest that Awateru knew of. If all three were moving around and searching for each other, it made sense they still hadn't found each other in two years.

If we had been smart, we would have stuck together from the very beginning. Now, we're just stuck being apart from each other. At least I'll now have something to show for my two years of effort.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103673

LD: 11 - Fail

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

There had been many searching techniques that Awateru had tried to find her sisters. She had had two years after all. But in that time, there was no foolproof way to know she had hit every possible place that her sisters could've been. She was still finding new areas that she had never seen before. The Town of Beginnings seemed to be in constant evolution, always changing to fit the needs of players as they come through. One day she would see a bakery as she went down a street, then see it be a market the next time she went down it. About the only things that didn't change were the main plaza and the monument of life. On top of that, she was just one person scouring an entire city. Unless she happened to use the exact same methodology in reverse to one of her other sisters, there was little chance of finding them. And to top it all off, you could only send a friend request if you were standing near them. Even though she knew their usernames, she couldn't send a friend request.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103674

LD: 5 - No material

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

Awateru kept wandering, unable to find another crystal. She thought about widening her search, but decided it would be better not to miss any and go a little slower. There wasn't a need to go quick, nothing seemed to be attacking her on sight around here. That would likely change if she were on a different floor or even just a different part of this floor. She really didn't know just how far this kindness lasted. The creator seemed to be quite the sadistic type of person, but they had enough heart to not make this game brutal. Awateru had heard of some games where people would try for hours just to take down a single boss, going through dozens of deaths for even the first one. People would eventually get better at it, but if that were the case here there would be no hope left for people. From the news she had read, it seemed as though the bosses weren't terribly difficult. At least for now.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103675

LD: 2 - No Materials

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

The plains continued on with their rolling hills and unending grasses. There was little in sight. Even if there were some crystals poking out of the ground, they would likely be too small to poke up through the grass, it would be pure luck for Awateru to find one. She climbed up to the top of a hill and looked around for a better place to find these crystals. Preferable one with shorter grass. It was also bothering her legs now. Going with the open legs seemed like a cute idea, but in reality it wasn't that practical. It was an outfit really only suited for more urban areas.

Hopefully I'll find myself somewhere to get a set of actual armor soon. I went with this set of gear, as it seemed to be the best for me. Now that I think about it, just about everything felt awkward in my hands. If only there was some way to use just your hands. That seems like a more practical way to fight a creature. Sure a weapon will help you get through their skin, but you don't need to draw blood to take them out.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103676

LD: 6 - No material

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

Awateru spotted a place and began to head towards it. It appeared it was a bit further away than she anticipated though. She had already been walking for quite some time and only passed one of the landmarks she had set herself. The Town of Beginnings was starting to shrink behind her, and she got a little worried. She pulled up her menu and began to look around for a map. Thankfully, there was one and it pointed right towards where the Town of Beginnings was. That meant she could safely let is disappear from her view and still find her way back. Not that she would want to get that far away anyways. It had almost become her home, what with all the free handouts she had been given. It was where she had made do for as long as she could. She had even had a few of the makeshift orphanages try to take her in. She turned them down though. She didn't want to be stuck in a place until she had found her sisters, or at least her little sister.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103677

LD: 10 - no materials

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

Closing the map, Awateru kept moving towards where she thought she had seen a better place to find crystals at. She also spotted some caves to her left, but decided that would be best to ignore for now. It would be dark and hard to find things there, as well as likely hold some hostile mobs. With how uncomfortable she felt with the dagger she had gotten at the beginning, Awateru didn't want to risk fighting anything at the moment. It would certainly be bad for both her sisters if she did die. Even if they were going to die, she wouldn't want to be the first to go. She wanted to finally achieve something, and this game was going to be her best bet to do it. Here, age didn't matter nearly as much. Even though her older sister would be 18 by now, it didn't matter. She could still have her own voice and carry herself just as far. Here it was all about your level and personal experience. Here, everyone was considered a player.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103678

LD: 4 0 No materials

 

[Tsuisuta 0]

Thinking about age, Awateru realized just how bad being in this game would be for all the younger player's health. If things happened like she thought they did, most people were probably in hospitals hooked up to IVs. It still wouldn't be the greatest for fully grown people, as their muscles would atrophy. But younger players would likely have their growth stunted as well. Awateru didn't full understand the technology, and didn't know exactly how things would work. But she figured that if people played their cards right, they could at least keep their mind maturing while in the game. Things wouldn't feel the same, but it may be enough of an activity that people would still be functional once in the real world. Either way, it was a terrible thought for Awateru to look forward to. She didn't want her sister stuck in the mental state she is in. It wasn't right for someone like her to be stuck not understanding anything that was going on.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103679

LD: 11 - No materials

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

As Awateru kept looking, she realized that she already had some of the materials that the NPC had talked about in her inventory. Maybe the requirement was just there as a sanity check, or maybe it was something else. Either way, it seemed a little arbitrary to have that requirement there. Besides, what would happen if she was unable to get a good recording out with just the crystals she had found. Knowing a bit about how games work, she figured that there was some sort of sanity check to make sure the quest didn't require players to go out searching multiple times for things.

Was this even really a quest? There wasn't much that made her think it was one, just a happenstance of events happening for her.

I guess that means the developers did their job well. I'm not really losing immersion by getting hit with a sudden, jarring quest. It all flows seamlessly from one thing to the next.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103680

LD: 14 - No Materials

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

As Awateru finally approached the area she had spotted from on top of the hill, she gave a slight smirk. This would certainly be a much better place to find the crystals she was looking for. It didn't take her long either. Within moments of reaching the area, there was already one gleaming from the ground in front of her. She went to pick it up and rechecked her quest objectives. It seemed that there would be two more that she would need to grab before heading back towards the Town of Beginnings. At thre rate she was going, it shouldn't take too much longer. Though if her pattern for searching kept up, it would be quite a bit longer. Either way, it seemed as though she would be able to head back towards the starting town with all she needed before sundown came. It was already high up in the virtual sky, but she was doing quite well and hadn't started too long ago.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103682

LD: 18 - material found (3/5)

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

Awateru kept walking and stumbled across yet another crystal. This place seemed to be littered with them! The smirk returned to Awateru's face and she picked it up. There was only one more that she would need before heading back, and hopefully she could find it before the grass grew to a higher height once more. She glanced around and realized just how small of a patch this lower grass was. Her smile disappeared and went back towards her default scowl. Her thoughts turned towards what she would hopefully have to show her sisters when they eventually met up. She would hopefully have some experience under her belt and finally get to work more towards achieving something. It would be the first time that Awateru could remember that she had achieved something that her sister hadn't already. At least, that was what she hoped. For all she knew, her sister was close to being on the front lines already.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103683

LD: 17 - Material found (4/5)

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

The grass began to grow higher, and Awateru began to worry a little. it seemed as though she would need to find another place to search for crystals. She checked behind her once more to see if there was a place she had missed to look and didn't find any. She had already scoured that small area for any possible materials to get. She had even tried to harvest a couple plants, but they ended up not giving the prompt to harvest like the crystals had. Even though the NPC had said that just about anything works, it seemed that was a much less general statement than Awateru had anticipated. It seemed like she was limited to just crystals at the moment. It didn't even really make sense. Why would an NPC be so desperate for Awateru to record her first time singing, or even assume that it was her first. She just wanted to get this quest done with at this point so that she could move on to do more things.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103684

LD: 2 - no materials

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

As Awateru turned away from the patch of grass, a gleam got caught in the corner of her eye. She quickly turned around and spotted another crystal protruding from the ground. She could've sworn it wasn't there before. Whether it was just her mind not remembering right or it had just respawned though, she didn't care. It was the last one she needed and she could finally head back towards the Town of Beginnings and go record a song or something. She didn't really know what she would sing, hopefully the NPC would help out a little bit with that part. And unless the NPC wanted to hear her sing A Capella, she would hopefully be provided with a backing track of sorts. Awateru had never sung in the real world, except for the occasional hum to the national anthem or song being played on some speakers nearby. It wasn't one of those talents that she prided herself on. Maybe she would find something that she was passionate about after all.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103685

LD: 19 - Material found (5/5 going back for next objective)

 

[Tsuisuta 0]

Awateru quickly got herself back to the studio she had found the NPC in, which had thankfully not changed around. Of course, if it truly was supposed to be a regular quest, it likely wouldn't change. She had just never heard that singing before. As she entered, the NPC turned and smiled.

"I see you got some crystals we can use for recording. Why don't you bring them over here and we can get them prepped."

Awateru followed her towards some sort of small work station.

"It isn't that hard to prepare them, all you need to do is use a special little tool. Here, have this one. I always have so many extras lying around. Just strike them with it and it should set it up. YOu'll know you've gotten it when it glows."

Awateru took the object, which looked strangely like a tuning fork and struck it against one of the crystals, accidentally breaking it in the process.

"Don't hit them so hard. Though if they break that easily, it probably wouldn't have made for a good recording anyways."

Awateru kept going with the other crystals, which converted just fine. Each gave off a comfortable glow and shaped to look like a microphone.

"OK, with that we should be ready to record. I'm guessing you'll want a backing track?"

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103688

CD: 7 - salvage craft

LD: 9 - no salvage

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

The NPC set Awateru up in a little recording area with the crystal out in front of her.

"Once I tap the crystal, we'll be live. I'll start the track soon after that."

Awateru gave a nervous nod, she had never sung before and wasn't sure if she could pull it off that well. The NPC tapped onto the crystal, and it began to emit a soft light. She quietly exited the room and started the backing track. It was a soft, gentle melody, and Awateru just froze while listening to it. It reminded her too much of how sh had lost her sisters. How she had failed to find them after two years. A tear began to fall down her cheek and the music stopped.

"Don't worry about it, everyone gets nervous their first time around. It's perfectly natural."

Realizing she was showing weakness, Awateru stiffened up. "I'm fine, let's just try again."

"Don't be so stiff while singing, let the emotions flow through you to form the words in your mind."

With that, she put a new crystal into place, tapped on it, and went to start the track again.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103689

CD: 1 - Critical Fail

 

Edited July 27, 2018 by Tsuisuta

[Tsuisuta 0]

Before the track could begin, Awateru began to sing. It was a soft, mournful melody. And she couldn't help but let the tears flow while singing it. She kept her voice unwavering though, making sure the sadness could only be found in the emotion she infused into the piece. There were no instruments to back her up, but she didn't care. All there was was her feelings and the mic, ready to capture what she had to say.

I find myself wandering

Through mists and veils of scorn

And though I have lost myself

I still don't feel forlorn

I'm pulled by my emotions

To those for who I care

But their faces lost in darkness

Towards them I cannot stare

They're lost inside the darkness

Tucked away from sight

But now a light does glimmer

As we all withdraw from this blight

As she finished the song, she brushed the tears away from her eyes. She could see the NPC was also giving a tear. She came over and tapped the crystal once more, ending the recording.

"That was truly beautiful, you deserve to keep this. If you ever need more help, I'll be here. With a voice like yours, I doubt you'll need it though."

Awateru took the crystal and walked out of the studio calmly. It felt good to have the feelings off of her chest. And now her search was forever emblazoned in song, ready to be shared with others who might sympathize.

Craft Roll:

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103690

CD: 11 - Rare Item

LD: 12 - No masterpiece

Thread Summary:

Spoiler

Completed <<Earning a Living: Performer>> - 1 SP, 5 T1 Materials, <<Performer>> Profession, crafted item (being sent to evals now)

Loot: 2 T1 Materials (leftover rom gathering)

COmpleted 1 Page of RP: 1 SP and 400 Col

Totals: 2 SP, 400 Col, 7 T1 Mats