Fantasy Jigoku Fūkei Online

[Siren77]

Jigoku Fūkei Online
地獄風景

Juju seasonedcat Cosmos
etrenelle__ @ist

Welcome, to the world of Gods and Monsters! Brave Adventurer, the land of Metsu calls upon your aid to help vanquish the evils that have plagued its floors. All sorts of destruction and tyranny lay about its land now, and it is up to you and your team to destroy it! There is not much time, go now and find your destiny!

July 14, 20XX - JFO Launch Date
FLOOR 1

Link Start!
.........................................................................​

 

[Siren77]

Kaizo

Ronin

location: Offline -> Character Creation -> Floor 1
mentions:
interactions:

Game On...

“Oh for goodness sakes...” Muttered a lone man, pressed up against the door leading into a small two person apartment. Fumbling around in his hands was a set of keys that subtly jingled in his hands as he filed through them to retrieve the single metal bit he required, all the while attempting to keep a small red bag shoved between his left arm and torso, Kaizo Mishima grumbled under his breath until at last a smaller sized silver key was to be pressed against his right thumb and index finger. Aggressively it was to be shoved into the lock and twisted, first counter clockwise then clockwise after the young man cursed under his breath at his own incompetence. He’d opened this door atleast an exaggerated million times, so you’d figure he’d be able to know how it operated. At this rate, Kaizo felt like he was losing his mind.

But to be fair, he wasn’t exactly in the best of mental states at this moment. Sheer exhaustion was gripping at every fiber of muscle from the waist down, as this morning Kaizo had opted to go to the gym as per his routine schedule on Friday’s was to work out his legs. It was both sensible and not, with many people living under the notion that working out was better left towards the evening so that one could preserve their strength for the days activities before expending it all after work or social events were completed. But in Kaizo’s case, he didn’t have work or school today, and he didn’t have very many acquaintances that he genuinely enjoyed hanging out with. Most of the ones he did enjoy being around were buddies he’d made online, which leads into the sensible reason he went this morning.

On his own personal schedule, he’d left this whole day open as a means of having all the time in the world to enjoy the launch of something he’d been waiting whole months for. JFO, the largest VR game release of the year! Reiki Software had announced its release exactly six months prior, and not even a day after Kaizo saw the trial gameplay and experienced it first hand at a gaming convention he had frontloaded a fair bit of money into preordering the game as well as purchasing a custom Reiki Gear System as a means of getting the fullest experience out of the software. Fortunately, having won a continent wide fighting game tournament for Street Fighter VII, Kaizo had racked up a total of 10,000 Euros from the prize money and the many bets he’d won in the process of victory. The majority of course was spent on paying off loan debts and maintaining his state of living, but a solid 30% was spent on the system and game purely for the sake of fixing the color dull black scheme that he hated (changing it out for a much more vibrant red and grey) and installing a better memory bank. Not to mention the many other games he’d purchased and played on it.

As Kaizo took the first few steps into his apartment, he was immediately greeted by the fierce barking coming from the kitchen off to his left. Running in an odd gallop came a Beagle looking to be no more than a year old, with a pure white underbelly and legs with a black and primarily brown back and head. Floppy ears bouncing around, and an adorable little grin stretched on the dogs little mouth, the pet cane running up toward Kaizo and began jumping up at his legs.

“Oye! Calm down Milo! Let me get inside first!” He said with a grin, forcing his way inside and shutting the door behind him. “Holy shit, you act like you haven’t seen me in ages! It’s been two hours damnit!” Though the dog couldn’t understand him, it still panted happily and sat looking up at him with that same smile.

Kaizo promptly set his gym bag aside on the kitchen table before scooping up the still small dog and cradling it in his arms. “You’re a troublemaker, you know that right?”

Milo barked before squirming out of the mans grip and darting for the kitchen, which was followed by the clinking of a metal bowl. An empty, metal bowl.

“Oh I see how it is! You’re only happy because I can feed you now huh?” Shaking his head, Kaizo sighed before struggling on and making his way to the kitchen where he quickly filled up Milo’s food dish. He didn’t get any food of his own though, and instead V-lined for the bathroom where he promptly took a brisk shower. Five minutes later, he was done and out with a towel draped around his waste, and who should be there to greet him once more except that same little dog.

“Good breakfast? Did you get enough?”

Milo barked.

“Good.”

It was a rather quick process afterwards, with Kaizo hurriedly drying off and dressing in a pair of grey exercise shorts and a loose black t-shirt. Once he was finished, he logged onto his computer (decorated with a picture of Akuma, his main fighter for SF, as a background) and booted up the loading file for JFO which was currently being processed by his Gear System. The download was literal seconds away from being finished, leaving Kaizo time to secure the systems attachment to both his computer and to his router for a smooth connection. Right on time with his final check, an alert went off indicating that the file download was complete.

It was finally time.

Grabbing the headset and dragging it over to his bed, Kaizo crashed down on the mattress and slipped the system over his eyes and ears. Milo had opted to follow suit in hopping up on the bed and burrowing his way down on Kaizo’s chest.

“Taking a nap? Alright. Just be sure to wake me up if nature calls. We don’t want a repeat of last time now do we?”

That said, Kaizo scratched Milos head one last time before letting himself relax and looking up at his ceiling.

“Gear Activate.”

“Hello Kaizo, state your password and software of choosing.” A female electronic voice spoke in his ears.

“Password: OmegaZero, Software: Jigoku Fūkei Online.”

“Searching... Software found, link is ready on your command.”

Kaizo could feel the butterflies in his stomach, with an unfading smile creased on his face.

“See you soon Milo.” He took a deep breath, “Link Start!”

The world almost burst asunder in a flood of pixels, with the real world then fading into oblivion as Kaizo’s consciousness was pulled away into the depths of the Reiki Gear System. For a time he saw nothing other than a black void, until yet another array of pixels began filing past his view and assimilating into a menu screen.

“Welcome, please input a username to identify yourself. This cannot be changed later, so choose wisely!”

No sense in mixing things up from the norm, so as per usual Kaizo took the last for letters of his name and switched them up forming the name Ozai, then added on his lucky numbers of 66.

“Username accepted, Welcome Ozai66. Please design an avatar, select a class, select a weapon, and select an element for magic purposes. Depending on your choice of class, you may or may not start off with magic focused abilities. Choose carefully, as they won’t be able to be changed until your characters next rebirth!”

Huh, simple enough. Kaizo quickly selected an avatar with a build smaller and slightly shorter than his own, and began working off of it, constructing a face similar to his own with minor differences of some scarring on his face and arms. The skin tone was left the same, as was his hair (though it was much longer), but his eyes were changed from their normal blue hue to that of a bright silver. Everything was almost perfected, there could’ve been a few minor details he would’ve seen changed but he was much too excited to care. If worse came to worse, he was sure there’d be an option to alter character image later on.

Next came to the classes, and for a hot minute Kaizo was unsure what to go with. He could be the DPS glass cannon Sorcerer, or maybe the fierce Oni that was both durable and powerful with magic attacks. Remembering his time at the free trial, the Ronin had been the one class he’d had the most experience with. So it made sense to choose something comfortable, and then maybe branch out a bit later. Besides, what better option than to be a badass with not only one but two swords?

The Ronin’s armor type was that of a simple garb, atleast to start anyways. Armor could always be found alter on, as could better weapons. But for now, Kaizo chose a simple brown tunic with a black laced trim around it. To go with it, he chose a set of Crimson blades titled as the ‘Blades of Anarchy.’ While the name was cool, it was nothing more than the base damage set of weapons that came in a variety of variants. All were interesting in their own right, but the in game content to be seen further on would be much better. Speaking of which, he still needed to select his magic type. Fire seemed like a good option, just because it would be an engine for increased damage and volatile projectile attacks. As a plus, he heard there’d be magic skills to reference Akuma so that was a must have should he ever receive them.

Akuma wouldn’t be the only reference in the game though. Rumor has it that Giuliani Reiki himself had several talks with executives from Capcom, Nintendo, Inti Creates, Blizzard and plenty of others. Even small time developers like Toby Fox had been rumored to have had some encounters with the man. It was no surprise though. The potential for weapons, skills, and even secret bosses were heightened by the inclusion of other works. It would make the game more desirable to explore, and more rewarding for fans of other titles.

But one step at a time, first he had to actually get in the game and see what this title had to offer initially. He just hoped it hadn’t gone to shit in the six months of development that he’d waited through.

With his character selected and everything seemingly prepared, Kaizo accepted the changes and watched as once again his screen filled with pixels. This time, a screen full of text faded in first.

“Welcome, to the world of Gods and Monsters! Brave Adventurer, the land of Metsu calls upon your aid to help vanquish the evils that have plagued its floors. All sorts of destruction and tyranny lay about its land now, and it is up to you and your team to destroy it! There is not much time, go forth and find your destiny!”

Just as the screen began to fade, the text glitched out and for a half second one could see the bottom right of the text fade to a red color and instead read “Die with honor” In a mottled Papyrus text.

It freaked Kaizo out a little, but he knew that the game was supposed to pose some darker tones in its actual story. What’s worse is the deaths in game were supposed to be “lifelike” making the permadeath aspect of it more brutal as you could watch your character be torn limb from limb. Realistic gore like this wasn’t for the faint of heart, but it just made the game that much more intense and immersive. He felt bad for anyone that didn’t try to get their hands on it quick though, as he’d heard there had only been a select amount of copies for sale. Meaning not everyone would be able to play it after a while. So hesitating was just a sheer punishment in itself.

Once the first set of text disappeared, a brief loading screen came up with a tip.

“While JFO is a single player title, it is encouraged that players form teams and guilds as a means of having strength and safety in numbers! One per class is best, that way you have a well rounded group!”

It wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe if any of his buddies had the title he could meet up with them later and form a party with them. Or he could settle for Rando’s he met on the way. Either way, he was game for some team action.

For the last time, a mass of green pixels flooded his screen before Kaizo found himself standing in a large hill zone with grass covering it as far as the eye could see. Little cotton plants grew amongst it all and let microscopic particles graze past him in a lifelike breeze that he swore he could feel. In the distance, a row of banners colored orange and yellow could be seen.

“Guess that’s the way...” Kaizo grunted to himself before looking about some more and seeing nothing but the grassy zone, loading characters, and some strange purple creatures fluttering in the air. While he wanted to test some combat, first he wanted to get to the hub and see what he could find. Anything he could get before the mass wave of players would be great, so without further hesitation Kaizo (or rather Ozai66) began walking through the fields toward the banners and followed their trails.

Once he reached the first set of guidons, just over the hill he could see a large mountain with a very obvious city and castle adorning it’s side. There was his first goal, so further on he marched.

Koala

 

[Juju]

• PC
• mobile

• 
  
  Wintermute

  Siren77 Isabella awoke to the sound of screeching brakes and the shivering tinkle of plates and cups from her kitchenette. It was a typical occurrence, spaced into hourly intervals starting at six am onwards. More than that, it meant something terrible. She was late for work! How had she missed her alarm? Never had she been this careless! Her heart hammered louder than the roar of the metro, eyes wide awake. She grabbed the alarm clock, hands shaking. Through the cracked plastic she could see the alien-green numbers; [6:00 AM]. A hard lump of panic rose up in her throat, threatening to choke her had her eyes not shifted slightly to the right. [Fri] "Bloody hell!" she sighed, feeling the adrenaline fade away like snow in spring rain. Bella let her head slump back into her pillow, returning the clock to its vigil on her nightstand. "Right... that game comes out today." she murmured. The game was called Jigoku Fūkei Online, some Japanese passion project that was gathering a ton of hype. The boys had been talking about it since its teaser and Bella couldn't help but take interest in it, even if she had no idea how to pronounce the name. One of them -- who had unsuccessfully been trying to court her -- had offered to sell her his old gaming laptop since he was going to buy a new one for the game. She bought it off of him, but that still didn't account for the 2500 pound price tag on the gear and game. It was more than Bella could manage, but she told herself that if she could get enough through tips from both her jobs then maybe she would give it a go. Six months later here she was, taking a day off to try out the game. It felt like madness but she had to admit she was excited. She hadn't been able to play many games since she left home, limited to her small pool of obsolete consoles, but she had been keeping up with the competitive gaming community and watching streamers. The headgear package lay unopened on the counter of her kitchenette, like a treasure waiting to be pilfered. Carefully, she peeled back the thin plastic and ran a finger across the iridescent letters on the box. The greatest escape, it read, along with some Japanese symbols she couldn't read. "Well I certainly could use a vacation." Bella sighed, laughing into the emptiness of her broom-closet flat. She followed the instructions and set up the game client. It needed a download or two, which gave her enough time to eat a box of leftover curry and complete her morning hygiene routine. It was waiting for her when she finished, so with her hair still damp she put on the head set. "Gear activate" “Password: Neuromancer, Software: Jeegocku Funkey Online.” "Did you mean Jigoku Fūkei Online?" "Yes! Start it up please. Link start!" The transition was, admittedly, a little scary, but Bella adjusted well after a few moments. It wasn't smart to have a username that was the same as your password, so she chose the name Wintermute (which she thought was obscenely clever). The avatar was more difficult since she couldn't make up her mind. In the end she came up with a short elf girl with messy pigtails and a wonderful cloak tipped with stained-glass. Most importantly, she thought the bag might come in handy since she knew she would be collecting items and other things. Next was the class. She gravitated to the healing class almost immediately and chose the earth element since it matched her elven persona. The dress was also really cute. As for spells, well she chose the ones that would be more useful for helping others. When she was finished, the screen faded to black, save for a rust coloured font in the bottom right. Did it seriously say "Die with honor?". She had seen horror games and such, so she hardly batted an eye at it. She knew what she was getting into. Besides, it was only a game in the end. By the time she spawned into the world she had forgotten any concern she might have felt towards the strange text. Bella, now known as Wintermute, knew the starting zone drill; find a party and go on quests. It was a timeless classic, but one that she gleefully indulged in. Humming quietly to herself, she walked along the path towards what she assumed to be the meeting point. She didn't see anyone so far, but when she crested a hill she could make out an armoured figure on the road. "Hey! Wait up!" Bella called to the warrior, waving a hand to get his attention. She held onto the straps of her bag as she trotted up to the unknown man, slowing when she was at his side so they could walk beside each other. "Hey there..." she took a step back to view the man's username, "Ozai66, yeah? Would you like to group up? Hmmm... have I heard that username before?" the elf placed a finger under her chin, trying to recall the name. "Oh wait, isn't that the username of this year's Street Fighter Champion?" She gave him a semi-supicious look, wondering if the player was the real deal or just a fanboy.
  
  
• 
  
  Wintermute

  Siren77 Isabella awoke to the sound of screeching brakes and the shivering tinkle of plates and cups from her kitchenette. It was a typical occurrence, spaced into hourly intervals starting at six am onwards. More than that, it meant something terrible. She was late for work! How had she missed her alarm? Never had she been this careless! Her heart hammered louder than the roar of the metro, eyes wide awake. She grabbed the alarm clock, hands shaking. Through the cracked plastic she could see the alien-green numbers; [6:00 AM]. A hard lump of panic rose up in her throat, threatening to choke her had her eyes not shifted slightly to the right. [Fri] "Bloody hell!" she sighed, feeling the adrenaline fade away like snow in spring rain. Bella let her head slump back into her pillow, returning the clock to its vigil on her nightstand. "Right... that game comes out today." she murmured. The game was called Jigoku Fūkei Online, some Japanese passion project that was gathering a ton of hype. The boys had been talking about it since its teaser and Bella couldn't help but take interest in it, even if she had no idea how to pronounce the name. One of them -- who had unsuccessfully been trying to court her -- had offered to sell her his old gaming laptop since he was going to buy a new one for the game. She bought it off of him, but that still didn't account for the 2500 pound price tag on the gear and game. It was more than Bella could manage, but she told herself that if she could get enough through tips from both her jobs then maybe she would give it a go. Six months later here she was, taking a day off to try out the game. It felt like madness but she had to admit she was excited. She hadn't been able to play many games since she left home, limited to her small pool of obsolete consoles, but she had been keeping up with the competitive gaming community and watching streamers. The headgear package lay unopened on the counter of her kitchenette, like a treasure waiting to be pilfered. Carefully, she peeled back the thin plastic and ran a finger across the iridescent letters on the box. The greatest escape, it read, along with some Japanese symbols she couldn't read. "Well I certainly could use a vacation." Bella sighed, laughing into the emptiness of her broom-closet flat. She followed the instructions and set up the game client. It needed a download or two, which gave her enough time to eat a box of leftover curry and complete her morning hygiene routine. It was waiting for her when she finished, so with her hair still damp she put on the head set. "Gear activate" “Password: Neuromancer, Software: Jeegocku Funkey Online.” "Did you mean Jigoku Fūkei Online?" "Yes! Start it up please. Link start!" The transition was, admittedly, a little scary, but Bella adjusted well after a few moments. It wasn't smart to have a username that was the same as your password, so she chose the name Wintermute (which she thought was obscenely clever). The avatar was more difficult since she couldn't make up her mind. In the end she came up with a short elf girl with messy pigtails and a wonderful cloak tipped with stained-glass. Most importantly, she thought the bag might come in handy since she knew she would be collecting items and other things. Next was the class. She gravitated to the healing class almost immediately and chose the earth element since it matched her elven persona. The dress was also really cute. As for spells, well she chose the ones that would be more useful for helping others. When she was finished, the screen faded to black, save for a rust coloured font in the bottom right. Did it seriously say "Die with honor?". She had seen horror games and such, so she hardly batted an eye at it. She knew what she was getting into. Besides, it was only a game in the end. By the time she spawned into the world she had forgotten any concern she might have felt towards the strange text. Bella, now known as Wintermute, knew the starting zone drill; find a party and go on quests. It was a timeless classic, but one that she gleefully indulged in. Humming quietly to herself, she walked along the path towards what she assumed to be the meeting point. She didn't see anyone so far, but when she crested a hill she could make out an armoured figure on the road. "Hey! Wait up!" Bella called to the warrior, waving a hand to get his attention. She held onto the straps of her bag as she trotted up to the unknown man, slowing when she was at his side so they could walk beside each other. "Hey there..." she took a step back to view the man's username, "Ozai66, yeah? Would you like to group up? Hmmm... have I heard that username before?" the elf placed a finger under her chin, trying to recall the name. "Oh wait, isn't that the username of this year's Street Fighter Champion?" She gave him a semi-supicious look, wondering if the player was the real deal or just a fanboy.
  
  

 

[seasonedcat]

~Dae~​

Dae slammed the door to his room shut loudly. Thankfully no one else was in his house to care about him doing this at an ungodly hour. Well, it was only midnight, but whatever. He pressed his back to his door and slid down it. Tears were burning hot in his eyes, thankfully he wore waterproof makeup today. He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes in frustration at his tears. The paper he was holding lightly fell to the floor as he did this. It was lightly soaked in the rain from outside, the same for himself. But that didn't matter to him. Another failed test brought home. It didn't matter anymore.

Today was absolute shit. First, he wakes up late, then he has to work all lunch on an essay that he had forgotten about, next he got his failed test back in cram school. But what took the cake was what happened after cram school. It had ended later than usual because the teacher made him stay back and study more. So he was caught in the rain. His parents were supposed to pick him up so it didn't really matter to him. But they didn't. he waited for 2 hours but they didn't pick him up. He called them up, freezing from standing outside in the rain, thankfully he was under a small overhang of the roof. They had forgotten he needed to be picked up completely. They were out of town with his brother at some award ceremony and the party he got from god knows what anymore. This meant he had to find a way home himself. But to add salt to the wound, he had no money for cabs, the trains weren't active at this time of night, which only left walking.

It took him almost an hour and a half to walk home in the rain. He had his hood from his hoodie that kept his face dry, but the rest of him was soaked. Why did his brother have to be so perfect? He not only was a genius in school, popular with the girls and guys, but he was also a famous streamer. He was great at video games, known by thousands and got whatever he wanted from his parents as long as his grades didn't drop. Meanwhile, Dao is barely passing every class but music isn't good at sports or video games and is considered by most people, the kid with no future. Why did he have to get the short end of the stick?

Dao swallowed back his frustrated tears and stood up. He ripped off his clothing, tried off the wet clothes clinging to his body. He threw it in one of the many piles on his floor and went to his closet to get some more. He grabbed a random black hoodie and a pair of shorts. He grabbed a towel from his floor and dried his hair and smooth legs, yes he shaves them uwu, the places where most of the moistness still sat. He didn't bother to take off his makeup or anything, he just made his way downstairs and made some tea. He made it super sweet as he likes it, not caring if it kept him up at this point.

With his beverage completed, he made his way back upstairs to his room. On his way up he passed by his older brother's room. His eyes got caught on the light flashing on one of his brother's three computers. A notification. Curiosity getting the best of him he checked it out. 'JFO launching at 1 am ~ o(〃＾▽＾〃)o ヾ（〃＾∇＾）ﾉ♪' it read. JFO, that was one of the MMO's on the VR thing that his brother had beta tested. He glanced at the time, 10 minutes to one. His brother had an unexpected thing he had to do tonight, which meant he wasn't going to be here for the launch. Dae smiled evilly at this, taking small satisfaction on the fact his brother lost for once.

His brother was not going to be here, neither were his parents. He glanced over at the gear sitting innocently on the table next to his brother's bed. It had everything set up and ready to go, his brother already having the game downloaded and ready to go. It was not like his brother was going to catch him, and it was just going to be harmless fun. He would only be on for a little bit then he would get off and go to bed, it would be simple. He quickly ran to his room after chugging his tea, grabbing one of his fluffy blankets and his cat and running back to his brother's room. His brother's bed had the lack of good blankets, so Dae, of course, fixed this by depositing his brother's blankets on the ground and replacing them with his own blankets he had grabbed from his room. His cat purred happily as she curled up next to the pillow, licking herself as she waited for Dae to lay down.

Cuddling into his blankets he grabbed the gear and placed it on his head. "What am I supposed to say again? Uh, go? No... Oh right activate gear? Gear activate?" “Hello Myeong-White family member, state your password and software of choice.” Dao jumped at the sudden voice, blushing at his antics before quickly recovering. He was also thankful that his parents made the gear for both of them. "StarsThatShineBright4563 and uh JFO, Jigoku uh Fūkei Online. Yah that's it." “Searching... The software found, the link is ready on your command.” "Nice, Link start then!"

He was taken away from his body and to a black void. Another voice filled his ears, "Welcome back, would you like to continue to play as ✧Esper✧?" Dao smiled to himself, "Yes I would."
“Welcome back Beta tester to the world of Gods and Monsters! Brave Adventurer, the land of Metsu calls upon your aid to help vanquish the evils that have plagued its floors. All sorts of destruction and tyranny lay about its land now, and it is up to you and your team to destroy it! There is not much time, go forth and find your destiny!” Dae rolled his eyes at this but said nothing. He noticed the small 'die with honour' in the corner, but paid no mind to it. Most likly just one of those loading screen tips that most video games have. The ones that give you tips or whatever. The screen changed to another tip screen, 'Remeber stay alert! Even the smallest of monsters can mean the end to the unweary adventurer!'

Yet again Dae didn't care and just waited for the game to start up. After that thought he was sent into the new world. He blinked in disbelief as he looked at the amazingly real world before him. Then he glanced down to see what character his brother made. The first thing he noticed was the breasts than that the character was much taller than Dae himself. He sputtered at this, his brother had made a girl to play as. He began to laugh loudly at this, only stopping once he noticed the weird looks he was getting from people. Then a man approached him, eyes wide. "Hey, you're Esper! Holy shit dude, it's an honour. Please, you gotta join my party!" he flinched at the name. Of course, he was on his brother's account which meant that everyone was going to recognize him. That also meant that he could make his brother look completely stupid.

But to do that he would have to do something that could be traced back to him. Which means his parents would ground him. He would have to just spend the time exploring and then log off back at the hub. Just as he was about to turn the man down another person asked him, then another. He realized how bad of a mistake he had made when he decided to use his brother's account. There was only one way out of this. Run. Dae took off running, thanking the gods his brother had picked a ninja, making him much faster than the other's following him who were thankfully not the ninja class.

He made it far away from him, enough that he could no longer hear their character's footsteps. He turned to look back to see if they were still there, thankful they were no longer there. However, when he was looking back he didn't notice the two in front of him. He may have slowed down his run since he just noticed he was no longer being chased, but it wasn't enough as he now barreled into two people talking before him. Letting out a swear in Korean he fell on top of them. "Dang it why are you two not looking where you are going?" he spoke, ignoring the fact that this was completely his fault.
Juju Siren77

 

[Siren77]

Kaizo

Ronin

location: Floor 1
mentions:
interactions: Juju seasonedcat

That was quick...

Kaizo had barely made it a whole twenty steps from the first guidon, when a voice called out from behind him. It seems one of the characters loading in beside him had finally completed the process.

“Huh?” He muttered as he turned about face to see an elven style character with a white dress, standing before him with her stained glass cloak waving about in the breeze.

First, there came an inquiry as to whether or not he’d like to group up with her. Given the desperate need virtually any character would have for a healer, he counted himself lucky that one approached him. However before he was to be given any sort of chance to answer her, the one named Wintermute advanced to a second question that sort of caught Kaizo off guard. His Username, given his own sheer laziness, was exactly the same across every bit of software he’d ever played or competed in. As such, this wouldn’t have been the first time someone abstract recognized him. However the reason for this instance was new to him. Winning a continent wide tournament was no small feat amongst the gaming community. It made sense that he could be recognized more, but Kaizo ignorantly hoped it wasn’t true. The last thing he needed was to be flanked by people constantly, all he wanted was to play his game in peace.

But, given this girl (well, he atleast assumed it was a girl. Given JFO’s character customization capabilities, there was just as good of a chance it could’ve been a dude) hadn’t recognized him right off the bat, it gave him hope that he’d be able to fly under the radar for a time.

“Erm, yeah that’s me.” Her suspicious eye made him feel a little nervous, even though he had no reason to be. “But to answer your first question, I’d love to- FUCK!!!” Kaizo’s attempt to answer was swiftly turned into an offensive gesture as he felt someone run into his side and send him tumbling to the ground.

Realizing what he had accidentally said in the process, his cheeks were immediately flushed as he scrambled to get up from the ground. Whoever had run into them had opted to play the victim, which instantly made his cheeks all the more red as he lifted his head to glare at them.

“Hey, asshole, We weren’t even moving! How about you take your own advice and watch your step!”

In the process of coming into contact with another player, a large red indicator came up to Kaizo’s right asking if he’d like to engage a PvP duel. It was a natural response for this to engage, in the event that players came to blows as a means of settling the dispute civilly without destroying one another’s characters. But Kaizo had no intention of fighting another player right now. Besides neither of them had any gold to wager so there was no point, given there’s be no profit. So he swiped the message away and turned back to Wintermute, cheeks still flushed.

“Sorry about that, you okay? What I was trying to say early was that I’d love to team up, if that offer is still on the table.”

Koala

 

[Juju]

• PC
• mobile

• 
  
  Wintermute

  Siren77 seasonedcat Isabella's eyes sparkled at Ozai66's confirmation...literally. The anime influence of the videogame was not lost on her expression, which gained a visible bright tinkle. To think she would be meeting a pro gamer! It made her feel a little out of her league. Come to think of it, many of the top players would have bought the game. Some streamers had even been granted access to the closed beta. Bella had watched a few of the big shots like Esper and Fluffykitty, but so far she had not seen any of them in-game. Perhaps they had been given a head start? The conversation took a drastic turn when someone crashed into the two of them, sending both she and Ozai66 -- after uttering a rather interesting choice of words -- onto the ground. "Oof...blimey..." she uttered, trying to catch the wind that had been knocked out of her. The package certainly wasn't kidding when it said the pain was realistic. She could almost feel the bruise forming on her arse. The culprit crawled off of her and had the gall to blame the two of them for the collision. Bella knew the type all too well, though the effect was dampened by the fact it was coming from a cute Neko-girl. With a sigh, Bella picked herself off the ground and dusted the dirt from her dress. Thankfully the fabric was more durable than she thought and no stains were left. It was a great relief. If anything, she was more concerned about her dress than the accident. Ozai66, on the other hand, did not take it as lightly and shouted at the man. Oh dear, she thought, I hope this doesn't break into a fight. She dismissed the PvP alert with a flick of her finger and was relieved when she noticed Ozai do the same. He turned to apologize, his face flushed, though not from anger. Bella had a good idea of why. "Heh. No worries, luv. I think we'll make a brilliant team!" she said with a patient smile, not wanting to embarrass him any further. Unlike him, she didn't seem bothered by the incident. Bella held onto the straps of her bag and turned her attention back to the fuming cat-girl. It was only then that she got a really good gander at the avatar. Black ears and tail, ponytail dummy thicc thighs, why it looked just like... "Esper?" Bella sputtered in disbelieve and looked over the Neko-girl's username once more. They didn't sound anything like the Korean streamer, and not just because of the bad temper. Their accent was thicker than a bowl of porridge. "That you?"
  
  
• 
  
  Wintermute

  Siren77 seasonedcat Isabella's eyes sparkled at Ozai66's confirmation...literally. The anime influence of the videogame was not lost on her expression, which gained a visible bright tinkle. To think she would be meeting a pro gamer! It made her feel a little out of her league. Come to think of it, many of the top players would have bought the game. Some streamers had even been granted access to the closed beta. Bella had watched a few of the big shots like Esper and Fluffykitty, but so far she had not seen any of them in-game. Perhaps they had been given a head start? The conversation took a drastic turn when someone crashed into the two of them, sending both she and Ozai66 -- after uttering a rather interesting choice of words -- onto the ground. "Oof...blimey..." she uttered, trying to catch the wind that had been knocked out of her. The package certainly wasn't kidding when it said the pain was realistic. She could almost feel the bruise forming on her arse. The culprit crawled off of her and had the gall to blame the two of them for the collision. Bella knew the type all too well, though the effect was dampened by the fact it was coming from a cute Neko-girl. With a sigh, Bella picked herself off the ground and dusted the dirt from her dress. Thankfully the fabric was more durable than she thought and no stains were left. It was a great relief. If anything, she was more concerned about her dress than the accident. Ozai66, on the other hand, did not take it as lightly and shouted at the man. Oh dear, she thought, I hope this doesn't break into a fight. She dismissed the PvP alert with a flick of her finger and was relieved when she noticed Ozai do the same. He turned to apologize, his face flushed, though not from anger. Bella had a good idea of why. "Heh. No worries, luv. I think we'll make a brilliant team!" she said with a patient smile, not wanting to embarrass him any further. Unlike him, she didn't seem bothered by it. Bella held onto the straps of her bag and turned her attention back to the fuming cat-girl. It was only then that she got a really good gander at the avatar. Black ears and tail, ponytail dummy thicc thighs, why it looked just like... "Esper?" Bella sputtered in disbelieve and looked over the Neko-girl's username once more. They didn't sound anything like the Korean streamer, and not just because of the bad temper. Their accent was thicker than a bowl of porridge. "That you?"
  
  

 

[Arcanist]

[class=Notes] // Forward slashes are comments and do no show up in the final design, these are to help you find everything easily and explain some code as well. These comments must be with in a class or script tags in order to be hidden, from what I know// // Long URls are images # followed by letter and numbers are Hex codes or color codes.// // This code does not show breaks unless is shows the
code When typing responses to rps, be aware that when you press enter it will not show that you did. You'll have to use the
tags// [/class] [class=BackgroundPicture] Background:url(https://png.pngtree.com/thumb_back/fw800/background/20190315/pngtree-dark-blue-nordic-style-simple-luxury-geometric-golden-edge-background-image_89803.jpg); Padding:30px; //The background image that become the border// [/class] [class=BackgroundColor] padding:20px; background-color:#eee9cd; Color:Black; //the solid block of color that makes the border appear as a border all your content will be in this box// [/class] [class=Name] float:right; margin-bottom:10px; text-align:center; border-radius:5px; background-color:#142740; padding:5px;color:#fbe7d1; width:calc(100% - 25% - 20px); //The Box around the name// [/class] [class=Img] border-right:10px SOLID #eee9cd; border-bottom:5px SOLID #eee9cd; width:25%; float:left; //this class has a border to create a false margin so the horizontal lines don't appear to go behind the image if you change the back ground you have to change the colors here too// [/class] [class=Image] border:1px SOLID #142740; line-height:0px; //The border around the image// [/class] [class=Line] border-top:1px SOLID #142740; margin-top:5px; margin-bottom:5px; //The tiny lines everywhere// //You can see here they have a set width, which is the shorter length, the bottom two lines have a specific 'style' which overrides what happens here to make them full length. if you need longer lines, copy and paste the style from the bottom two (be careful, they float right, making them too big at the top messes the code up) If you need the bottom lines to be shorter, delete the Style=" and such// [/class] [div class="BackgroundPicture"] [div class="BackgroundColor"] [div class="Img"] [div class="Image"] [/div][/div] [div class="Name"] JOHAN LUNDIN[/div] Alice had arrived early, much, much earlier than she usually was. Fortunately for her, Johan had been wide awake and had stumbled out of bed, managing to find clothes to throw on him. Though, they were a fashion statement that had yet to arrive; a red shirt with bulbous white dots, against yellow plaid trousers. Johan was usually well-equipped to choose the right matching attire, though, it was clear to Alice as soon as she came in through the door that she had put that shirt on the wrong side of the dresser drawer.

“I thought it’d look great,” Johan called from his bedroom, throwing a white t-shirt on over his head.

He could hear Alice chuckling and a series ‘click-clicks’ coming from the living room.

“I wouldn’t have missed you in a crowd, that was for sure.”

Johan gave a bit of a chuckle himself, his steps tentative as he approached the door. “Maybe that was the goal all along,” he retorted, grinning into the room. He thought of how more tolerant Alice had been of him lately, how she seemed to laugh more around him. Though, maybe she was just playing him for a fool. He wouldn’t have noticed that anyway. Though, there had always been circumstances where he could hear that waver in her voice, that signalled something wasn’t right. It was why they broke up in the first instance. She always had that tone in her voice. Though, Johan hadn’t heard it at all lately, a good sign.

“Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that, bud,” she quipped. The wheels of the chair echoed across the wooden floorboards, before he could hear Alice’s sneakers squeak towards him. “Alright, we’re all set up. If you’d like to follow moi,” she said in a cheery tone - and what Johan assumed was a grin stretching into her cheeks - before taking Johan’s hands in hers and leading him further into the living room. “You excited?”

Johan ran his tongue across the bottom of his lip. Was he? He learned not to be so excited, not with what the past year and a half had been hitting him with. He was still waiting to hear back about a dog - apparently training them up and making sure they were ready to help their owners was a time-consuming process - and he was still waiting on aids for around the house. So, hearing about the Guilty Gear and this new game that apparently would grant him a few hours of sight back, he didn’t want to get his hopes up. Even if it had helped with those who suffered the same disability.

“I...guess so.”

“You better fucking be. That shit cost a lot of money,” Alice said to him, though, it was in a teasing way, as she was prone to doing.

“I didn’t ask you guys to buy it for me,” Johan reasoned, almost bumping into Alice as she stopped. He felt two hands clamp down on his shoulders and push him down onto padded cushions.

“I can take it back if you like. I’m sure our friends would love a refund,” Alice chuckled, her sneakers scuffling against the floor again before he heard her come back towards him. She heard her fiddling with something, before he felt a headset being set comfortably over his eyes.

After making sure Johan was comfortable, and confirming that he knew how to work the headset, Alice told him she’d call him in a couple of hours as usual, ask how he was getting on. Phone was on the coffee table, along with everything else he needed. And with that, she left with a goodbye, and the door shut. Johan was alone again. He felt his stomach cramp into knots. Taking a deep breath, he muttered, “Gear activate.”

“Hello, Johan, state your password and software of choosing.”

Johan flinched as the electronic voice sounded, though, he continued on nonetheless.

“Uh...paladin_20. Jigoku Fūkei Online.”

“Searching…” He had to repeat the software name again, on account of his accent, before it found the software he was looking for.

“...link is ready on your command.”

This was it. Johan could feel the sweat pouring out from his pores in his palms. Brushing the sweat away with his fingers, he took another few deep breaths.

“...Link start.”

The rest went by in a blur. He transitioned from the real world into what would be a life-changing feat for him forever; just not in the way he imagined. Johan hadn’t been reduced to tears at inputting his username, PSyChRY, what he had used for any other game he had played previously, though, he was overwhelmed with being able to see his customisable character. In all honesty, he didn’t spend much time on it. He chose male, naturally, with long, crimson hair, dark eyes, accidentally forgot to change that big nose he gave him...but he didn’t mind at all. Eventually, he was taken to a blackened void.

He panicked. He thought it hadn’t worked. He was close to just logging out and being rid of this damn Guilty Gear forever, though, his eyes naturally fluttered towards a flash of red at the bottom of the screen. Before he could take in the words, they had disappeared, again, prompting panic and frustration from the man. It was a rollercoaster of emotions - to see words set in front of you, only to be snatched away from you. He only wanted to see if the rumours were true about this. If he could...really see things with this technology. In all honesty, he didn’t even give a shit about the game.

Then, colours began to paint themselves in front of his very eyes. Thousands, millions, billions of pixels all collided together before Johan was standing in a vast, green hillzone. He blinked. He looked down to his hands, his arms. He could see the odd garb he wore as a Samurai, no doubt some cheap early armour on underneath hidden by the cloth. Johan swallowed back, before his head swerved around the surrounding environment.

Green. Blue. White. Orange. Red. He couldn’t help but list all the colours off as slowly, he began to remember what they looked like. What they looked like. Because he could see them. And the details! The fluffiness of the clouds, like giant puffs of candyfloss, down to the sharpest blade of grass at his toes. Heh, his toes! Johan’s vision began to blur. He felt fear grip at his chest again, before he blinked, and felt warm droplets fall to his feet. He raised his hands up to his eyes, wiping them away. Everything...all of this was incredible. Why had he ever doubted such technology could do this for him, for people like him?

Johan hadn’t cared about running to the nearest hub or city or quest point. He simply meandered out of the grassy zone and onto the nearby path, staring at the ground with a smile he couldn’t keep down. Even the dirt on the ground was how he remembered pathways looking like. It all felt like some floatless dream to him. He felt like a child again, giddy with a new toy or gift on Christmas.

Though, the bubble was soon burst, as he stumbled across a scene on the road. It seemed as if a few players had bumped into one another, quite literally. One, a Ronin, was barely getting back on his feet, a Ninja with a fiery temper, and a Priestess dusting herself off and apparently having a more understandable reaction to the situation. At first, Johan just stood and gawked, still trying to come to terms with actually seeing a situation happen in front of his very eyes, when he just shook his head. He had to act normal. That was the beauty of online games. You could at least hide your problems, and who you were in most situations.

Johan approached them; though, with a degree of shyness almost, and he asked, “Is, uh, everyone alright? You all looked like you took a rough tumble…”

[div class="Line"][/div] Mentioned: Siren77 Juju seasonedcat | Located: Floor 1 [div class="Line" style="margin-bottom:0px;"][/div] [/div]

Code by @AgWordSmith

[/div]

 

[Cosmos]

"Akari the software's loaded!" The chipper voice of the hospital attendant called happily, calling in the girl from her impatient fiddling in the hall, excitement filling her eyes as she wheeled herself in, "Really!?" She called out, wide grin plastered to her lips. The woman gave a firm nod helping the other up onto the bed gently as she lay down placing on the machine.

She'd waited six months for this, for a game on this new technology that promised to do the impossible for many people and give back things they'd once lost. It was a chance for her to be more than just a high ranking fighting gamer, it meant- it meant she could walk.

Loading in the username was easy, just the standard one she always had on her LoL and WoW accounts, 'Akaitty_78'. Next up was customization, something she was good at. She made her character fairly short to match her own height, with soft features and pale skin, unblemished with rosy lips and striking blue eyes. Her hair was silver much like her own shade in real life and long tied up with a white and blue ribbon in a top bun, with the rest flowing free down her back. As for clothes some simply black gauntlets and boots matched with a white, gold and red dress accompanied by some gold and black plated Armour would serve her well she reckoned.

Once that was done it was onto class, she wanted something strong- but not easy to just one hit in exchange for aforesaid strength and then she landed on it, 'Oni' A strong and high defense fighter class with magic skills to boot, not too mention that special attack sounded Aw-e-some!~

Loading in the screen went black, well almost black. A flash of red words made shivers go down the girls spine, was that meant to be there, or some sort of text glitch? Either way it gave her the hibbie jibbies.

This however was overridden as the pixels began to form around her, the lush green hills captivating her along with the pathway in all its stunning realism.But more so than that she anxiously looked down to see herself standing, and after a moment of biting her lip closed her eyes and bunched her fists, taking a small step.

As her foot touched back onto sweet sweet ground she burst out in a wide smile, tears practically welling in eyes as she began to walk more and faster, pushing her classes speed limits as she 'ran' along the road towards the hub in glee, closing eyes once more to feel what felt like real wind upon her face before a sudden painful surface came in her way.

Crashing into a much taller figure the girl opened her eyes falling backwards with arms flailing in an attempt to catch herself. Landing on her bum with a small 'oof' of a painful sting she took a moment before standing again, awkwardly blushing and rubbing the back of her head. "I-I'm sooooo sorry!?~" She let out to the fellow silver haired figure, looking him up and down for a moment wide eyed she smirked widely, "Chose ninja huh? so cool! I mean, I still think mines better- but that's just for me!" She let out in a somewhat mumble, bowing in apology for the previous crash suddenly remembering her manners.

It was then she spotted the rest of the group, also looking as though recovering from a tumble, "Yeesh, haha isn't it ironic we're all 'crashing' on an online game?" she tried to joke, Japanese accent coming through as she did a cutesy finger guns in the gauntlets towards them, a moment later realising how dorky it was and turning bright red and quiet, freezing up.
___________

Arcanist Siren77 Juju seasonedcat ​

 

[seasonedcat]

~Dae~​

Dae clenched his teeth at the boy's hostility. He was just about to respond to him with similar hostility, ignoring the question of combat, too annoyed at this point. But when he decided to ignore Dae next that set him off. "Hey!" he started before the girl caught his attention. He felt his anger freeze up and crack away as he now remembered exactly which account he was using. So many people were recognizing his brother, why did he have to be so damn perfect. He felt his throat seize up, he couldn't just come out and say it wasn't him, but he also was nothing like his brother.

"O-oh, um yah, who else would have the username..." he trailed off awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. He then noticed how smooth his voice was, different from his usual. It was the voice his brother had set up for the avatar. Jeeze, this made his brother seem like a pervert. He blinked up at the person who approached him. Dae took notice to how he towered over him, and how he had forgotten to stand up. Blushing an angry red he quickly scrambled up, brushing himself off in the process.

"This idiot just didn't watch where he was going is all," he huffed pointing at the boy from earlier. He mainly did this because he refused to admit that this was his fault. He didn't get a chance to say anything else before once again someone crashed into him. He let out a little yelp, stumbling a bit, but not falling. Another request for combat appeared above his other one, he swiped them both away this time. "Jeeze does anyone in this game know how to walk." He muttered lightly under his breath before turning and seeing who had run into him.

Dae blinked at her joke for a few seconds. It went right over his head. He thought about it for a second before he understood, "Oh, I get it." he laughed a tiny bit to make her feel better but also because it wasn't that bad of a joke. Now that he thought about it it was going to be hard if he continued to pretend to be his brother. He didn't know any of the lingoes of gamers or how to be good at games like this. But it was fine, he was just going to go to the town, check it out for a bit then return to the spawn and log off. Nothing big, it would be fine. Speaking of the town he should probably start going there, but the two from earlier were still in the way.
Siren77 Juju Cosmos Arcanist

 

[Siren77]

Kaizo

Ronin

location: Floor 1
mentions: Juju seasonedcat Cosmos Arcanist
interactions:

Ozai wasn’t able to pay much attention what all else was going on, as the Ninja before him was far too infuriating for him to focus on anything else. This jackass had the guff, the gall, to blame Kaizo for his own mistake! It was enough to make him reconsider that pvp prompt, but Kaizo refrained and instead opted to ignore the punk.

‘Hell with it, no sense in arguing with them and making a mess of things. Besides, he’s no one important.’

Atleast, that was until WinterMute seemed to recognize the players username. Esper... why did that sound familiar? He wasn’t entirely sure, but he didn’t really opt to care at the moment. (He did take note that they actually had a collection of currency and a partially filled inventory, which meant one thing. They were a beta tester for the game.) Thankfully he was finally able to focus more on the newer arrivals to the gaggle forming on their hilltop. Not long after the clumsy ninja arrived, not just one but two tanks of the different classes arrived. Both an Oni, and a Samurai. Hard hitting classes made to dish out just as much punishment as they could take. A perfect addition to the potential group they had going on.

PSyChRY had drawn in by the tumble the original three had taken, and Akaitty_78 took a tumble of her own right into Esper which made Kaizo grin as the pagliaccio got a taste of his own medicine. He’d need to act quick if he wanted to get them onboard with himself and his brief acquaintance Wintermute.

“Hey! It’s nice to meet you both! Your characters are so cool!” He pulled up his own menu and quickly went to the friends list, where he sent a friend request and a party invitation to Wintermute before preparing the same for the two tanks. “I don’t suppose you two would like to form a party? Tanks are always appreciated, and having the two of you show up is no mere accident in my book!”

Now he could only wait and hope for the best, though he’d understand if either of them declined. Tanks often played solo given they were the safest class to play as alone, and the two might already have predetermined groups or friends. Whatever the case, at the very least he’d offer a friend request in case they ran into each other again. Hopefully not literally next time.

Koala

 

[Arcanist]

[class=Notes] // Forward slashes are comments and do no show up in the final design, these are to help you find everything easily and explain some code as well. These comments must be with in a class or script tags in order to be hidden, from what I know// // Long URls are images # followed by letter and numbers are Hex codes or color codes.// // This code does not show breaks unless is shows the
code When typing responses to rps, be aware that when you press enter it will not show that you did. You'll have to use the
tags// [/class] [class=BackgroundPicture] Background:url(https://png.pngtree.com/thumb_back/fw800/background/20190315/pngtree-dark-blue-nordic-style-simple-luxury-geometric-golden-edge-background-image_89803.jpg); Padding:30px; //The background image that become the border// [/class] [class=BackgroundColor] padding:20px; background-color:#eee9cd; Color:Black; //the solid block of color that makes the border appear as a border all your content will be in this box// [/class] [class=Name] float:right; margin-bottom:10px; text-align:center; border-radius:5px; background-color:#142740; padding:5px;color:#fbe7d1; width:calc(100% - 25% - 20px); //The Box around the name// [/class] [class=Img] border-right:10px SOLID #eee9cd; border-bottom:5px SOLID #eee9cd; width:25%; float:left; //this class has a border to create a false margin so the horizontal lines don't appear to go behind the image if you change the back ground you have to change the colors here too// [/class] [class=Image] border:1px SOLID #142740; line-height:0px; //The border around the image// [/class] [class=Line] border-top:1px SOLID #142740; margin-top:5px; margin-bottom:5px; //The tiny lines everywhere// //You can see here they have a set width, which is the shorter length, the bottom two lines have a specific 'style' which overrides what happens here to make them full length. if you need longer lines, copy and paste the style from the bottom two (be careful, they float right, making them too big at the top messes the code up) If you need the bottom lines to be shorter, delete the Style=" and such// [/class] [div class="BackgroundPicture"] [div class="BackgroundColor"] [div class="Img"] [div class="Image"] [/div][/div] [div class="Name"] JOHAN LUNDIN[/div] Johan frowned, mostly upon Esper’s answer to his question. It seemed to be some sort of misunderstanding, perhaps on his part, or maybe both parts, for all he knew. Before he could start to try and quell any quarrels they may arise from the situation, he felt something slam into his back. He let out a grunt of surprise, managing to catch himself so he didn’t fall forward into the others like a domino. He turned, glanced down, finding an apologetic girl - with what seemed to be a shade similar to his hair outside of the game - and almost became flustered himself at the event. “Oh, uh, it’s fine, I didn’t see you…” Johan cringed a little. Of course he didn’t. She bumped into his back after all.

At her words towards him and the others, he gauged the other reactions first. He felt the atmosphere lift slightly at Esper’s quiet laughter. He smiled a little, chuckling a little, “Yeah…” He just hoped that melted the ice somewhat, seeing as he was about to walk into the iciest reception in an online game he had been in for...well, quite a long while.

Johan’s attention turned to Ozai66 who had greeted both him and Akaitty_78, and the other user, WinterMute, that had been unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) dragged into this collision. He found his sudden enthusiasm towards them both somewhat odd, considering they had just met. He probably showed more enthusiasm upon discovering both of their character classes, no doubt. Though, he didn’t blame him. Instead, he just folded his arms and chuckled.

“Why the hell not? Like you said, can’t be mere coincidence we all showed up in the one spot after all.” Another player would have pounced on him sooner or later, and he probably would have joined them for the convenience anyway. Only thing was, Johan was rusty when it came to online-gaming. Sure, he played a couple back in the day...well, before that day, and since then hadn’t touched a game. Who knows how he’d cope as a Samurai in this game. But then again, no one needed to know about that part. After a couple of sessions, he doubted they’d cross paths again so easily. [div class="Line"][/div] Mentioned: Siren77 Juju seasonedcat Cosmos | Located: Floor 1 [div class="Line" style="margin-bottom:0px;"][/div] [/div]

Code by @AgWordSmith

[/div]

 

[Juju]

• PC
• mobile

• 
  
  Wintermute

  Siren77 seasonedcat Arcanist Cosmos "Well, you were the one who ran into Ozai," Bella said dryly in response to Esper's heated retort, hiding a giggle behind her hand. She had to admit, Esper's outrage combined with the cute Neko-girl exterior made for quite a comical sight. The fact that their face was a bright, cherry red did not help either. They kind of reminded her of a moody teenager. However, something was still bothering her. The way that Esper was acting seemed different than any of his livestreams, but she wondered if he was different when on camera versus offline. Then that begged the question; why was he playing the game without streaming? Part of the appeal to his mass following was that viewers could catch every moment of his levelling journey, learning tips and trips as the pro went through the game. Things were not quite adding up, but she didn't want to say anything just yet. There was no point in drawing false conclusions. As fate would have it, two more players joined the group. Both of them were of the tank classes, one being a female oni and the other being a samurai. She smiled and gave them each a wave, "Hello! Nice to meet you both!" She listened to Ozai66, nodding in agreement when he mentioned the scarcity of the tank classes in cooperative play. This had to be a rare opportunity. "Look at this! Ozai, you're a damned jammy bloke! We've practically got ourselves a full team! All we're missing is a sorcerer. Hell, just with the five of us, high-level quests will be a piece of cake!" With a flick of her fingers, she summoned the invite menu in front of her face and sent out both friend requests and party invites to the newcomers (and Esper). "What do you all say? Come on, we can't spoil this spot of luck!"
  
  
• 
  
  Wintermute

  Siren77 seasonedcat Arcanist Cosmos "Well, you were the one who ran into Ozai," Bella said dryly in response to Esper's heated retort, hiding a giggle behind her hand. She had to admit, Esper's outrage combined with the cute Neko-girl exterior made for quite a comical sight. The fact that their face was a bright, cherry red did not help either. However, something was still bothering her. The way that Esper was acting seemed different than any of his livestreams, but she wondered if he was different when on camera versus offline. Then that begged the question; why was he playing the game without streaming? Part of the appeal to his mass following was that viewers could catch every moment of his levelling journey, learning tips and trips as the pro went through the game. Things were not quite adding up, but she didn't want to say anything just yet. There was no point in drawing false conclusions. As fate would have it, two more players joined the group. Both of them were of the tank classes, one being a female oni and the other being a samurai. She smiled and gave them each a wave, "Hello! Nice to meet you both!" She listened to Ozai66, nodding in agreement when he mentioned the scarcity of the tank classes in cooperative play. This had to be a rare opportunity. "Look at this! Ozai, you're a damned jammy bloke! We've practically got ourselves a full team! All we're missing is a sorcerer. Hell, just with the five of us, high-level quests will be a piece of cake!" With a flick of her fingers, she summoned the invite menu in front of her face and sent out both friend requests and party invites to the newcomers (and Esper). "What do you all say? Come on, we can't spoil this spot of luck!"
  
  

 

[Siren77]

Kaizo

Ronin

location: Floor 1
mentions: Juju seasonedcat Cosmos Arcanist
interactions:

The Adventure Begins

An Oni, a Samurai, a Ninja, a Healer, and a Ronin... Five out of the Six essential pieces for a fully functioning and effective team. Or rather seven.

While the six classes were important, so was the seventh piece of teamwork. A team was after all only as effective as the cooperation presented by every member. If one didn’t get along with another, or multiple were to hold grudges against one another, this would bring forward momentum to a screeching halt. While they had five classes, Three of which where the top essentials being the two tanks and a healer, Kaizo doubted very much that the seventh and arguably most essential piece to their gaming puzzle was present. This was due to his own personal contentious interaction with Esper, and the fact that the group had hardly had any time to interact and let their personalities mingle. Rather it was just the basics of greetings, and the discussion of their shared necessity for a team that had glued them together temporarily.

It would remain to be seen if this glue would stick.

With friend requests and party invites out of the way, the groups faction created, and nothing left to do but walk forward, the gamers set off towards their first destination. The Guidons lining the grassy hills before them continued acting as their waypoints from place to place. It was almost like a grand unveiling, with every hill crossed bringing the excitement of hopefully laying eyes upon whatever grand hub awaited them as they tread upon this first floor. While real world ailments such as fatigue and aching muscles would set in on such a long hike, basic movement would bring no pain to characters in the game. Fatigue would be a common occurrence after battles, but progress in movement couldn’t be met with such a toll, otherwise travel would become far more trouble than it would potentially be worth.

Fortunately, the time melted in what felt like mere moments, and after rounding one last hill the group came to a temporary halt atop its crest. There, sitting at the breech of an incline on the landscape below, nestled just at the side of yet another rounding hill sat a magnificent looking village built right into the landscape. Before any comments could be made, or any questions asked, a transition occurred where the players were moved from the viewpoint of their characters and ‘flown’ through the air in a strange first person cinematic experience.

The Camera panned then just before the entrance of the village, where beyond its walls a bustling crowd of people could be seen going about their business as well as some obvious players amongst them all. After that brief pause, the camera view dashed forward through the gate and came to an immediate halt just inside a grand town square before a rather simple Water Fountain. Standing right in front of the fountain was a female NPC, looking to be on the shorter side with long pink hair and a beautiful white dress. Staring directly into the camera, she smiled before speaking as a means of breaking the fourth wall.

“Welcome players one and all to Oldetown! This magnificent city will act as your hub for the First Floor, The Emerald Mountains! And I, Rita, will be your guide! I’d like to personally thank you on behalf of Goku Reiki for endorsing this multi year passion project! He hopes you enjoy! Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you around to all the highlights of your stay!”

The camera transitioned away from Rita, and once again panned through the air as it sailed above the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. Panning over a particularly bustling street, Rita could be seen standing amongst the crowd but stood out enough to be focused on.

"This busy little avenue is known as the Shopping Central! This is where you'll find all of your various shops and services available to your characters as you go about your Adventures! Weapons, Armor, Repairs, and most importantly food! Food will act not only as a substitute for energy restoration (normally taken by sleep, but more on that later!), but it also gives buffs in combat and explorations! Think of them as this games take on potions and assist items! Keep in mind! Food doesn't last forever, and once the timer for it's ability runs out it'll immediately stop! So make sure you time it right!"

"Players can also set up shops of their own to sell and trade items of their own that they've found on their own unique voyages! While every items have a fixed price in shops, looking at custom shops is a good way to find cheaper deals that fit just what you're looking for! Bartering is also an easy process, with prices able to be adjusted through discussion! But, part of finding a good deal and items to trade is finding some good connections!"

The Camera rose from amongst the crowd and sailed above the rooftops once more. Gliding through, it soon circled about a multi story building with identical rooms seen through every window. Some were occupied, some weren't. The spiral came to an end just outside the Buildings front door, where Rita was now standing.

"This my friends, is the Waystone! A home away from home for you all! This comfortable tavern and inn will functions not only as a rest stop for you characters to revive their health and energy, but also a means of engaging in the bulk of what you paid for! The Quests!" The Camera darted through the door, where a staircase stood just before it, a bar to the left, and a counter to the right. The Camera slid to the right first, where Rita once again had miraculously stood once more. "The bar and diner here is where you can meet with miscellaneous NPC's, other players, and talk to the Quest Master! While the QM delivers primary quests that push the main campaign, The NPC's can issue side quests to aid in EXP grinding and Item seeking. Not only this, but the players you meet here can issue challenges and quests of their own!"

The Quest Master could be seen just behind the bar table at the back of the side room, right next to the Bartender. Already some interesting looking NPC's could also be seen, with a not so subtle yellow exclamation point above their heads. One of which was a group of adults softly crying over their various drinks. Another was a mysterious cloaked figure, sitting alone at one of the smaller tables. The third and final of the main NPC's that were present was a disturbed looking farmer. But, no interactions could be made, not until the group would make their way there themselves.

"Please note that side questing is not mandatory, nor is the challenge questing, but it is highly recommended as a means of keeping ahead of the curb as you encounter more and more monsters!"

"Well friends, it looks like I'll be leaving you off here! There's plenty more to see and explore in the city, including secret shops, locations, and potentially even quests! The adventure never ends, even when you're in a safe zone such as this! If you have any questions, feel free to come see me at the town square in front of the spawn point The Fountain! Good Luck! And don't forget! There will be a welcoming ceremony to all players in an hour! Be present, there'll be an opportunity to earn some free items and unique armors!"

The Camera gradually panned out, before it was taken outside and panned widely around the entire town. Finally, it stopped moving and came to a halt before the Fountain once more, where our heroes were to officially spawn in for the first time.

Kaizo, adjusting to being in his own "body" again, flexed his hands a couple of times before craning his neck to see his companions still right behind him. They were all probably just as stunned as he was, but he was too antsy to give them more time to adjust and instead fired off with the most pressing issue.

"Well, where to first? Should we go check out the shops, get an idea of something we might want to save up for? Or should we head for the Waystone so we can potentially get a quest or two in before that Welcoming Ceremony?"

Koala