Elurik is the smallest of the floor one safe zones, almost indistinguishable from the forest that is more than a surrounding feature. Unlike the other safe zones, Elurik is not on the ground. It's located in the trees, where wooden plank and rope bridges connect a system of tree homes together. Elurik is secluded from the politics of the Jules and Paelion Guilds, known not widely but deeply. Many beast tamers hole up in Elurik, as well as the races who remain neutral from the guilds. Shapeshifters, Elves, and Kujin tend to keep to small parties or stay solo players, but some have been known to take to one of the ruling two guilds. They're flexible and wild, and Elurik is their floor one safe haven. NPC folk also live here and provide potions and items that players can earn by going on quests. The city of quests is what Elurik is known for, as well as its easy location for grinding levels solo in the woods beneath it.
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 11:20 am
Floor 29 was in itself, a trap. She didn't expect it after she beat the boss from the previous, but spawning on the next she realized that she wasn't in a safe zone. Health and mana exhausted from the previous fight, she had no more will to continue going. She was going to die there and lose all of her things she had just gotten from the boss. She let out an exhausted sigh, allowing the jerkens to sneak up on her. What was the point in fighting when she knew she was going to die? She couldn't summon anything. She only wished she had went on the venture with Abryon or someone else from her friends list. Before the jerkens could attack, large words appeared in front of her. SERVER DOWN. SYSTEM REBOOTING. Never in her life was she so relieved to see those words, and she thankfully closed her eyes while this continued. The world peculated away and soon she was left standing, or floating, in a white endless room with nothing but the system rebooting words. It only took several minutes, which she had enough time to think. If she re spawned exactly where she was before, she would be attacked in minutes. She had enough stamina to flash away, but she didn't have enough mana to summon beasts to help her. She could always transform, but it would take up the last of her mana and it would end very badly if she couldn't find the safe zone quickly. There were always other options. She could log out immediately, and text Shiredan to get to the level so when she logged back on, in that same exact spot, he would be there to help her and maybe give her a few crystals. She decided to do that. It was the safest bet. As the rebooting finished, and the world began to appear again she was prepared to open her option screen immediately and log out before she realized she was in a safe zone already. Her pleasant surprise made her almost yelp with pride, before she realized the little signature in the corner of her eye. The number that was 32 was set back to 1. Panicking, she opened her menu and checked out her stats. They had all gone down to where she was at level 1. She screamed in frustration, making any player or NPC nearby turn their heads and look at her with a questioning structure. What was going on? She looked up as the intercom came on, somewhere in her mind hoping that she could see who ever was speaking.
They spoke as if they were god, and as the female voice continued it was easy to feel like an ant in their presence. As the grand speech ended, so did her cool. She began to hyperventilate, the air she breathed was becoming unusually hard. Peter. Shiredan. Was there anyone in the crowd she recognized? As her uneven breath became stabilized, she rushed through the crowd, pushing everyone who was in her way to get to a higher ground. She got to a first building, it was small and had a familiar style to it. Not that she had time to think about it, she stuck her fingers or palms in whatever holes she could find in the area. Creeping up the building, she got on the roof, which she found unstable and a bit of wobbly. She ducked and held on with her hands and feet, but still at a height advantage then everyone else. She searched the area, before finally realizing where exactly she was: The first floor. She used to come to this town quite often when she was starting off. Elurik, a place beast tamers often resided in. She felt confused, and crouched there for several minutes just looking out at the panic.
There was just something about celebrations in Fardor Avil Online that Elise absolutely loved. The party she had teamed up with to leach experience points off of had just hit their goal of reaching the 60th level and chose to celebrate in the nearest tavern. It had been a standard party set up consisting of a number of parties each containing two damage per second characters, one tank, and a healer. Raids were always set up the same regardless of the boss and environment. First there were objectives. Each party was assigned a certain job, her's had been "keep the adds off of everyone else". When they had pulled numbers to see what assignments groups would had Elise had almost done a dance. Their lot received the easiest job. Her tank merely needed to area of effect whatever spawned in and let the attackers handle the matter. Having done this raid already Elise knew what to expect. Three groups would run in from the north south and east, then it would shift directions by one every few hundreds of health the boss would lose. So long as they did not take to long to mow down the mobs they would hardly get flooded. When the battle music kicked on Elise could have all but laid down and logged off for all the effort she had to put in. Occasionally she raised a hand and healed one of the blades who misjudged their ability and wound up taking damage. Not a single character on her party dropped below half. After awhile she spaced out and started watching the other groups. The boss was some sort of giant statuesque idol, six arms and a number of eyes. It had to be attacked from multiple sides at the same time to keep it from absolutely nuking a tank. So like a dance the teams moved. One would move forward and pull aggro on that side and then their attackers would engage. Spells were constant on that end, with heal over times being stacked as much as possible and instants being cast at a ridiculous rate. Elise scoffed under her breath as she raised her hand once more to patch up her tank. One of the shamans was failing with his rotation and could not keep the heavy shield user above one third health. Sure enough he fell at the swipe of the blades from the boss, and then there was nothing to save the attackers. Like a bunch of beginner level noobs they tried to run, which made the other parties have to deal with the extra aggro. Having split from each other it was not long before a swell of mobs took them out. There actually was not a single person who mourned the sudden loss of that party. At least the loot would be better for the rest of them. "Vox!" Her screen name had been shouted out as her ranger pinged her. Snapping back to attention she looked back at the scene before her and immediately back pedaled. One mob had split off from the meat of her party to try and take one of them out. That one had been her since she had been channeling a constant heal without paying attention. Rapidly dragging her hand across her blade Elise ignored the flash of red across her eyes and the HUD displaying her health loss. It was minute and self inflicted; the signature of a Kujin. Holding out her hand and reciting a short incantation the blood spurted outward and formed into a blade. As the mob jumped her she rolled left while slashing, cutting it across the chest and hitting a critical. Breaking from the roll Eise darted forth and ducked, letting her ranger shoot over her head to fell the beast. The experience points popping over her head let her know they were fine. A sudden victory fanfare and the howling of the Boss signaled the end of the raid. Everyone stood still for a moment as experience was allotted and loot was updated. Pulling up her menu Elise noted the addition of a new belt which added mana to her pool. Equipping that along with a faint smile, she flipped to her stat menu and put in her points before dropping the display. An armored hand clapped her shoulder, jolting her from her musings "Want to head over to Johnston's to celebrate?" Oh boy did she.
Five cups of virtual absynthe in and her character's dexterity and speed dropped like a boulder off a cliff. The room was stuffed full of characters laughing and regaling others with tales of their most recent exploits. Elise was sitting with her back against the wall and her feet kicked up on a table. As she spoke she waved her cup through the air. "Now now, I am rather flexible. But I only put out like that on tuesdays!" A roar of noise from her friends having fun and all of the sudden the sound did not stop. Elise's cup was stuck in the air, and her heads up display was tweaking out. Then suddenly the notice went up.
> SERVER DOWN > SYSTEM REBOOTING. PLEASE WAIT. > . . .
Elise tried to reach up and turn off the nerve gear. A slow building panic rose bubbled in to her chest and nearly exploded through her body. *Oh god oh god oh god* Elise thought to herself since her mouth seemed incapable of formulating words. It was happening again, just like the original game.
> REBOOT COMPLETE > WELCOME TO FARDOR AVIL ONLINE 2.0
Wait, what? Elise felt that bubble in her chest deflate and she took a mental breath in. So it had been an update or maybe some bug fix. It was going to be alright. No one was going to get- A superbly loud female spoke through the nerve gear, interrupting Elise's train of thought to deliver a message. She remained silent through it all and let the reality of her new world set in place. The view of FAO came back up and Elise found herself standing back at one of the beginning towns. The words felt like they came from someone else but slowly she accepted this was actually happening. All around her people were flipping through their menus trying to locate their stats and items that had been reset. Elise ran a hand through her hair and started slowly walking forward. Guess it was back to the grind.
_Abryon had been on floor 30, a berserker's wet dream. He had been turning monsters to ash and was just reveling in the brawl he was in. He had made it to the boss on that level, a badass knight of some sort. Abryon had been using his mastery dragon techniques, using his fire damaging ability to take its health down even more. Then big bold letters flashed infront of him. "SERVER DOWN! SERVER DOWN! SYSTEM REBOOTING! SYSTEM REBOOTING!" Abryon had such a confused look on his face as these words flashed. The hell is going on? They gotta be kidding me! The server picks now of all times to have server issues, the hell! He continued to rant as he waited for the server to get itself together. During this time he started to psych himself so he would be able to finish off this boss and unlock the next floor. He thought of hitting it with his ultimate technique. "Yeah that should kill it" he thought to himself. He began to see if he had enough mana to do so. As he did so something strange caught his eye. The ******** did the log out button go? A panic began to set in as he watched everything he worked so hard to gain vanish before his very eyes. He saw his level drop back to square one, lv 1 to be exact. Then he found himself in Elurick. As he was brought back into the world he found himself admits a sea of frantic players. Grabbing one of them he shook them as he spoke. What the hell is happening?! Why am i back at lv 1?! The player just crumbled and began to cry in Abryon's grasp. Tosses him to the side Abryon went to log out as a means to clear his head, but to add to his frustration he still could not find the log out button. He let out a terrifying yell as he looked around. Wait this is Elurick on floor one, which means Wonderland must be around here somewhere. Checking his surroundings he set out to find his friend. WONDERLAND!? WONDERLAND!? WONDERLAND ARE YOU HERE?! This was bad, just what the ******** was going on here.
When a very tired man got on a crowded bus one afternoon, he could not find an empty seat. A small dog was sitting on one seat, so he asked the lady with the dog to put the dog on her lap. The lady refused and they got into a big argument. Finally, the driver stopped the bus and told the lady to put the dog on her lap. Things were quite different from what they were before. When she was looking at all the people, some seemed calm and collected while others freaked out unnecessarily. The game mods even specifically said there was no perma death, and that was a relief. The Sword Art Online scandal almost shut down the VRMMORPG games, all together. In America, Home Land Security had a large debate about whether or not to completely wipe the idea off all together. Make them illegal, which she found quite stupid, since they had just legalized weed across America. How were they supposed to add drugs and take out video games? She was biased to the topic entirely because she didn't like drug, while she loved video games. But time passed and they realized how stupid they were being. They only had to set up precautions with games like Fardor Online. How this was happening, she would never really know. The administration would immediately be apprehended by the authorities, so it had to be someone in the game or at least with no ties to it. She barely had enough time to think about it before she spotted a ruckus in the crowd. It was between two users that were obviously nobodies in the real world, seeing how they were screaming at each other. The first one looked like a Justin Bieber rip off, with long hair and a smoldering look. The second one was huge, probably a tank, and hovered over him. It looked like Justin Bieber was going to get his a** whipped, so Wonderland quickly fell from the roof and rolled in between them. "Either take it outside, or break it up." The penalties for fighting in a safe zone used to be severe, but she had no idea what changed with this new 2.0 deal. Where the rules different? She assumed they wouldn't be, it would take a longer time to reboot if they had to recode that much information. There was also a woman near her crying, so to be helpful Wonderland put her hand on her shoulder and looked deeply in her eyes. " The dyslexic devil worshipper sold his soul to Santa." She said with a serious voice, which got her to stop weeping hysterically. She looked up at her with red, puffy eyes, as if expecting more. Trying to keep her face straight, Wonder searched her mind frantically before coming up with: "When the man sat down, he took a pickle out of his pocket and began noisly sucking on it. When the lady told him the sound and smell was irritating, he told her she should have thought about being nice when he had asked her to move the dog. They began another argument and the lady threw the pickle out the window. The man then threw the dog out the window. Just then the bus stopped and the dog got in line to get back on. Guess what the dog had in its mouth? The brick."
Out of the corner of her eye, Wonderland recognized someone. Vox. She patted the crying girl on the back, and shoved through the crowd. Vox had a pretty face, and she easy to find. "Hey there. Remember me?" The woman used to be the main doctor for the Jules Guild, and they even went on a few parties together. However, she was ahead in levels by nearly 30 and that always intimidated her enough to not dig deep in their friendship. However, they were there then and at the same level. Not only did the intimidation go down a ton, but the sight of seeing someone she was familiar with pushed away all panicking feelings inside of her. "Wonderland, from Jules." She added hastily after. She was beginning to lose hope about finding Abryon, until she heard her name being obnoxiously screamed. She didn't have to scream that loud to get his attention either," Abryon! Over here!"
Elise had spent much of this virtual reality massively multiplayer online video game hanging out with a lot of people. FAO had become her escape from the rigorous schedule that was demanded of a college student close to completing her second degree. A lot of bonds and relationships were formed online, and some even continued off of it. She had gone on hours long runs with these virtual people and saw their personas grow in to inspiring personalities. Looking around the tree-top safe zone of Elurik it was very, very clear that things had changed. People were afraid. The faces that once showed bravado and power echoed the inner feelings everyone was having. All of the people it seemed except Elise. She was oddly very calm about the entire thing. Her signature crooked smile was in place, framed by her light brown locks of hair. Ignoring the clamor and cries of those around the area Elise pulled up her menu and flipped through her inventory. "Finally, some good news." At least whoever reset the damned server had let her keep her heart shaped sun glasses. They did not provide any kind of buff, except extra style points. The shades pixelated in to existence and then hovered in the air for a moment until slender fingers picked them up. Slipping them on to her face Elise leaned against some of the ropes that kept new players from falling off the bridges in the trees to the free-kill zone below, she stood back and watched the chaos for a bit. All over was a mass panic. Some people just sat on the ground staring at the menus, no doubt still trying to find the log out menu. There really was no reason for, such nonsense is something for babies. The oh so kind announcer set the rules, what point was there in crying over it? Elise would see this as a vacation from her life. This could be fun so long as her body was kept alive, which she was absolutely sure of since she was not some nobody that had no family or friends. Hell, her roommates probably noticed she had already been gone for eighteen hours on a sunday and checked in on her. Elise nodded to herself. This would be fun.
Some angry shouts nearby captured her interests for a moment and that crooked smile turned in to a smirk. A few of the players were fighting each other, trading punches and kicks back and forth. From this far away there was no way to tell what the problem was but it sure was funny to watch. One big bulky fellow downgraded to the scrap leather players started out with who surely specialized as a tank of some kind was getting knocked around by a smaller fellow, probably a rogue or someone with stupidly high speed and dexterity. Damned speed hackers always made games annoying. Elise raised her voice over the clamor and shouted out to the brawlers. "Punch him in the face!" She laughed a bit as the tank launched out an explosive punch and caught the little guy square on the chin, knocking his hit points to zero and forcing a respawn. The player blinked back in to existence a few feet away, and back to the brawl he was. Elise planned to watch a bit longer until someone called out her user name. The girl before her triggered a memory in her head and as she spoke Vox would go ahead and check her friends list. With a few scrolling flicks she located a name and tapped it. Wonderland. Just as the white haired nugget brought up Jules, Elise was already thinking about it. Her kind started off in the guild, though she had not stuck with it. There were a lot more interesting people to play with outside of one single organization that had an entire half of the game it seemed as enemies. As a free player she could party with anyone she wanted. What she did recall was that Wonderland had been a beast tamer and had partied with her a few times. "Hey there, honey." Yeah. Elise was one of those ladies who called everyone something other than what they were actually named. She took a pause while another person was hailed. A male named Abryon apparently. Behind her sun glasses Elise raised an eyebrow at his model. The open shirt, the white hair and cocky look, why did that visage seem so familiar. Almost like it devil triggered something in her. "Tough break huh? Can you believe that once upon a time gamers were people who hid in their mother's basements and were shunned by society, now we're targets of terrorist attacks. Think they'd have something better to do." Vox would flash a look at the boy and smile politely. Making friends for her was easy because she was an easy person to get a long with. That and she knew how to have a good time. "I'm Vox, may as well get to know each other. We're all in the same boat now, it should at least be a good looking one." A hand was offered alongside that joke to try and ease the mood. No matter her demeanor Elise did understand that others may be having a hard time dealing with this.
_Abryon searched frantically for his friend until he heard her call out to him. With a sharp swivel he turned in the direction her voice came from and tore through the crowd. Finally he stood before his friend and another girl scooping Wonderland up in a hug. OMFG WONDERLAND IM GLAD TO SEE YOUR SAFE, AND NOT FREAKING OUT! Putting her down he looked to the other lady and waved. you seem to be taking this rather well miss. My name is Abryon by the way. He said these words as he looked Wonderland over, making sure she was ok. She was one of his close friends here in the game and in real life. It took a long time for her to get even as close to him as she is. After he felt he could trust her he eased up around her, becoming very protective. You have any idea what the ******** happened? He asked with a concern tone.
Lorelei had this all planned out with Kono ahead of time. They'd been messaging more often than usually the past few days, working out ideas for FAO's reprogramming and ensuring that they'd be on top of their game come today. She logged in approximately twenty minutes before the reboot, heading straight for floor one. Their plan was to eventually meet up after the reboot and announcement, which Lorelei had recorded prior to logging in. Around her, the town was quiet. Elurik didn't usually see much activity. Being a neutral city, neither of the major guilds hosted their drama here, and neutrally aligned races kept out of each others' business more or less. Lorelei found it mildly amusing that the only group of people she was honestly comfortable around didn't even identify as a group.
Lorelei stood on one of the town's many rope and plank bridges, her arms resting on the thick rope railing. She was bent forward and resting her chin atop her arms, legs slightly bent and eyes scanning the city-in-the-branches. NPCs and lower level players meandered about, all unaware of just what was in store for them. In roughly ten minutes, the system would reboot and reset every player back to the very beginning. These new players were about to have a whole lot of company. Lorelei's eyes flicked up to her status bar, hovering in the top left corner of her vision. As a Lvl 73 player, she had a lot to lose. But in the spirit of fairness, she had arranged for the system to reset her stats as well. She didn't think it would be any fun to start off with such an extreme advantage. Besides, she didn't want any attention drawn to her. She preferred to be a nameless voice in the sky, recognized under the vague, and totally false, title of GM. A faint smile touched her lips. She dearly hoped some of FAO's admins would be online for this. They would really take a hit for FAO's turn of events. Players would be demanding answers, and who better to pin their rage on than the system admins?
Lorelei's thoughts traveled to her aid, and her smile faltered. She had been caught up in her coding lately, but her aid's inquires of her latest project hadn't escaped her attention. The woman was in her 20s and had been her aid for a total of four years now. She was a rather quiet one, but showed an interest in Lorelei's gaming. Said she had dabbled in VRMMORPGs herself. But the today, while hooking up the Nerve Gear, she had looked Lorelei in the eyes. 'I know you love this virtual reality stuff, but I'm worried about how much time you spend hooked up. I just feel like you're disappearing into that game.'
Lorelei had sent the woman a sharp glare at the time, but now she pondered the comment with an empty expression. How fitting that she was going to do the exact thing her aid feared, and in a literal sense. Under Kono's recommendation, she had arranged for an anonymous message to be sent to multiple news channels explaining that FAO's players have been trapped in the game, and reminding them that disrupting the link by taking the Nerve Gear off can cause severe damage to the brain. Lorelei had no doubt that her aid would hear word of this and have her transported to a hospital. Some part of her recognized that not everyone had people living with them to notice their absence, and that, with time, would cause deaths. Without the proper medical assistance, she would be dooming some players to starve to death. She searched for any shred of care, but found nothing. 'Huh. Wonder when I became so apathetic.'
Cutting off that line of thought, Lorelei lifted her chin, freeing her hand to swipe the space in front of her, over the edge of the railing. The rope cut into her underarm, but she barely noticed. It was time to trigger the system reboot. This was her last chance to change her mind about this. She thought about how she couldn't bring herself to care about the other players. Her eyes narrowed. She typed in the command.
> SERVER DOWN. > SYSTEM REBOOTING. PLEASE WAIT. > . . .
The large text invaded her vision, closing her menu automatically. Lorelei closed her eyes along with it, and waited through the feeling of suspending in empty space as the three dots loaded repeatedly. She found herself waiting to feel guilty, knowing that every single player who was unfortunate enough to be logged in at this exact moment was now stuck. She waited to feel remorse or at least sympathy. But all she could find was excitement. The virtual world was about to replace the real world in a matter of minutes, and the thought of not having to go back to her life made the corners of her lips twitch up. As of this moment, she didn't care about al the XP and items she going going to lose in game. She was more excited for what she would gain. The ideal life, where she cannot be contained.
> REBOOT COMPLETE. > WELCOME TO FARDOR AVIL ONLINE 2.0
The feeling of floating disappeared, and Lorelei opened her eyes to find herself exactly where she was when she started the reboot- leaning on the railing of the rope bridge. She stood and took in the huge mass of players that were spawned in the town. Somewhere, a person screamed, and the spell of silence was broken. Players turned to each other, some were angry, some were confused, but most were both. Some players started brawling out in the open. Another simply strode past, looking pissed. Lorelei tried and failed to control the ghost of a smile pulling at her lips. She turned from the chaos, weaving through her fellow players.
Word Count: 983 Running Count: 983 Leftover Word Count: 83 XP: 45
Confusion was everywhere. It was like chaos. Originally, he had planned on grinding on some higher level until his friends had texted him and asked for him to help them out. They were new to the game, but apparently whatever happened stopped them from showing up. Even from where he waited from a high tree in what should be quiet, he found himself still bothered by the uproar. A few minutes ago, the game did a massive reboot and set them back on level one without any of their skills nor weapons. “Okay, Jason… if I just log out and log back on, maybe it might fix whatever glitch was going on. There wasn’t any update or notification about a server reset.” Jason mumbled to himself. Raising his hand and pointing with his finger to the options menu, he found himself confused completely. Usually when one opened the holographic menu in the corner of their vision, a body popped up that showed their states then under that was a bag for inventory. After that followed a coupe of figures for the friends list. Right below that was a shield that represented guilds and the people within the guild. But to skip to the end of the entire list was the log out option. And the thing was… There wasn’t an option to log out anymore. “The ********..” He mumbled to himself. His eyes widening as he searched through the options a couple more times to make sure he didn’t miss it. “What the hell is going on…” He breathed lightly as he furrowed his brow. This was frustrating. He had been a level 55 and now he was back to square one.
This entire development really disturbing due to the past of the nerve gear. Millions of people trapped in a world of the VR without a way to get out unless someone beat the game.
A ton of the people that had been trapped in that game had died and even to this day, a few people couldn’t exactly get over. His mother had been one of those few. It had taken her almost five weeks to let him purchase the Nerve Gear and then another five just to let him use the darn thing. I guess Mom was right to be worried then… Heh. Hopefully, this thing will correct itself soon and I won’t have to hear about it. Despite the weak hope the Oracle carried, somewhere in the back of his head, he knew something was right.
Stay calm Jason… just let the game sort itself out. Slamming his hands onto the branch below him, he could feel and hear the leaves crunch beneath his fingers. At least whatever hadn’t changed they. Despite the entire virtual reality thing, it was quite realistic. Starring down at the people below, he wished they’d calm down and not panic so much. The antsier they got, the more fights that would break out sooner or later. And that would be a big problem. Releasing a deep and heavy sigh from his chest, Jason felt a bit more relaxed. If he kept a positive outlook or at least a goal within him, there’d be nothing that’d stop him. Nothing that’d keep him down.
Then finally, he heard someone speak about the new rules. That was really just crap. What was the point of all of this? Back in the 2000s, video games were just something the nerds enjoyed doing from what his parents told. Then all of the sudden it became an everyone thing the moment virtual reality gaming became an actual thing. Jason could bet right now, if a terrorist from does days had even thought using gamers to terrorize the public, he’d probably be laughed out of whatever terrorist meeting terrorist went to. Like… Whoa Bill. What the hell you think this is? Kindergarten? What’s next a Death Ray to attack a little herd of puppies. That’d really show them who to take a titi on ya, eh? Oh my gosh, Bill your killing me. Yeah, that was probably how it would have went. Not like he knew that sort thing.
And not even a second later after the announcement, a fight broke out. People were complete idiots sometimes. Yeah, be mad that you lost all your hard gained experience. But at least you had the mental experience to actually regrind those levels. Well, unless they just free rider their way through them on other people’s hard work. Then that. That was probably going to be a problem they’d have to sort out on their own. Though thinking about, if he sat here for too long, everyone would realize they’d need to start grinding again. And that would lead to the Hashtag: The Grind is About to Turn Up and that was something he wasn’t ready for that mess. He’d get ahead of the entire swarm of players below. Though, he might need some help.
Jason rose his hand back up the options menu and looked under guilds. Much to his surprised, a few members of his guild were here. He could probably go and find them in the crowd, but if he did. He’d have to talk to them and get them to think like them. He didn’t have time for that. Not right now. If he wanted to get ahead of the curve, he’d have to do this the hard way. By himself. If they managed to catch up with him in the field, he might consider working with them.
Dropping down from his perch, he grabbed a vine from a tree with hands. It felt so real that it, just blew his mind. It wasn’t something that he could ever exactly get used too. With precision and a little thought, Jason used the vine to slow his descent until he was at manageable. That way if he dropped, he wouldn’t just kill himself. After all, s**t happened sometimes and that was just the worse thing that could happen to a guy. Extending his leg, the heels of feet would dig into the tree as he pushed off it before releasing the vine. Using the gain momentum, he went for another perch. It was risky, but it was faster than trying to go through the entire massive crowd on the lower levels. With the pressure of success only keeping him down, he hoped his base beginner stats would be enough.
As the moment of truth approach, he exhaled as he extended his arms to reach. He wouldn’t make the branch to land. It was a risk he had accepted, he knew that much. If this was the end, so be it. He’d forever be known as the guy that did some stupid s**t. Though as a skilled player, one that managed to reach level fifty-five. He wasn’t going to screw up now. There always was another way. As he slammed into the side of the branch, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to pull himself up. Argh! Come on Jason, your better than this. You’re not a freaking noob. You can do this. Just think! Using the overgrowth on the tree, he gripped onto for his dear life. His fragile dear life. After a second, he swung over to the tree itself and gripped onto the overgrowth on it. Using the vines like rope, he slide down like a fireman, moving quickly to a not so crowded path below.
For a second, Jason felt that thrill and excitement a boy felt when he was going on an adventure. Which for the first time all day, revealed the dashing and daring smirk of the Oracle. Trademark and all that out shizzle. Dropping down when it was safe, he landed in a three-point stance as if this stuff was natural to him. Which it almost sort of was. If he had his stats from before this reboot, he’d make that jump no problem. Heck, he could have probably just dropped to the ground and not take hit of health like he was the freaking Batman.
His foot would beat hard and fast against the wooden path with green overgrowth covering it. If he had time, he’d stop to take in the scenery, but not now. He had work to go. Because if he did stop, he would stop for hours on end since this place was truly a work of beauty and wonder. His amber orbs would shift about from the side of the path to look down. According to his map, his guild mates where right beneath him. According this, it was Abyron and Wonderland. He didn’t want to talk to them or team with them right now, maybe later. Right now, they’d slow him down. But from his glance down, he also saw another familiar face. Vox. She had left the guild and become a pretty good solo player. He had the pleasure of grinding with her a few times when they had been in the forties together. It had been fun and one of the greatest game experiences he had, but with her around other players. He couldn’t find himself capable of going down there and potentially end up partied and being slowed down.
Staying on the move, he reached his destination: a shop. If he was going to grind, he’d need a sword some crap to get his grind on. There were a few players here, but none of them seemed to be too interested in what he was doing. As he came to a halt, he begun his interaction with the npc. “Hello Oracle, how may I help you.” A middle age bald man said with a warm smile on his face. In the corner, the various options popped up along with his current Xing value. “God… I forgot how much we start with. The struggle is so real…” Musing over the options quickly, he couldn’t buy anything really expensive, so he’d have to go basic. “Alright.” He mumbled as Jason hand clicked on the sword. Picking it up, he tossed the Twenty Xing in the air before it disappeared into the NPC’s bank.
Jason glanced at his map to which path would lead him to another area. The quickest route would be the way he came apparently. Releasing another sigh, his feet pushed off the ground as he traveled down an already ventured path. When a matter of a few moment, he’d see the people he passed once. But before leaving, he’d give them a shout out. “Yo Wonderland! Abryon! Vox!” He called from an overhead wooden path. “Catch you on the flip side!” Saluting them with two fingers, he gave them his trademark smirk before taking off again. Without having to worry about the overcrowded area, the Oracle would be out of the town within a matter of seconds. The Grinding had commence.
• Total Word Count: 1810 • Total XP Points: 60 • Gained XP Points: 60 [ 1815/150 x 2 ]
• Words Carried Over: 1087-900 = 187
a faint smile
Jai Bait
Emperor of Souls
Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:45 pm
Elise was waiting on the other players to interact when maybe they hit some sort of lag. She really was not sure how it worked anymore in terms of connections. Her AmuSphere was top of the line and all her roommates chipped in for the internet. There was no way she was going to settle for subpar web speeds when half of her life was spent in a virtual world. All bets were off now, though. During the sword arts online crisis it was imperative that players remained connected, else they would die. The admin who spoke earlier about the reboot had already stated that no one would die as a direct result of dying in game, but she did not exactly elaborate on what would happen if a player disconnected. Without logging out of the game it was almost impossible to control your actions in the real world. Elise tapped her foot against the floor for a moment while her thoughts zoomed around trying to figure this out. What if someone else unplugged the player? Would they be stuck in some loading screen forever or in limbo? What the hell was the point of repeating history minus the gruesome death factor? Another person calling out her name had the heart shaped sun glasses pointing at their direction. Elise raised a hand and waved lazily, tossing in her signature smile to Oracle. The two of them had met in Jules back when she cared to align herself and fight for whatever cause they claimed. He had been a cool enough guy and back around her fortieth level she used to grind with him. Her keen eye caught sight of some shiny new equipment he must have picked up from an non-playable character. He was going out to level before everyone else got their acts together and took up the fields. "Hey Mr. Smart guy, wait up!" Elise cat-called out to Oracle before he managed to leave the area. She started forth and pushed through the throng of people milling around. As an after thought the woman stopped and turned to look at the two that had assembled. "I suggest you two follow the leader here, before you get caught in line waiting for a handful of experience to trickle in. Pick yourselves up some gear and hit the fields before its wiped clean and you have to wait for the respawn timers to reset. Ciao!" Sashaying away, Elise headed towards one of the shop keepers. Pushing open the doors set off a little bell that jingled a few times. No one was behind the counter at first so Elise walked over to the window and gazed out. The town of Elurik was pretty in the sense of being serene. It was one of the first places people coming in to Fardor Avil Online entered before they chose to join factions. Built in to the trees of a forest it provided a safe haven from all the level one monsters and players who preyed on the weak. Elise could remember the sense of wonder she got when she first arrived in this place. It had been her first virtual reality world, but certainly not the first game she played ever. No, she had been playing video games since she could handle a controller. Since then it had been consoles, computers table tops, cards, and literally any game she could get her hand on. But when she dumped a load of money into the newer, safer AmuSphere she had no idea how addicted she was about to become. When she first booted up the game and laid down in her bed she was enraptured by the technology. Character creation took her forever to decide on what she wanted, though she ended up settling on an image that was daringly close to her actual self. The only difference was her hair was a shade or two darker in the real world. Some sort of scuffling behind the counter made Elise turn around and look at it. She walked forth, each step signaled by a distinct click of her heels against the wood. A feeling of what was happening around here "Now I know there is no way to steal from an NPC. It's against the programming, honey. So the only real reason you'd be behind their shop counter is because you thought you saw a mouse and tried to kill it for XP, right?" Elise sat her butt on the counter and crossed one leg over the other. She reached behind her and grasped the collar of someone and hoisted them in to the air, setting them down on the table top for a moment before letting them go and fall to the floor. From above she peered out from over her glasses and raised an eyebrow. The player was a boy with a rough face, the overly heroic type. He probably was some young high school kid who had his mom pick up the game for him because he was too young to make the purchase himself. If there was one thing in gaming that Elise despised was cheaters. What was the point of playing a game that actually granted you nothing in real life and hacking your way through it? There was no satisfaction. Then Elise took a really good look at the man-child before her. He was crying. The boy was scared and probably was just trying to find some way to get ahead. Lips pursing together, Vox slid off of the counter and landed with soft taps. She extended a hand and pulled the boy back up to his feet. "Listen, we're all at the same level now. Old, young, new, leet; it doesn't matter anymore. Find someone, anyone who has an idea how to play. Make friends and let them carry you through." That was the best advice she could give to someone. Chances were this guy was a new player anyway. Now he was stuck in a world he knew nothing about. She had at least been able to have played for awhile. All these floors would be nothing new to her, just tedious. She squeezed the kid's shoulder and turned back to see the NPC finally available. Smiling brightly, she got through her transaction quickly and transferred the xing. She shot the despondent player a hopeful look before exiting. As she walked over the wooden bridges towards the exit Elise flipped through her menu and equipped the pieces she purchased. Before leaving she popped open her friends list and sent Oracle a party request.
Exp Gained: 30xp(900 words)+20xp(600 words) =50xp Leftovers: 7 words
Raizen had decided to visit the upper floors to farm for XP. Very few others had made it this far so it was nice and quite. The next area he entered was a moderately sized mountainous path that loomed with darkness, only a little light shining through between the leaves of the trees. Raizen wasn't afraid of the dark or anything ,but other than that he sensed something close by, as if someone or something was watching him. He walked along nonchalantly, wearing his serious face as she always did when she wanted to betray none of her emotions. Those could always be used to tell what one was thinking and in battle situations it could mean either life or death. How one utilized their face could give them either the upper hand or lead to their demise. Raizen wasn't about to be just another casualty, especially not in a forest such as this against virtual creatures. He stopped to rest and check his gear before proceeding onward. His natural instincts proved true as he came to a halt and slid to the side on one foot, dragging the other close by to keep pace. It was all just in time too. A small crater had been formed in the position that she was just at, and the one that had created the crater was none other than bipedal fox-wolf- like creature. It's fur is mainly grayish-brown in coloration with crimson and black accents.It sports a pointed snout and ears, the insides of which have red coloration as well as a large, voluminous mane, primarily red in coloration but with more profound black tips. The mane somewhat resembles a ponytail, as a teal bangle down its length separates a mass of the mane from the lower portion. A black ruff on can be seen on the upper body, pointed at the shoulders from which the arms extend. The creatures upper arms are thin, whereas its lower arms, while still slim, are bulkier. The arms have spiky extensions of fur at the elbows, and it's three claws, as well as the claws on its feet, are red in coloration. When the dust finally cleared and the creature stood to its full height looking down at him, Raizen sucked his teeth, taking a few more steps away as he appraised the size of the thing. It stood a perfect two feet taller than him with bulging muscles and a wide breadth. It was one thing Raizen disliked the most, anything living that stood taller or was essentially bigger than he was;would mean he was being looked down on. The werewolf-fox was close enough to human for him to consider it as one, and that it stood a perfect two feet over him and was so much... larger ,which did not sit well with the young man. But despite this he knew from the strength that the fox creature had shown before that this would be a battle of skill, utilizing his physical training.
Mentally prepared, Raizen waited for the creature to make the first move, and as if reading into his approval that it may have the first go the creature sprang into action. It was poised to strike as it seemingly blurred a bit and vanished from sight, catching Raizen slightly off guard. But he was ready for the full frontal assault, bringing his hand up to block the clawed stab. It was much more powerful than he originally gauged, as he felt a stinging pain in his arm as he pulled away, gaining some distance between him and the wolf. He eyed the place where she had been hit and took note of the amount of health he lost. This was definitely going to be harder than the moth wolf he'd faced earlier. Raizen sprang into action, this time being the instigator of their little dance. He used his swiftness to blur himself in much the same manner that the creature had just done a moment ago, appearing suddenly behind it in a round house kick position. The creature was quick to react, bringing its powerful arms up about to block the hit and push Raizen off itself and send him flying. The young man slid along the ground and then used the backward momentum to push himself into the air and back onto a rock formation. By pressing the soles of his feet into its surface and pushing off he was in the fray once more. This time Raizen executed a quick spin in mid air as he torpedoed towards the hybrid , bringing his foot around to connect with the creature's midsection. It wasn't so much a wasted attempt as it was an attempt made too fervently. The wolf snatched his leg out of mid air, and spun Raizen around a few times and then flung him away as if he was yesterday's garbage. It was all Raizen could do to lose composer and start fighting recklessly , his frustration towards the creature grew in intensity with each passing second. He managed to keep the urge under wraps however, trying again with a full frontal assault. Nothing seemed to be working. The creature either parried the blow, took it in stride and knocked him away, or it caught his attack and met it with one of its own. It was frustrating; losing to an animal and the constant smirk wasn't helping at all. Then a thought came to him. Raizen stood his ground as the creature was inclined to simply watching and waiting while he made the first move;Its intelligence and adaptability was impressive. Raizen started tensing his body.
Raizen dashed forward one final time to meet with the creature where it stood. His form was a blur as he suddenly appeared in front of the creature, aiming a rapid round house kick to its leg. The creature stood its ground, positive it could take the hit, but the minute Raizen foot made contact with the leg a noticeable imprint was left behind, bruising the creatures flesh. It howled in pain and attempted to grab Raizen around the neck, but the movement was clumsy and it ended up snatching at the air as Raizen feinted to the right, swinging his fist around to connect with the creature's stomach. That too left an imprint and the creature howled again, feeling the effect. Raizen continued his assault without pause, sending a flurry of kicks and punches all over his opponents form, rendering it all but dead. The creature found it difficult to retaliate,and Raizen used the flow of battle to his advantage, as he finally had the upper hand. To finish things off he took off at a jump high into their air, then flipped on his way back down, extending a leg forward to have it land directly onto the head of the already half dead creature. The connected strike was so powerful that Raizens conviction only served to amplify an already perfect form, rendering the creature unconscious before Raizen even hit the floor. Raizen landed on his feet and stood over the creature, watching it through squinted eyes as the win message appeared. The true purpose of this little exercise was to hone his skills to perfection at their current level and see just how far he could go,but he had to admit the creature had put up a good fight. After a few moments of catching his breath Raizen notice the creature stir. It looked at him and for that brief moment Raizen felt like they were destined to meet. He watched as the tame option appeared above the creatures head,and pressed accept. Raizen was about to check it stats when another notice message appeared.
> SERVER DOWN > SYSTEM REBOOTING. PLEASE WAIT. > . . . His eyes widen as the Text appeared. He hadn't heard anything about a reboot. What the heck was going on. Before he could react his vision blurred,and he momentarily blanked out. When he finally came to he saw that he was teleported back into the last town he'd been in.
> REBOOT COMPLETE > WELCOME TO FARDOR AVIL ONLINE 2.0
2.0? Raizen immediately checked his menu,and his heart dropped. Instead of his usual 70 his current level was reduced into a single digit. After all that work,and those sleepless nights studying stat builds he was back to lv 1. All his stats and gear had been reset. He punches the wall in frustration,and walks outside. It seemed he wasn't the only one who was out raged. Raizen took a moment to calm down,and tried distancing himself from all the "noise". As he walked away he heard the game masters speech about not being able to log out and a bunch of other stuff he wasn't really worried about. No one on the outside would miss him,and that just gave him more time to work his way back up. He'd take his frustration out on the idiot who caused this.
When she had greeted Vox, she used honey to address her, which wasn't what she exactly liked. It reminded her of her step dad, who constantly called her that in order to gain some sort of relationship with her. What he didn't understand is that she wasn't that into him. She also brought up the idea that it could be terrorists, which she hadn't thought of before. What if there was someone important that played the game, and in order to gain dominance over that person, they locked them up. Other then that, she couldn't really think of another way this could have happened. "It's complete bullshit-" She was getting to say, but her potty mouth was cut off by Abryon arriving and glomping her into a hug. The embrace almost made her lose her balance, and as he screamed in her ear about freaking out, she couldn't help but giggle at the familiarity. He let her go after a while, and it felt weird. It felt like in real life, getting a hug. His skin, his breath, his voice all sounded real. Things felt real in that world, regardless that it is simply virtual reality. "Who knows what really happened here. There could be so many explanations." She finally said to him, and as she did, she noticed a flying man from the trees. He wasn't exactly flying, more hanging from vines as he passed by. He called out to her and the other two. Oracle was one of the snarky ones that made her laugh. Vox took off after them, and it left the two of them alone.
She looked to Abryon, trying to assess what she was going to do next. Making a party would make sense, but since they were both such a low level, she thought it was necessary to split up. She didn't want to, however. His safety meant everything to her. "Message me if you get into anything, alright?" She patted him on his back," I'm going grinding by myself. I'll run into you later." She hastily left, going through the crowd until she was finally spat out. She looked back, and frowned, but continued to walk out of the safe zone. She hadn't found Peter yet...
She couldn't help but wonder what was out there. Things could be different, or they could be the same. To her, she might just end up being alone for a long time. But she wasn't finished with this game, it excited her to see everything go to s**t. At least this way, she didn't have to go back to that world again.
►Name: Abryon ►Lv:1 ►Wordcount: 145 ►Sexuality: Bisexual ►Current Thought: Time to go grind ►Sexuality: Bisexual ►Mood: Pissed, frustrated, freaked out ►Current Theme:• Main Theme:Sacrifice ►Stats:
_Abryon was glad Wonderland was safe. It made him a lil less frantic, which was good, cause a frantic Abryon was never a good thing. He listened to Wonderland's friend, Vox i think her name was, and was amazed at how calm she was in this situation. Suddenly a man flew by and waved hello and goodbye at once. Abryon knew that voice but just couldnt place at the time. Vox then chased after him, and not too sooner Wonderland left too, saying it was best they split up. Abryon was a lil upset, he just found his bestie and now she was leaving him to grind on his own, but hey he knew it was for the best. Fixing his hair he took a deep breath and headed out of the safe zone. TIME TO GO RECK SOME MONSTERS!!!!! Pscyhing himself up was the only way to take his mind off the current situation.
Lorelei is not a person who particularly enjoys others in her space. Chalk it up to years of being secluded and only ever being touched when her aid needed to move her. So weaving through the mass of players that suddenly spawned in the starter town Elurik grated her nerves. Every brush made her muscles stiffen, every hand that tried to grab her attention caused her to yank away, only to bump shoulders with another player. Her paced quickened as she headed for a small open space surrounding a nearby tree hut. It was a tavern, and around back there was no one to overload her senses. Lorelei took a deep breath, expelling it quietly. She stood like that for a few minutes, eyes closed. Distantly, she was aware of a player crying. She wondered dully whether they were new to FAO as of today. How many players had never seen it past Floor One. Imagined that they would fade into the background, like NPCs. 'Pathetic. They deserve to fall away if their will is that weak.' Her ears focused in on another faraway voice, ranting and raving about motives and insanity. 'They think we're insane? Am I insane?' She felt rather sane. She wasn't twitching with madness or cackling lowly. Now that she was away from the touching and grabbing, she felt calm. Extremely so. Rational, even. But her motive? 'It's simple, really. Control.' In this world, with the system under her finger, she could control the fate of herself and her fellow players. She could play God. And that made her feel powerful. Who wouldn't want the rush that came with power?
Lorelei's eyes snapped open, determination settling into her features. She stepped off from the back wall of the tavern, returning to the front. A couple feet to her right, a player stood, staring out at the groups of people, blank faced and hollow. Lorelei studied the boy. He looked a bit younger than her, maybe a year or two. He gave off a feeling Lorelei had once been very familiar with. Helplessness. Her eyes narrowed slowly at the thought. 'Not anymore.' She turned away abruptly, making no move to engage in an exchange with the other player. Focusing on listening, she caught segments of conversation. The anger and woe did not interest her- it was the players who recognized their current situation as a challenge or an interesting new twist that intrigued her. The players that couldn't see the beauty of this reality didn't receive an ounce of respect from her. She could get behind being in a party if the members appreciated what the GMs, herself and Kono, had done. Not that anyone would know who they were. Unless they could put her voice with the announcement. She made a note to keep speaking to a minimum.
'Speaking of lists...' Lorelei swiped her hand down in front of her, bringing up her main menu. A quick scan of her stats and inventory proved what she already knew to be true. Everything was back to square one. She'd programmed it that way after all. A quick glance around had her thoughts moving back to speed. 'Won't be long until they start realizing they've got to level to survive.' She trained her attention on a handful of players jogging out of the town.'I had better get out of here before the masses start moving and comb the monster spawns.' Peering over the heads of the other players, Lorelei hunted for the items shop, which was dealing business to a few fast paced players. Moving through the crowds was a tad easier now. Most had clotted into small groups that could be maneuvered around. She arrived at the weapons hut with her calm fully intact. The player in front of her had hands that shook as she made her transaction, and appeared to be struggling to breath evenly. The blithering fool was talking nonstop, something about being a rookie and not signing up for this. Lorelei quirked a brow.'I suppose there are rookies floating around then.' She paused to consider her feelings on this. A frown surfaced to her lips. 'She ought to feel fortunate she logged on today.' In Lorelei's personal opinion, everyone had better feel fortunate about getting the chance to be a part of this world. This only added to her quickly building irritation with those who didn't appreciate her and Kono's work.
But the player moved on and Lorelei didn't say anything to her. She was sticking to her mental note of keeping on the down-low. As the anonymous voice-in-the-sky, she was at a higher risk than Kono of being figured out. For now, anyway. She hoped that, with time, people would forget what the announcement's voice sounded like. Lorelei moved up to the hut's window, bringing up a trade. Two healing crystals, a teleportation crystal, a sword, and a chest plate in exchange for 90 xing. The dealer was an NPC whose chipper smile was unaffected by the current series of events. They accepted the trade and wished her a good day. Lorelei stepped away without acknowledging nor returning the sentiment. Once again she was faced with the crowd of players. More were starting to move now, discussing plans and partying up. Someone somewhere was informing another player, probably a rookie, what they remember on the boss. Lorelei reflected with a mild sort of smugness on the fact that she didn't have to scrounge up information on the boss from memory. She could access the system codexes from her menu. But she was determined not to use cheats to get ahead. She was better than that. Still, watching the players intermingle and being left isolated triggered a memory for her. Sounds of the neighborhood kids laughing and stomping beats with their feet filtered into her mind, the 'we will rock you' chant playing on repeat. The memory of that first girl who couldn't have been much older than she catching sight of her through the window almost made her cringe outwardly. "Jeanette!" Her aid had come running, ready for something worse than the shame that colored Lorelei. "Close the curtains." She could still see the girl pointing towards her from outside as her aid moved to follow her order, and the other kids turning to send her curious looks. She'd kept those curtains shut for most of her life since, even going as far as having her aid move her bed so she wouldn't be facing the window. She'd cut herself off from the world on the other side of that glass, grew hateful towards the able-bodied children long after they had most likely forgotten about her. The homebody who stared at them for hours everyday, with festering envy directed pointedly at their working limbs and explosive laughter.
Lorelei shook her head, rejecting the memory. It wasn't like that in virtual reality. She could play alongside her peers. She could overpower her peers. She already had them all in the palm of her hands. What more could she want? This had to be better than stomping her feet to some ridiculous song, kicking up dust that never settled. Lorelei turned from the others once again, setting off down a bridge that connected the great trees. There was a hollow trunk near the center of the town with a spiral staircase down its core that would carry her out of the player infested area. She could start grinding and getting her level up before others could catch up. That's what was important right now. And if she ran into Kono out there somewhere, that would work out smoothly. She wasn't exactly looking to party up with him, but being in contact often couldn't hurt. As she made her way towards the town's center, she allowed her mind to wander and found herself admiring the graphics of the game. However small its original company had been, they put a lot of care into designing the floors. Lorelei supposed she owed it to them to do the same when she and Kono started recoding them more, yet another reason she wanted to find him. She didn't want to message about their plans. That would make it too easy for someone to find out. All they'd have to do is look over one of their shoulders and their secret would be out. But while she had the time to think over the idea, she pondered what they could make the floors look like, and a particularly twisted thought surfaced. 'We could make the floors resemble real world towns and cities.' The more she pursued the thought, the more she liked it. It would be just the thing to shake the other players, fool them into thinking this was reality and the other world was the lie. Like it was a faint dream dispersing as they woke. And if the players were shaken, it would give Kono and her a chance to continue leveling while they recovered from shock. 'Yes,' she thought, a grin toying with her lips again. She descended the hollow tree and emerged into the forest below. Above her head, the voices of the players had grown dim. She fled into the shadows like a monster fleeing into the night.
Word Count: 1547 Running Count: 983 + 1547 = 2530 Leftover Word Count: 30 XP: 45 + 80 = 125
Judgement enters and completely is amazed at how the game has something like this, this town is so beautiful! Judgement is completely fascinated that a virtual game can create something like this. Judgement looks around sees that very few to nobody are here, these people are either idle or they are just npcs....either way he is on a mission. He keeps looking around and finally finds it. A hollowed tree. He looks through the quest details one more time making sure he knows exactly what the quest wants, "...explore the new area, survive..." was all he needed to know. He takes a deep breath and embarks on his first EVER quest.
