Riegal said
The man's voice startled Izzy, and she looked up at him with red and puffy eyes. She wiped her tears on her sleeve, embarrassed to be seen in the state she was in. The man's words of assurance were nice to hear, though, so she tentatively accepted his outstretched hand.Putting a hand against the wall to support herself, she got up unsteadily. She looked at the man's face, prepared to respond, but lost her nerve and her gaze quickly dropped back to her feet."Thank you for your kindness, but I... um, I have someone I need to find," she said, tensing up. She hated turning people away when they were only trying to help her, but her mind was made up. She stepped around him to exit the alley, adding "I hope we'll meet again..." as she passed by him.She left the alley and entered the populated street. A few people saw her and stared for a few seconds, causing her to go red. She must've looked terrible, what with the fact that she had just cried her eyes out. Across the street, she saw a shop that sold cloth armor, and quickly made her way towards it, keeping her head down.Inside, she found exactly what she needed: a plain cloak-and-hood. She bought the dark green variant, and immediately equipped it. The cloak fell to her knees, and was open at the front, making it easy to move in and almost more like a cape. The hood, which she pulled up, helped hide her mess-of-a-face from the world.She stepped out into the street again, feeling a little more confident, and began to try to find her way back to the square where she had last seen Haunt.

YipeeXD said
Karen looked up at the huge man she had come across just before her world came crashing down, Bachus. "W...what do we do now?" She was absolutely terrified. Impending death was looming upon them, and she couldnt accept that. He stared back at her. "We beat the game I suppose. To do that we beat bosses." He scrolled down his menu and open the book of truth. "There isnt much about them in here... but it does say each is different and has it weaknesses. That means that with the right tactics, and enough people..." It dawned on him. It might actually be possible to come out of this alive. He composed himself, shutting his eyes for a moment, before opening them, with a serious glare. "Come on." He pulled Karen along with him and back to the centre statue. Someone was trying to do the right thing. But they were going about it in the wrong way. "You there!" He boomed, intimidatingly in his grumbling voice. "Step a aside." He jumped up with him. Scrolling down his menu, he pulled out his two handed and blade and forced it through the stone. "QUIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" His voice echoed through the whole square. The players who remained in the square, about 100 in number fell silent. "You should all be listening to this man. He is right. The more panic you cause. The less chance of survival." He paused to make sure everyone was listening. "This... game... isn't a game anymore... and has taken your very humanity away from you! I say why? Why should we lose our humanity at a time like this? The only way for everyone in the game to survive is to beat every floor boss." He waved the book of truth i front of him. "Have any of you even read this?" He sighed. With the right numbers, and tactics... I think we can do this..." He paused again. "None of you know me, you dont know who I am, and who I will become. But I ask you this... Brothers! Sisters! Will you join me in arms? And take back your humanity?!" He winked at Karen, before leaning down and whispering. "I always wanted to start this guild anyway." He grinned, turning back and shouting, "WELL? WHO IS WITH ME?!" He yelled out, sending a guild invite to every player in the square only. He finished, and a brief silence fell. There was mumbling for a while, before there were a few claps, then some more, and then an ovation followed by cheering. Bachus turned to the man on the statue. "Wont you join me brother? You started this, so are you in?" He offered him his hand. He could see the notification of accepted guild requests filling the top left of his vision. 71. 71 people had decided to join. He smiled, looking at Karen. She beamed back and accepted. 72. He looked back at the player atop the statue awaiting his response. A man with his courage must be recruited to beat this game.

as the girl took off, he said to her calmly " i am sure of it, till we meet again."
he heard another man, saying something of probable utter importance , back in the square, and he dashed to see what was happening, and the man had given a speech, a very powerful one at that, and very intruiging. moments later he recieved and invite, but, he chose not to decide upon it yet.
"excuse me sir, i apreciate the bravery and the morale boost, but in order to survive this damned 'game' we will need to start leveling up, and by that i mean farming. once everyone has done this, including myself, then i will consider joining you all. for now, i must remain open to anyone else who may wonder by, you may call me junohirya, i am and experienced veteran in mmo games, not that my title has any worth here, but my knowledge may. i am here to help anyone that chooses to seek me out, i will be meeting tomorrow at the west end of town, bring your equipment, ill train you on proper fighting styles and we will begin farming. thank you all." he turns to the man. "and thank you both for giving us all hope, in such a dark time of this, hope is a fragile thing, but needed in abundance. thank you, and i wish see you both in the future."
he turns back to the crowd. " and thank you for lending me your time, please take heed to the advices given today, and we all will make it out of here alive! for life! for our humanity! and for VICTORY!"
he raises his sword high in the air, at the last word.

It took Izzy far longer than it should have for her to find the square. It was her fault for not paying attention when she had been running away earlier, but she couldn't help it at the time.

She stumbled around, avoiding people as much as she could while trying to recognize any landmarks that would help her find her way. She was looking for the town's plaza for God's sake, she shouldn't be having this much trouble.

After a few more minutes of somewhat aimless wandering later, she heard distant yelling and cheering. She picked up her pace, knowing she was close. A moment later, she found the entrance to the square. There was still a decent sized crowd, but it was far smaller than before.

Standing on the statue at the center of the open area was Haunt. Izzy was hit with a wave of relief, and she pushed through the crowd hastily, no longer caring about politeness.

It was kind of strange how happy she was to see him. All she knew about him was his in-game name - nothing more. But he was the most familiar face in this new world, and that was all the reason she needed to keep moving forward.

Magi looked up as he listened to the figure up in the sky, his eyes shielded by the hood. Huh...? No way... He had trouble comprehending the situation they were in. Defeat all 100 floors to leave? But... He looked down with a grim expression. After some time standing there, still, almost as if frozen, he looked around to see the panicked players scattering. He heard some guy yelling as if they were in a battlefield fighting to earn their freedom from their oppressors but they weren't actual warriors. No... There was a simple solution. Keep fighting, leveling up and growing stronger. There was no other visible answer. Though leveling up would be better done alone in order to keep all of the exp and items, they would need to work together against the bosses.

These people thought they were being brave and poetic but they were just spouting nonsense. Brothers? Sisters? They were too eccentric to help out, Aiden figured.

Now, Aiden had already gained a couple of levels since he had first joined. He decided to go and see the dungeon and fight some of the stronger enemies there. He could probably do it alone but it was too dangerous since he wasn't allowed to die. He knew that some others might think like him and go there to level up quickly, so he figured that he'd meet new people there.

Ryan glanced to Faeron, a lot of the fear in his eyes still there. Raven pulled him away from the aggro zone, so he could relax for a minute and talk. "You don't get it though... Who else is going to stay a tank, through this? You can level other skills instead, get new equipment and change roles whenever... I know there'll be a few... but we'll likely be the ones dying first." He looked at the ground, sheathing his axe. He started breathing as slowly and deeply as he could while standing still. I have to clear my mind... If I keep thinking like that, I'll end up getting myself and others killed too quickly. He took one last deep breath before looking up at the others, "As long as we're in a group, we'll be able to take on the next area's monsters... That's how it always is in MMOs... The first few areas are easy enough when your level is equal, or when your lower and in a group, we should be able to move on now... Where's Karen?" He looked around, making sure to check the upper-left of his screen to see if her name was still there. She hasn't left the group yet... Is she not coming with us to the next town?

Ryan looked at the others in the group, "You guys decide what we're doing, I'm going to send her a message." He swung his arm downwards, bringing up the menu. He went to the section containing his party and sent Karen a message.

A notification appeared for Karen. It took her by surprise a little. She opened it and read its content. She smiled a little. He cared enough for her to send her a worried message. And they had only just met. She wrote her response.


Bachus stood firm, before wrenching his blade out of the stone statue. "We do as he says. Everyone who has joined, make sure you know how to fight. You need not go and train, the built in system in the game is designed to aid you in battle. Together we shall not fall!" He grinned, before jumping down from the statue.

Cash, came to a stop once they came close enough to Raven and Ryan. There was no denying they were both at war with themselves, Cash had Raven's response to verify. Cash looked down in sorrow and closed his eyes. Hearing Raven speak to Ryan was sad, Cash had barely given a thought to what other people are thinking of this terrible thing. Only then did Cash realize why Ryan was so distraught. Cash opened his eyes after thinking over Ravens comforting words. He let go of Faeron's hand which he had been holding since he ran here, and looked up with serious look. He stood there and listened to what Raven suggested, quickly moving through the lower levels to head on to the next town. It made sense, but it wouldn't be to easy with everyone feeling so down. "I agree. We move on to the next town, Levelling on our way. If the Book of Truth is accurate than we probably shouldn't waste to much time, others will probably have the same idea." Cash stopped as he watched Ryan tap away at a message to Karen. It didn't take long for Karen to send a message back it seems. From what Cash could see over Ryan's shoulder, it looked like she said something about a new guild lead by Bachus. Who the hell is Bachus? Someone they met before we talked to them?.

Cash quickly discarded his thoughts about this Bachus character and looked back at Faeron and Raven. Cash didn't have anything to say that hadn't already been said, he just let out a weary sigh and blinked slowly.

Faeron listened to the others talk, mostly agreeing with everyone. She honestly felt bad that Ryan would have to take most of the hits and she was determined to not let him deal with that himself. She herself, would just have to work harder in order to lift some pressure and do some side-tanking at least. She glanced at the path that Raven had pointed, and he spoke of another town and plans of moving on. "Sounds good," she input-ed. Ryan then tapped a message to Karen and a response soon came. She tried to peak over Cash's shoulder, seeing a name; "Bachus" and a guild name "Legion of Light."

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She thought for a bit before looking at everyone. "Let's go. We don't have any time to waste," she said.

Raven nods and starts down the path at a light jog even as more of the other players started drifting into the fields to work on gaining levels and push their way out of the game. "Let's hurry, people are starting to farm the boars again." He takes the lead, walking briskly while going over what Ryan had said in his mind. He knew he couldn't allow that. His armor wouldn't be the highest using light metal armor, but he was still, by all means, classified as a bruiser because he could take more punishment than a lancer or an assassin. Speaking of class names, what would I be called?

This was definitely something he'd need to figure out. Perhaps a blade master? Sword master? He'd have to give it more thought later, maybe get some ideas from the other party members. "Hey, while I'm thinking about it, what if we started our own guild? Something like Undying Hope or some other inspiring name? I mean, we wouldn't have to get big, just be tight knit and trust each other with our lives." Even though he didn't say it, he could tell they all trusted each other to that point.

IC: Aaron saw a familiar face and jumped down from the statue, the impact sending shudders through his feet and into his lower legs.

Ordinarily, he'd be praising the game for its realism, but given the circumstances... He shook his head, smiling slightly as he and Izzy met again. "Sorry about the noise, and the theatrics, I just... I had to do something. Glad I didn't scare you completely away."

He looked down for a few seconds, clearly lost in thought, before speaking again. "We need to get stronger, if we want to make it out of this alive. The way I see it, small parties have the best of both worlds... They level nearly as quickly as solo players but they have someone watching their back."

His left hand moved to scratch the back of his head, eyes flicking up to look at Izzy. "What I'm trying to ask is... Do you want to be my partner for clearing the game?"

YipeeXD said
A notification appeared for Karen. It took her by surprise a little. She opened it and read its content. She smiled a little. He cared enough for her to send her a worried message. And they had only just met. She wrote her response.Bachus stood firm, before wrenching his blade out of the stone statue. "We do as he says. Everyone who has joined, make sure you know how to fight. You need not go and train, the built in system in the game is designed to aid you in battle. Together we shall not fall!" He grinned, before jumping down from the statue.

the man jumped down from the statue, and juno did so as well, and looked to him,"these people need a strong leader, i know you will do them well. if you have any questions, refer to the book of truths or to me, i am going to make my way to the west end of town to start leveling up, if you wish, you may join me there. i wish the best of luck to you, um... what is your name?" juno was pondering the idea that all this was actually happening, and had no doubts that this nightmare had became a reality, but he wasnt ready to die, he wouldnt give up, he had to save these people. he gained a sense of pride and knowledge over the years of playing MMOs at a professional level, he was sure that this one wouldnt be too hard to complete.

Cash started to jog down the path behind Raven, briefly looking back at the town of beginnings. It could have been such a good game...Why?...Why throw it all away for some stupid survival scenario? Cash thought to himself. "I'm not to sure how the guild system works in this game yet, and I don't want to sound rude or anything, but we shouldn't be to hasty with making a guild and choosing a guild master." Cash tried to say through his excessive breathing. It wasn't necessarily a bad time to create a guild, but there is already tension in the air, and cash didn't want to thicken it by putting someone in command over another. Cash spoke out through the sound of everyone jogging,"Lets give it some time, maybe talk it out when we get to the next town..." Cash looked up at the sky briefly before adding,"Speaking of which. Do you think we have enough col to sleep at an Inn or something? Because, the suns starting to die."Cash looked over at Faeron and than at Ryan, seeing if they had anything to say about the whole sleeping thing.

Izzy pulled her hood back slightly as Haunt jumped down to meet her. He apologized about the scene he had made, which she hadn't really noticed. He had only been trying to help the panicked crowd, so she searched for the right words to tell him that he had nothing to apologize for.

Being the terrible conversationalist she was, she couldn't find them.

Haunt looked away, seemingly considering his next words. He spoke, and Izzy listened intently. Then, almost nervously, he finished by saying "What I'm trying to ask is... Do you want to be my partner for clearing the game?"

Her eye's widened and she felt her heart flutter ever-so-slightly.

She stumbled terribly through her response. "I-I'd really, um, really like that..." Her gaze quickly fell to her feet, and she felt herself blushing slightly, prompting her to pull her hood back up so that it hid her face a little better.

And she realized she was wearing a small smile. She couldn't remember the last time she had smiled with someone other than her sister. The moment passed quickly, however, when she also realized that Haunt didn't know about her panic attacks yet. She had to tell him, especially if they'd be fighting together.

"Oh, and, um, I should also apologize... for running away. I had a... a panic attack, and when I have them I always feel like escaping..." she said, still staring at the ground. Her face reddened further from the embarrassment of telling Haunt about her problem. "I h-have them kind of often, actually..." She began to tremble softly, causing her to hug herself in an attempt to conceal it from Haunt.

"I m-might be a burden on y-you if we travel t-together... s-so I understand if you change your m-mind..." she said quietly, fighting back the tears that stung her eyes. She was surprised by how afraid she was that he would take back his offer. She felt like a terrible person for dropping this on him so suddenly, but she didn't want to have him find out at a time where it could put them in danger.

She hugged herself tighter, making herself as small as possible as she waited for Haunt's reply.

Ryan glanced to the others before receiving a response almost instantly. He looked back to where the message would be, reading it. Who's Bacchus...? Is it that guy who knew there was no log-out button before we did...? He began to send a message back but stopped. How DID he know about the log-out button... He seemed to suspicious of the devs... He looked back into town. Crap... He might be dangerous... But if he's starting a guild he won't do anything yet... He noticed that the others started running, so he quickly input another message and responded with it before setting off to follow the others.


Ryan was starting to calm down, almost accepting the fact he'd probably die first. It didn't matter though, at this point, he'd just have to learn to deflect attacks so the others wouldn't have to get hurt. "A guild... It might be worth doing..." He glanced to Cash as he rejected the idea. "None of us actually have to be the leader... One of us would be the leader to the game, that's it though... We would decide everything together, work as a team..." He then looked forward as he jogged with them, listening to the question about the inn. "Inns wouldn't take much col, would they? Not this close to the starting area... Unless there was a free or super-cheap inn back at the town of beginnings that we were intended to use, there should be a cheap inn up here... Just farming a monster or two would get us enough..."

Karen received Ryan's response. Reading it she panicked a little, before looking over at Bachus. He was grinning, but in a strange way it seemed. No, he couldnt be dangerous. He was helping her! She was so confused. Before too long, she approached him. "So... what do we do now Bachus?"

Bachus looked firmly at the player who had spoken to him. "Bachus. That is my name." He glared. "I hate to be so harsh, but these people are part of the legion of light now, from here on out, we are a family, and we stick together. That means we do not go wandering off alone. That is... until we settle first." His eyes relaxed a little. "Thank you, for your offer of training, but we have no need for that yet. The game system is more than capable of helping these people to fight for now. Maybe as we progress through... but not now." He finished that sentence of quite darkly. Karen was now speaking. He turned to her. "Now? well now... we move to the next town." He grumbled. Lifting his sword in the air, he shouted out, "Legion! We move onwards to the next town! I will set a way point on the map in the book of truth! We must move quickly!" He stopped, opening the book to set a marker. "Move out!" He turned on the spot and marched toward the town exit. "Come Karen."

Karen was taken aback at his commanding nature yet, she felt like she could trust him, and she followed.

He was late, he picked up his nervegear and sat down. "Link Start!" he mumbled as an array of colours swarmed and flew past him. He rushed charactor creation and joined just in time to her the red cloaked mans speech. As it finished he collapsed to the floor. No log out, but his other games... prehaps it is a blessing in surprise, he thought to himself. He had wanted a escape from life and here it was. He did not bother to stay but ran to a weapons store. Inside he wasted his little col on a coulple of calvary swords like his default blade. He ran through the town. sprinting as fast as he could and jumping to avoid obstacles. He had to put some ground between him and that accursed courtyard. Finally he spotted a mob. He charged at it. Raising his blade he went for a slice at the [wild hog]'s shoulder. He kept slicing but the [wild hog]'s hp barrly dropped. He was struggling to dodge attacks however. His [HP] was in the yellow zone despite the atempts to avoid attacks. Desparately he raised his arm and brought it down on the [wild hog]. His blade went red as the blade cut cleanly through the [wild hog]. He watched as it shattered into millions of polygons. He let out a sigh of relief as he sheathed the sword.

Cash turned his head forward, the sun slowly inching it's way towards the horizon. Out the corner of his eye Cash could see the vast open field that would normally be for grinding, a few monsters were scattered across the magnificent field but other than that, the field was an amazing sight. The town in which the Book of Truth implied, was coming into sight, and before long, was just their reach. The town was quite different from the town of Beginnings. The lights slowly flickered on as the bright day turned into a warm night. It felt like a summer night from the temperature but Cash couldn't really tell. A few NPC's roamed the streets, and a few player characters were integrated within them. "Tomorrow, I think we should look for a quest. I know you said we should start farming, but doing quests is a good way of making some money, plus we might get some cool stuff from it." Cash said as he looked at this new town. His feelings about this game of death almost vanished as his eyes floated across the landscape and scenery. "Do you think all towns are like this? So different, yet all so...Beautiful?" Cash questioned. He wasn't directing this to anybody but the question was still to be answered.

Cash walked into the town a bit, walking up to one of the NPC's that was still wandering about. "Hello, could you direct me to the in?" Cash asked the NPC politely. Cash felt super awkward having to ask the NPC things. For some reason it just felt weird to talk to the game as if it were a real person. Cash looked back at the others and shrugged in confusion, not really knowing if asking an NPC something would actually have any affect. To Cash's surprise, the NPC grew a smile on his face and replied,"Just down the road there, on your left. Have a nice day!" The man finished.

Cash walked back over to the group,"He said there's an inn just down the road there," He pointed with his index finger,"Let's head over there and check out the prices" Cash added.

IC: Panic attacks...

That was a liability. If she had one at a critical moment... Aaron slapped himself mentally. What was he doing? If he left her and she died, he'd never get over it... And besides, there was something about her...

His hand twitched at his side, one part of him wanting to put it on her shoulder reassuringly, the other telling him that it'd probably only make her anxiety worse.

"Running away isn't anything to be ashamed of, not in the mess we're in right now, and I'm not a tank so I can probably get away... Just try not to do it at a critical moment, okay?"

OOC: Sorry about the long wait for a short post, school started back for me today and I'm stressed.

Raven joined in the awe this new town still managed to draw, even with the the threat of impending death floating over their heads. "Inn, down the road...Yeah, let's head that way. We can search for a quest in the morning, they provide good col and exp as well." Following Cach, he looks at the small group they have and can't help but smile. Being in this group when things had gone south, it had probably saved his life and sanity. The odds of finding any of them again if they hadn't been in the group would have been nearly impossible, even if they'd all gone to the boss floor to help clear it.

"But, we're gonna need to be careful around other players. If what that guy was saying is true, there will be plenty of PvP happy maniacs trying to save everyone by killing the one with the code. We should stay together out in the world and if we can't make it to a town before night fall, we take turns keeping watch."

[All in all: Faeron quietly listened to the others discuss their plans, agreeing with mostly everyone. Yet, she had the same mixed feelings that Cash has about the guild ]

The four had found their way into a town and then to the inn. Faeron shrugged, not very worried about the PvP maniacs. If any of them attacker her or her friends, she would make sure that they would regret it. She looked up at the darkening sky, the past events running through her mind. Everything had changed so quickly because of one fucked-up person. Suddenly, she wondered about the haunting words the person had last said. Beat the 100 levels or kill the player with the code. "Ah, I wonder who had the code," she said out loud, not really expecting anyone to answer. It was a terrible thought to think of; hundreds of people would be ought to kill you. And if you died in this game, you would die in the real world.

"I'll take the first watch if we ever need to camp out," she offered. In a matter of moments, they reached the inn. "...I never imagined I would be sleeping here," she muttered. Lavinia had expected to log off later, apologize to her brothers, yell at them some more, and then go to sleep in her bed in her home. Now? She would just have to get over it. This world was the real world now.

YipeeXD said
Karen received Ryan's response. Reading it she panicked a little, before looking over at Bachus. He was grinning, but in a strange way it seemed. No, he couldnt be dangerous. He was helping her! She was so confused. Before too long, she approached him. "So... what do we do now Bachus?"Bachus looked firmly at the player who had spoken to him. "Bachus. That is my name." He glared. "I hate to be so harsh, but these people are part of the legion of light now, from here on out, we are a family, and we stick together. That means we do not go wandering off alone. That is... until we settle first." His eyes relaxed a little. "Thank you, for your offer of training, but we have no need for that yet. The game system is more than capable of helping these people to fight for now. Maybe as we progress through... but not now." He finished that sentence of quite darkly. Karen was now speaking. He turned to her. "Now? well now... we move to the next town." He grumbled. Lifting his sword in the air, he shouted out, "Legion! We move onwards to the next town! I will set a way point on the map in the book of truth! We must move quickly!" He stopped, opening the book to set a marker. "Move out!" He turned on the spot and marched toward the town exit. "Come Karen." Karen was taken aback at his commanding nature yet, she felt like she could trust him, and she followed.

juno was taken aback by the man's slight hostility, and looked to the man, with a calm demeanor, " understood, i look forward to seeing you all in the future, but i feel as if i need to level up a little more before i join your glorious guild, and i am dearly sorry for saying anything that may have offended you, im not sure as to why it would, but i digress, anyways, good luck to you, bachus, and may you lead your guild to victory."
he walked toward the west end of town, and found an open field filled with farmable creatures.
"alright, lets give this a try, i still havent even used my weapon yet."
he unsheathes his blade, looking at it. "hmm, quite exquisite, light enough to get in quick attacks, but its seems sturdy enough to deal some damage..." he checks his weapon's stats, grinning.
"well, this could be a while.." he takes of into the field, seeing a boar, and slashes the beast, killing it, as EXP/col is distruibuted to him.