Good Morning! A screen, which materialized directly in front of Sebastian's face as soon as his eyes opened displayed the annoying message and stung his eyes with its glow as he awoke, it was like this every morning. The HUD glowed with various stats, tabs and current events which scrolled across on a banner at the top. His eyes scanned across before they directed the HUD about, allowing him to open his inventory which caused a much larger screen to appear a bit further out from his waist. Scrolling through he unselected his current outfit titled 'Sleepwear', which was little more than a pair of shorts he managed to find at some stall in Cloudhaven and an overly large undershirt one typically wore underneath armor, before selecting his 'Blade Warden' outfit. As he stood, a shimmering effect encased everything below his neck and a metal band shape around his head glowing all kinds of colors before finally dispersing and giving a full view of what he wore, his ankle-high brown leather boots laced up the front with a pair of cream colored pants tucked into them. His leather cuirass with its high collar was placed over a dark red short sleeved shirt along with a pair of hard leather vambraces on each wrist.

As he turned, he caught his reflection in a mirror placed above a dresser within the room. He sighed slightly and realized simply how pathetic he looked. He probably appeared to be one of those amateurs who joined the game only days before, but in reality Sebastian was one of the first people online aside from those who played in the Beta. Within his first week of playing, the only thing he managed to do was raise enough gold to begin a guild, which still held no members and acquire a second blade, along with his metal head gear which looked foolish quite honestly but gave him a strong defense bonus he needed since he was soloing, for now. Once he got his guild up and running, he was going to buy much better gear.

Sebastian took one last look around the room that he was fortunate enough to claim last night, which held little decoration aside from a small table accompanied by two chairs, a double bed and a single dresser but it was better than sleeping on the street like some people had to. Striding out of the room which let out to a railing overlooking the large dining room below where players of all shapes and sizes sat discussing, laughing and crying all the same. Some were still weeping for the life they were now bestowed with while others were becoming more and more numb, or much like Sebastian understood this was something they would never have a chance to experience again and quite frankly he couldn't be happier than escaping the real world and entering one full of adventure. Smiling a bit he held held onto the hilt of the rapier which sat attached at his waist and walked towards the staircase thinking up what he might do for the day, he needed to first reset his hunger and have something to eat, then he would need to check the armor shop for anything better than this silly leather top before heading back out into the Cave, a small and rather unknown dungeon which existed outside of the city's borders right on the edge of the sky island, as far as Sebastian knew no one else had even been in there but it wasn't shocking as the strongest thing that existed there was cave rats, slightly stronger than a sewer rat and thankfully without the disease debuff. For the last five days, Sebastian stayed alone in that cave and farmed them non-stop.

The thought being on the island still filled Sebastian with curiosity he was familiar to, he couldn't believe with such a powerful virtual reality the game was restricted to only this island. Within the week of playing he had as far as he knew no one had left the Island though, some suspected you had to pay for travel across the air and the ground was nothing, no way to get there. There was airships and other forms of transportation open but they were far too expensive for anyone to afford yet and he imagined even if they had managed to take one it would take them a while to go there and come back, which made him begin to think on how the the trip would go about. Would it be fast travel or in an actual time format where you had to wait? How would it work within this world? What lies beyond the clouds that cover the surface and the horizon that stretches forever. When he began the game, Sebastian never thought there was more out there and from other players he spoken to neither did they. Then a voice shattered his focus, bringing him back into reality where somehow he was now sitting at a table with a menu in front of him. "Sir? Yes? Sir?" a beautiful female player, obviously working as a waitress, stood in front of him smiling realizing she now had his attention "Yes, hello. Would you like to order?". Sebastian stared for a second before stuttering out "O-oh Y-yeah I'll have the uhh, some water and.." he fumbled for the menu he neglected to look at before allowing his eyes scanned it, everything was well over at least four hundred gold, how could anyone afford these prices when low level mobs drop no more than 30 gold? "I guess some grilled chicken with rice would be alright." She nodded and smiled before taking the menu and walking off.

As he waited Sebastian began to get caught up in yet another train of thought, something typical of him even in the real world, but not long enough to form much before something caught his attention. "Yeah I heard it too. There's something under the clouds. The guy really did it." His eyes glanced over to three overweight players who sat side by side clad in slightly heavy armor, they must've been here for a while to get gear that advanced. He couldn't tell what they had been talking about and began straining his ears to hear more, "This guy back in the beta, before death was a permanent thing. He leapt off Cloudhaven and fell straight into the clouds. When he respawned back at the cathedral he said there was these huge walls that were really dirty and old, like they had been there a while. He could see it stretched for miles in all directions but didn't have enough time falling to really see before you know, splat." The guy shoved more food in his mouth, spitting it across the table as he continued to talk "I hear he tried it three or four more times but still can't understand just what exactly is down there. And since no one has found a better way down, guess we'll never know." What did this mean, Sebastian rubbed his chin a bit as it wracked his brain before he saw the woman approaching. At the prospect of food all thoughts of what the men had said were wiped away at the prospect of food. She smiled before placing a large plate dominated by a thick piece of golden brown chicken placed atop a generous pile of rice. The meal smelled so good, without hesitation he began to attack the dish placed in front of him which horrified the waitress slightly, causing her to scrunch her face a bit and slip away. Whoever the chef they had must've had an advanced cooking skill to make something this he thought to himself as he devoured the succulent meat cheerfully.

Brombrent sat at the bar of the inn, a half drained glass of weak ale before him. The dismayed throngs of players behind disappeared into a dull droning. His entire focus was upon the man beside him.

"I swear," he repeated, flailing his arms about in an exagerated fashion. "Yesterday, we got down to the 5th level of the King's Dungeon. The toughest mobs we came up against were gobo slingers." The man paused to down the rest of his ale before resuming his tale, "we came into this room. It was dark; the walls were covered in strange glowing runes. In the centre was a chest, it was more like a stone box actually.

"One of my guys. H-he went over to the box, the next thin we know he's down. His health critical. This giant scorpion had appeared out of nowhere. We tried, man," his fists balled tightly into fists. We tried best. But we couldn't get to him in time! This was supposed to have been a game; a God damned game!"

Brombrent was quiet as his companion struggled to regain control of his emotions.

"It was all we could do to keep that monster at bay. We couldn't keep it up for much longer, we barely damaged that thing and it kept whittling our health away, I thought we were goners. We'd used most of our potions just to get that far! But then this woman appeared, she practically one-shotted that beast!" He ordered another drink.

"After the battle, she gave us a few potions to heal up. She said we were lucky she was there, that we had gotten ourselves into a pretty isolated part of the dungeon. She'd only known about it since she had been part of the beta. She also said that the stone box the monster was guarding contained a part of some key."

"Did she say what this key was for?" Brombrent finally spoke, his voice unlike what you'd have expected from him. Calm, cool and almost lyrical.

"No," The man sobbed.

"Did you get her name?"

At this point the man was only capable of shaking his head.

"Thank you for your time." Brombrent stood, swiping his had before him as if trying to bat away some imagined fly. A small pouch of coins appeared in his hand which he then placed on the counter in front of the man, before turning to leave the bar.

A key, hmm? Could that have anything to do with the land below? He didn't know, but he was determined to find out the secrets of this game they become ensnared within!

Bright morning sun pierced Brel's eyelids, forcing him to wake up. The shadow he was in completely disappeared once the sun hit the corner. It was the alley between the tavern and the blacksmith. It was dark at night, so Brel's passive was the perfect addition for a good night's sleep on the cold hard ground. His back hurt from the uncomfortable night, but who's to blame? He's the one who's trying to save money. His stomach gurgled as he stood up, rubbing his eyes, and strapping on the bandanna. He remembered the meal he had yesterday - a loaf of bread with some sauce that made it quite delicious. Still not enough to sustain. He was forced to go eat somewhere. But where?

Woah, turbulence?! He thought to himself, starting to shake. No, it wasn't turbulence. Although he wished it was. That would mean he's in a plane, and all of this would have just been a bad dream. Nope. It was cold. He was cold from the ground. He opened the HUD to press the inventory button, and equipped everything he had on him - the dagger, the armors, even put his gold pouch on his waist. Yeah, it was not all that safe, but he didn't care. There was no money in the pouch. None at all.

Town square. Brick pavement held his feet as he exited the alley. Being around people wasn't the best thing he liked to do, but also not the worst. The more people, the more pockets. No, Brel, no stealing today! He thought to himself, looking at all those pitiful people out there. Yes, this life was different than the real one, but here at least no one made fun of Brel's geekiness, no one laughed at him for doing something slowly. He wasn't even slow anymore. His body and mind were as fast as it gets. He liked the life here. Of course, the fear of death was always there.

Voices of sad and scared people were heard everywhere. It was chaos. He felt like he had to hide from all of that. The first building his eye caught was someone's house. Just a house of an NPC that apparently was a gardener. Loads of flowers caught his eyes when he entered the house to hide from the chaos. Some were herbs, some were just pretty. He recognized some of them though. Playing for four days, he had already paid a little bit attention to his professions, and studied some herbal plants. He'll need them for poison.

There was no one there. No one to be found in the house. [b]"Hello? Anyone?"[/b} Brel checked, just to make sure. No one was home. His Kleptomaniac instincts took control, and he started scanning the house for anything valuable. His eye caught a glimpse of something shiny. He approached the table where it was - a few gold coins scattered around a whole pouch of them. He snatched the pouch, switching it with his empty one, and walked away from the table. The sound of a door creeking echoed through the house. Buttnoodles! He thought to himself, looking where to hide quickly. He shoved his body behind a huge plant growing in the corner. It had loads of leaves and was bigger than Brel by a whole head. Hiding there, not moving a muscle, he watched a person walk in through the leaves. The man came in the house to pick a herb. He was in his mid fortys. He picked a few petals of the Boul Flower used in many poisons as one of the main ingredients, and left as soon as possible. He was in a hurry, probably going to make a deal.

Brel didn't wait for him to come back, left the house after a minute, and quickly turned towards the tavern to spend the money on some food and drinks...

Oh god...

A distressed though echoed in the mind of a relatively new player.

The damaged body struggled through the street, pushing past peoples shoulders and almost knocking down some people entirely.

The young man was holding his left hand over his right shoulder, he was almost limping but not quite so, his armor showed signs of battle and his face showed signs of fear.

Lance ran towards the inn he had recently been staying at, unlike most players so far he seemed to have found a relatively steady source of income. He did what his class what meant to do, he hunted. The wolves he found in the cave a decent ways off town gave an alright amount of gold and sell-able drops, but when Lance tried to go a bit deeper he didn't expect the spiders, they were big fast and worst off...poisonous. Lance didn't prepare for poison, he had almost died and burned through all his health potions. He burst his way through the doors, "H-help please?" he asked to anyone in general, maybe there was some sort of healer...or someone who was willing to sell him some health pots. That was slightly more likely, as money was rather sought after around here. "I...I'll pay for a heal of some sort..." he announced again, he wasn't sure his voice was actually loud enough to reach most people in the area but it was worth some shot...If he had to he could just sleep to gain a little health back, not that it would do much...

I really need to find some teammates...

This thought was true enough, He had relatively modest armor, his leather cuirass and boots didn't do much for defense. His undershoot and pants were really just to be decent and his boots had at least one hole each... Not to mention his monocle, all it really did was help him see a tad bit farther.

Probably someone here who can do me some good...

The thoughts of getting both medical help and partners was all that drifted through the boys head now. He didn't care to think about how much of his sub par gold supply he would have to part with just to stay alive right now. Times were tight...

That was something Lance wasn't so used to, sure his real family wasn't exactly rich, but they never struggled to get by. He always lived comfortably and now he had to risk his life just to earn a meal. What a twist...

The coals of the forge burned red hot emitting a glow over the face of Travis Ironhide. Sweat poured from his face and limbs as he struck at a blistering piece with a hammer, thinning and folding the hot metal. He continued this for a moment, before replacing his hammer into his inventory. After viewing it and ensuring that no cracks were present, Travis used the tongs to maintain a firm grip on the glowing armor. Quickly he turned and plunged it into a large trough a water. Steam hissed around him as the heat was transferred off of the nearly finished armor. Truth be told this armor wasn’t even for him, though he had his own set that was similar.

Upon finding that they were unable to log out, he had taken to building armor for other players. It made a little coin that everyone so desperately needed, and he requested that they supply the materials. Travis pulled the armor out of the water to add the finishing touches before turning it over to its rightful owner for payment. At first there had been a panic, but after a few days most things conceded. Most seemed to accept the life now, and some type of normalcy had resumed.

With a grin, he whispered the player who requested the armor. Shortly after his HUD flashed indicating that he received a trade request. Eagerly Travis accepted it and handed over the armor from his inventory in exchange for enough gold to get by another day. As if on cue his stomach gave a loud grumble. It was so surreal, all the urges of daily life had been implemented into this reality. He had been lucky so far thanks to his choice to build his character into a tank. As long as he didn’t get careless, he had hopes of surviving a long while. Another low grumble from his stomach jarred him from his thoughts.

Travis hastily selected the outfit feature, changing into his low grade bronze armor. The familiar weight of his shield and sword appeared. Once his equipment fully loaded, he started off across the plaza towards the inn. He was in desperate need for warm food and cold drink to replenish some energy. He neared the entry and pushed through the door to the tavern. After surveying the available seats, he found an open table close to the door.

A few moments later a waitress appeared at his side. “Hello sir, can I interest you in any food and drink?” she began politely, handing over a menu. Travis took a moment, his eyes briefly scanning the menu.

“Yes,” He responded in his deep voice. “I’ll have a pint of your mead, and a bowl of your beef stew.” The waitress smiled, nodding before reaching for his menu. He allowed it to go, his stomach growling again. “I’ll put your order in, your food should be out shortly.” She replied as she made her way back to the kitchens. As he waited for his food, another player burst through the door. If he had any type of healing he would have rushed to his side immediately. As it was however, he decided he would just get in the way. Travis looked around the bar for the familiar robes of a mage, a bit of an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Though the wound wasn't fatal, it seemed to be causing the player a great deal of pain.

"Oh... okay..."

A soft voice, barely above a whisper, answered the Innkeeper's reply of 'No vacancy'. The elvish mage's disappointment was very clear. In spite of her gently-pointed ears being incapable of movement, her large, soft eyes and expressive brows, along with her quiet voice gave all the tone needed. The NPC felt slightly bad for her, but couldn't really do anything.

Turning to go, Colleen was nearly ran into by a young man as he burst through the door of the Inn, calling for a healer and clutching his shoulder. She froze for a moment, one arm held up in front of her chest in defense.

"... Mister... I can help... I know healing... you don't need to pay me..." she said, touching his arm to make sure he noticed her. She was a very softspoken person, oftentimes going unnoticed. She'd been softspoken in real life, too. She missed it. Very much. She missed her dog, her house, her friends, her life. However, she had quietly adjusted, along with others trapped in this game. She'd heard of a land below, but found no interest in it... she did want to explore, but she was too frightened to leave the safety of the town. Her attacks were weak, and thanks to a kind gamer who'd been here longer, she'd survived her first and only attack. However, that person had moved on before she could get his name. She wondered if she'd find him again... oh well. Perhaps some day. But now, she had a patient to attend to.

She really did mean it, not needing to be paid. She'd never felt the need to withhold help from someone who desperately needed it over something like money. It was against what her soft-spoken parents had taught her, and against her own kindly, almost motherly nature.

As a man fully in a Jester's outfit awoke in a tavern, he saw, Good Morning in a bright light above him, allowing the man to fully wake up. After closing the HUD and standing up, "Thank you very much words," this man said with a mock bow and a grin as hetook a lute from his inventory and walked out of the room and out of the entrance of his inn to an already busy street. "Why can't anyone just invent the mobile phone again here, things would be much easier," Jester muttered to himself with a smile as he sat on the step of a house, playing the lute to attract some attention by NPCs. In times like this it was an advantage to look gender neutral, many men came over and gave rather large donations.

"Thank you all very much! Would anyone like to see some magic?"

The children in the immediate area widened their eyes and went over, followed by their parents. With this quite a crowd had gathered and this man said, "Witness the feats of Alex Clubs!" and leaned down to a young child with a smile on his face, as always. Having had all his skills set to vocal activation, Alex said, "Looks can be Deceiving," almost inaudibly, and his jester suit slowly morphed from a black and white costume to black and red, red being where the white was.

This caused quite an applaud from the children, however some of the men had now lost interest and were leaving. "Would anyone happen to have some money for a young jester?" Alex asked and a few gave some money, but most of this group had little money to spare. In fact one, the mother of the child Alex had leaned down to, said, "I'm sorry, we have barely enough money to survive," and Alex gave a smile. "Well, here's some," he said, handing a generous amount of the money earned to the NPC woman. Or possibly a player, it's hard to tell these days... "Thank you!" the woman exclaimed and Alex simply gave a chuckle as she walked away. After a short time the rest of the crowd left.

"Well well well, what do we have here?"

Alex gave a smile as he walked up to an inn to see an elfish looking girl and a guy in pretty bad shape. In fact, this inn was the one Alex had a room in. Pushing past the two softly, he said to the tavern owner, "I don't think I'll be needing this room anymore, if either of those two," and paused to gesture to the two behind him, before continuing "need a room, make sure they're first priority," with a laugh as he gave some more gold pieces to the tavern owner. Counting his total Alex had 5034gp. Not liking such an uneven number he gave the tavern owner an extra 34 gold pieces to have 5000. "Not bad Sa-Alex, not bad at all," Alex giggled to himself.

Lance jumped a bit when he felt a hand on his arm, he turned to see the rather meek looking girl who was approaching him. "U-Uhm, thank you...that would be great..." he was surprised anyone had offered help so quickly, maybe living in danger made him think the world was a bit more brutal then it actually was. People were still generally nice...right?

Lance would like to think so, or at least pretend to think so. Maybe if he believed, or pretended to believe, it would become reality...Non-reality reality.

"Uhm...one sec..." he said to the girl as looked around his HUB to find the option he was looking for. "Ah..there it is" he instinctively moved his to try and tap the option, only to remember that it actually didn't work like that, he slapped his hand back down and winced,

-1

Another measly health point dropped from his bar. That could have gone better...he sighed and opened up the option he had searched for. "Wait...um...what...what's your name?" Lance asked trying to force a smile to the girl. He was planning on opening a trade request to give her some gold, despite her saying she didn't want it.

He wasn't very well versed in this game thus far, he knew how to use most combat related stuff but it seemed the more technical attributes of the game were somewhat odd to him. Lance, or actually Louie, wasn't actually the biggest gamer in real life, he never really had much of it in his house and thus only played at his friends, just his luck that this game be his actual first...

He wasn't sure if that was actual luck or sarcastic luck, he would decided that later, or at least he decided now to decide that later, but subconsciously he decided to never decide anything on the matter and forget the train of though completely.

He was getting off track, "Uhm, I r-really appreciate the help" he said trying to find his place back in reality, Non-reality reality

Okay, so it's breakfast time, a large man thought to himself as he walked towards a fairly busy street, yawning and stretching. His belly, happy trail and all, showed as his tattered and dirty green shirt lifted up following his body. The arch in his back as he stretched caused the large blade on his back to stop the clinking sound it was making with his rather animalistic movements; something that came quite naturally to the broad shouldered, 6'4 titan. He lowered his arms after stretching, his hand mussing his red hair. He walked through an alleyway that he found cut the time it took to get to his favourite bar by a considerable amount, rather than going all the way down the street and following the footpath. He slipped his left hand into his pocket while his right hand hung loosely against the leather strap that held his sword in place, only hanging on thanks to his thumb. At the end of the alleyway he was welcomed with the sight of his favourite building in this game, as of yet; the bar. A small smile grew on his face as he continued towards the doors, noticing a few passersby looking at him and muttering with hands covering his mouth he became rather suspicious. A natural movement occurred within this moment of suspicion; his hand mindlessly moved down to the small satchel tied to his waist that held the money he would gather throughout his journey's. So far he had proudly collected 5,000 gold coins through his mercenary business alone - his jobs has varied from body guarding someone through a specific 'dangerous' area, or hunting down a beast that killed so and so's friend in cold murder.

His left hand touched the wooden doors of the bar, and for a mere second Jamie, the brains behind Lyndus, forgot that he was playing a video game. The wood just felt so real to the touch, and the creaking sound that followed the doors when they opened actually made him shiver, "That's going to take some time getting used to..." he mumbled as he walked through the doors, being welcomed by the mouth watering aromas of steaming hot food of all kinds. Without a seconds hesitation he made his way towards to bar. His ears picked up some of the chatter that went on within the bar; most of the conversations he heard were about how much people missed the real world and their families, and then the odd gathering of gamers muttered words about Lyndus himself - two men looked at him as he would walk by and gaze almost admiringly at him, "That's him. That's the one I was telling you about; he basically strutted through this cavern that was ridden with Gobs!" one of the men would say, trying to whisper to their friends' ear.
Lyndus lent up against the bar, holding his gloved hand up to catch the bar keeps attention, "Give us a nice ol' steaming jug of ale, eh?" He asked the woman, handing her a golden coin.

"Breckenridge. Colleen Breckenridge..." she replied, "And yours?"

She didn't wait. Colleen started the healing immediately, her eyes focused on the wound instead of Lance. Her brow furrowed gently, and her gently glowing hands extracting the poison, which glimmered a faint greenish-yellow hue. The feeling of the poison being siphoned out was strange. It wasn't painful by any means... just a little strange. Almost a ticklish sensation. The effects of the poison started to wear off as well, seeing as it was no longer in the other player's body. Colleen frowned at the poison and discarded it. Nasty stuff, poison. She typically didn't use it... she wished she had a vial to keep it in. Maybe she could've used it later. She then moved onto the actual wound itself, easily and quickly healing the puncture wounds.

"I couldn't restore much of your health points, but the poison's gone, so you won't loose any more because of that... I also may be able to fix your undershirt... I can't do anything about your armor, though. I'm no metalworker..." she said softly, her hands ceasing in their glow. She took a small step back, looking from Lance to Alex curiously. She herself had exactly 0 gold, being too frightened to leave town on her own and being currently incapable of real battling. She was currently focusing more on her healing abilities.

The nightmare began when she couldn't find the logout button. It was just a game, it was not real. However, that announcement changed everything. Some took it as a joke. After a day or two, nobody doubted it anymore. The first scene of death ensured everyone how serious the situation was. The first few days were chaos for her. Nowadays things had calmed down to some degree.

The name which she had in the real world had no meaning here. Her bright, floating HUD, visible only to players who opened it, showed the name she now bears in this world. Ein Shevalom. That was now her name. That was now her reality.
Sound of snapping branches turned her attention back to the field. Three men clad in heavy armors, clearly Warrior classes, were fighting a walking trunk. It was actually a monster, the enemy in this game, and a weak one as well. Ein was surprised at how strange the monsters’ shape could be, but now she had somehow gotten used to it. It was obvious that the victory belonged to the men. Not just outnumbered, but they were experienced enough to dodge the enemy’s futile attacks. The trunk was staggering at this point. One more attack would finish it.

Energy Ball

From her hiding spot, Ein launched the basic Mage class attack magic. She had timed the cast delay of the magic to strike the monster at its weakest state. Rather than the men’s, the monster’s kill now belonged to Ein instead. Quickly she scrambled out from the bushes, picking all items dropped by said monster. Wind element swirled around her armor, giving her enough movement speed to outrun the chasing men.

“That’s kill steal, you b*tch! I’ll cut you down!” their angry voice grew more distant as she put her entire strength to her feet. Another minute and she had lost them. It was the city wall already. She dropped down into the ground panting, trying to catch her breath. The fatigue was real. Even if she knew that this is merely a game, her brain refused to do so.

She opened the HUD again. The monster’s loots were obscure materials players usually sold to NPC for a few coins. To her job, Chef, they were necessary for cooking. Added by water she could gain for free from the city fountain, she ended up making soup item. That was how she survived with virtually no money. It wouldn't do to keep on doing it, though. Kill-stealing in game was frowned upon, even she knew that. Yet she had no choice, as her class had little to none attacking power.

The soup brought warmth to her body. It was false warmth, but enough to satisfy her for now.

Lance was about to answer her question when she began to healing him. The sensation of the poison leaving his arm felt weird, he would never be able to get used to it...he jumped again and winced.

"Uhm, I-It's Lo-...it's Lance"

He was glad that he made his in game name close to his real life name, it made it only slightly less alien, unlike some others who had a completely new name.

"I appreciate the help..." he fumbled around for his option in the HUB again, now that he knew her name he could send her the trade request. "I would feel a lit better if you let me repay you in some way..." he said as he sent the actual request. Lance had accumulated roughly 1200 gold, he didn't know how much exactly to give her, maybe he could just pay for a room for her to stay in and a meal for her to eat...He still needed money to pay for health potions and armor repair...as well as some more ammo to actually make more money later...Not to mention his own room and food...He would need to keep hunting, Lance didn't like that idea.

Maybe...

"Uhm... if you would rather, we can help each other make more money instead..."

He wasn't good at this.

"You don't have too many offensive capabilities do you..." he said under his breath. Maybe if they worked together they could actually make some gold and survive to use it.
His offensive abilities and her survival abilities they could make a more effective duo...not that he was sure she wanted to do any monster fighting. It was sort of stupid when you thought about it. In real life people didn't go out and try to punch wolves to death...something Lance had to do once, not a fun day, in fact, he ended in a similar situation back then as well...Perhaps asking for help was actually the smart thing to do.

The light filtering through the trees above nudged Hannah into consciousness. As she opened her eyes she was greeted by her HOD's obnoxious flashing light. She ignored the Good Morning! message that had been there every morning since the Log-out Failure. Damn good morning, indeed. She thought bitterly to herself. She sat up and instantly felt the soreness of her muscles screaming at her. The pains of running mile after mile for the last couple days. If she had known that her avatar would be a permanent installation she would have chosen something more profitable, like a Warrior or, hell, even a Mage found better work. As it was, she had next to nothing in gold. Being a messenger wasn't exactly an extremely profitable field, especially with coin as tight as it was between players at the moment. What she did earn she spent entirely on carbo-loading. Catch 22.

She looked down at the ground twenty feet below in surprise. She had almost forgotten she'd been sleeping in trees. The first night of the Log-out Failure had been the worst, the most dangerous. Everyone had been running around with no where to go. Hardly any gold lining anyone's pockets. The players that could afford it rushed at taverns and inns, those that couldn't found refuge in alleys or just out in the streets. She had recently heard rumor of a shanty town on the outskirts of Cloudhaven but she didn't want to risk venturing towards that area. The mugging and killing happened almost immediately afterwards. The players were poor, starving. They killed to steal so they could survive. She could understand the appeal but despite that being utterly against her moral code, her character mod wasn't quite fit for assassinations, nor defending herself from one for that matter. No, she found sleeping in trees the safest alternative provided her. She was out of the way from the majority of crime, though she heard tell that most of that was beginning to subside, plus she was hidden behind the leaves. Even someone looking for her would find it a challenge.

Hannah made her way down the tree, swinging from branch to branch before dropping the last ten feet to the ground. She was surprised by how easy it felt to descend from a tree and laughed at herself.
"Damn, Hannah. Look at you all fit and shit!" her HOD flIckered in her face in response. Her character name flashing on the blue screen. TANIKA REDBLOOD
"Ah," she said aloud "that's right. Tanika." she frowned, her old life was gone.
She took a moment to stretch before jogging into town in search of work.

Brel stood there confused. His social skills weren't the best as a real life geek, so he didn't know what to expect from this place. A huge room full of wooden tables and chairs that were occupied by various people. They were each different in their own way. Some were wearing armor, others - dresses. Some had swords on their backs, bows, others - staves and wands. The diversity here was visible greatly. But who's to blame? I mean, the game DOES let you shape your character whatever way you like. You can make a bull**** character that deals no damage at all, and just make money for all the GM cares. But that wouldn't do any good.

Brel turned right, slowly walking to the corner to engulf himself in shadows. That was the only place he'd feel safe. Hence the people inside, he still felt danger all around him. It was probably the paranoia. But no one can be too careful. Hooking off the pouch of gold from his waist he wanted to count the amount of money he had stolen from the poor guy that is probably now looking for it. "Three hundred and eighty six, three hundred and eity seven... Two thousand, three hundred and eighty seven gold. That's not bad." He whispered to himself, hooking the pouch back on. He watched the action in the tavern. A jester doing magic tricks, a healer helping a wounded, they were all doing their own thing. And what was Brel doing? He was loitering in the corner with his own thoughts about how he actually likes this better than the real world. If only death wasn't a permanent thing.

He would sit down near a table, but there was no space. The inn or tavern, or however you want to call it, was crowded. It was the place closest to what people could call home, but just that it wasn't theirs. Brel would like to have a house one day. A big house somewhere by a river, or a lake, but that would probably cost a fortune.
Enough of these thoughts. Time to go do something productive. He thought to himself, bouncing off the wooden wall. His breath intensified for a split second, but it wasn't noticable because the bandana was covering his mouth. He looked like some sort of thug wanting to kill someone. If not for the blue hair, he'd be even more like a thug.

"Yo, I'm looking for a party to go hunting some monsters. Anyone willing to do so?" He yelled to the crowded inn. He knew he was going to get some bad responses due to people's fears, but he hoped that at least one person will mind his announcement.

Smiling at the two behind him, Alex gave a smile at a voice declaring about a party, and walked over to the dangerous looking fellow and said, "You said something about hunting down some monsters? I'm not really a DPS sorta class, but I'd be willing to offer my assistance however I can," with a laugh, wondering how this man will respond to a jester of all things offering to assist in slaying monsters. Then again, few know that Jesters have skills based around entertainment and not battle, Alex has never seen anyone else with the play style required to become a Jester. With that thought Alex remembered when he officially changed class to a Jester.

"Hello Mister Wolf!," Alex said to a wolf and casted a fireball next to it, setting the grass field alight. The lone wolf ran in the other direction, and Alex yelled, "Come back Mister Wolf!!!" and ran after the wolf with a smile. The wolf turned and some more wolves came around it. "Uh-oh!" Alex said with a laugh and casted another fireball, this time in the air perfectly straight up. "Wheeeeeeeeee....." Alex said as the wolves ran towards him, and Alex jumped out of the way as the wolves pounced, the fireball coming back and hitting one, doing damage to it. The wolf, the original one Alex was following, was already at low health and died. As the other wolves fleed Alex collected some gold and a wooden stake from the wolf. "Wooden stakes are for vampires, not werewolves silly," Alex said with a childish giggle and suddenly a voice said "Play style confirmed," Alex ignored it, and when he awoke the next morning he was in the costume of a court fool.

Emerging from the memory, Alex shook his head lightly and gave a small smile, then glanced at the other two who Alex was right next to earlier. "Excuse me Masochist Man and Shy Lady? Me and Scary Man are going to kill ourselves some monsters and get some shiny gold, do you want to come?" Alex asked with a smile, seemingly oblivious to the fact he had, although weakly, insulted the two men.

As Brombrent approached the inn's doors, they burst open. He only just dodged out the way as a player flew through.

"Jackass," Brom hissed, not staying long enough to hear any sort of justification.

Outside, it was chilly, a cool morning breeze sweeping over him, forcing him to pull his tatty coat tighter. If he was going to be stuck here much longer, which in all likelihood looked to be certain, he needed to start getting better equipment. Well, he could kill two birds with one stone. With renewed purpose, he set off along the cobbled street to his destination.

The orange hued fingers of the early morning sun stretched their way out over the buildings and alleyways, chasing away the cold grip of darkness. By the time Brom reached the city's message board, A place where NPCs and players could post requests and general messages.

He looked up his earlier message requesting information about strange events after after the incident. He found a few replies, and copied them over to his journal to browse through later. He has more pressing concerns at the moment; he certainly couldn't find the answers he sought if he were dead!

He tapped another scrap of paper pinned to the board, a text box appearing before him. Someone wanted 100 matted furs to begin making basic clothing for all the stranded players, a cord that resonated with him. People are going to start dieing of exposure soon if they couldn't get warmer clothing for the bitter nights, not everyone could afford rooms at the inn let-alone there being enough for them all.

He copied the request to his quest-log, luckily he knew of a great place to find this stuff. The forest nearby that held mutant squirrels, they were low level but often dropped stuff like this. He copied a few more requests, mostly about collecting herbs, before setting off.

"Well, a distraction is also one of the better tactics to winning a fight." Breljorn muttered through the bandana covering his mouth as he slowly spied on the person standing in front of him. He looked like a clown from one of those action movies. Like the villain. Brel didn't remember the movie, nor the person, but he was sure this guy reminded him of that person.

The clown didn't wait for an answer as he went to gather even more people to the party. Breljorn was sceptic about a full party hunting, as it would be a problem if four people attacked one small rat. Unless, they killed each their own mosters. "Are you sure picking them up is a good idea? We don't know them. They could kill us for all we know. YOU could kill me for all I know." Brel whispered the clown in the ear, hoping to get his attention. He seemed slightly childish for an MMO player, but hey, this is real life now.

Alex gave a smile at the people he planned on gathering. A jester and some sort of healer as support, and a gunman with a rogue for DPS and loot collection. A jester used to distract any enemies and possibly redirect sentient enemies, a healer to tend to wounds by the two on the front lines, a gunman to take out large groups of enemies and a rogue to do some up close damage and possibly collect bonus loot.

Alex gave a smile as he spun around comically to the thief, and shook his head like a teacher trying to get a point across to a student. "Me? Kill you? You just maimed my womanly feelings..." Alex said with a fake hurt face, wondering how this comment combined with his gender ambiguous appearance could affect the dangerous looking fellow. After a pause with a sigh, Alex continued, "Well, who would want to kill little ol' me? Anyway, life is a game, even moreso these days, we have to take risks to win big, this place is way more fun though," with a short laugh.

Sebastian leaned back in his chair and exhaled heavily as he stared down at the now empty plate sitting before him. A quick scan of the area reminded him just how many players there now were within the room, it would be a perfect time to check out some players for a potential guild or maybe even find one to join himself, however the thought of someone else bossing him around didn't sound very interesting. Sliding back from his chair he quickly realized he neglected to pay, a wide smirk stretched across his face slowly. Why pay for a free meal? he figured as he calmly began walking towards the exit chuckling to himself at how easily he'd get away with this. After all she didn't know his user and what would they do? Call the police? Within a day Sebastian could have a new change of clothes and just look like any of the other players. While thinking about how fantastically slick he was, Sebastian neglected to see the man dressed as a silly Jester in front of him causing them to collide with Sebastian bouncing off and into a nearby table, sending everything onto the floor.

Then, as if by fate, Sebastian and the waitress locked eyes from across the room who's attention was caught by the sound, both knew what the other was thinking - just how much of a scumbag Sebastian was. Somehow the woman knew what he was up to, her eyes got wide and burned with fury before her voice boomed and silenced the entire room. "HEY! You scumbag you better pay for that!" But already knee deep in this Sebastian's mind told him to run, and so he did while shouting a variety of apologies behind him directed at the Jester "Sorry Miss! I didn't see you there!" As he wedged through the crowd that stood outside the door, he managed to slip free and began to break into an full sprint laughing confidently, the woman behind him however didn't find it very funny and shouted something which sounded rather threatening and demanding.

Looking over his shoulder curious with what she said he witnessed the Chef come charging through anyone near the door and began chasing after Sebastian much faster than the woman, a massive sword that appeared similar to a chef knife in hand. He began pumping his arms harder seeing the Chef close in on him, before suddenly a bright blue bolt smack into a nearby stall causing it to erupt in flames before a second one collided with the ground near his feet. The waitress was casting some kind of explosive mage skill at him in an attempt to stop or possibly kill him. Seeing the chase, a player leapt out at him trying to bring him to the ground easily being shaken off but slowing him enough for the Chef to gain some ground.

Quickly Sebastian jumped down a small alley, leaping over a sleeping player before cutting and turning again, effectively breaking vision with the Chef who soon gave up chase. Breathing heavily, Sebastian now found himself standing in the flower covered field directly outside of the massive grey stone wall that protected the city with one thought in mind, I'm gonna have to find a new place to sleep tonight, they definitely won't want me back. Which was then, Sebastian decided he was going to find a way off this island. There was definitely more to this game and he knew it, there had to be a way to leave. That's when it hit him, that Jester was saying something before they collided which now echoed in his mind "We have to take risks to win big" and suddenly Sebastian figured out a plan to get off this island, all he needed was a group.

"I guess you're right." Breljorn muttered to the Jester. He didn't quite understand if it was a man or a woman, but either way, it was still good to talk to someone after all this time alone, stealing from those who had made some coin. He had slowly begun questioning his Job choices. He concentrated towards gaining an advantage in assassination, but forgot that money making is still a thing in this game. Shoving his blue hair aside from his eyes, he looked at the two standing near them. "So you guys in?"

Just as Brel said those words, a middle aged man barged in through the door with two guards beside him. Armored fellas had an angry look on their faces as they scouted the inn for someone. They seemed to be looking for a person thinking they're above the law. The man in the middle of two guards looked familiar. Brel was sure he had seen him somewhere, but couldn't really remember where. "There's the guy! He stole the gold!" The old man shouted through the room for everyone to hear, pointing right at Brel. He had that scared,but also vengeful look in his eyes. Brel felt like this was about to go down. He didn't feel like fighting, nor he wanted to give back the gold and spend a month in a dungeon somewhere. The men carrying huge lances and wearing silver white armor rushed towards Brel in hopes to capture him for his deeds. It wasn't like he killed someone... Oh wait, PVP's actually a thing here, unlike reality. With a clinging sound of their armors hitting each part, and the ground, they ran towards Brel. "Sorry, clown, gotta run!" He rushed his voice as he turned back to run to the back of the house, and down into the cellar hopefully. He quickly shuffled his feet, sprinting towards the staircase that lead to the cellar. Too bad it was behind the counter where the man stood, and apparently, he was not on of those "I don't want to put my nose where it doesn't belong" type of people.

"Great. Few days have passed, and I'm already in trouble. This is getting interesting!"

He leapt over the counter, launching himself off of it with his arms, and knocked over the innkeeper that was trying to block his way. Vaulting over the counter he knocked him over with his body, and they both splat onto the ground, knocking the wine rack over, and spilling all sorts of wine on the ground. "Sorry!" Brel yelled, standing back up and continuing to run. Now he was certain that he's not welcome in this town any more, and had to run away as quickly as he possibly could. He literally sled down the stairs into the cellar, and found himself in a pitch black room with a dim source of light from one tiny torch. Wine shelves and food stocks had been piled up in there for weeks, ready to be sold. Brel hid behind one of those huge wine kegs, using his passive skill to hide completely. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." He cried in his mind, hoping he won't get caught. Although, at the same time, he was very excited to finally have some action. He heard the guards get down to the attic, looking for him. Though as much as they looked around, Brel's passive skill hid him perfectly. At one point, one of the guards were looking directly at him, but failed to detect his presence.

When they passed further into the cellar, Brel had a brilliant idea. His body started growing hair, and changing form, quickly forming one of a fox. Bright brown fur covered the four legged beast's body, with a little white tip on the end of it's tail. Claws and fangs had formed a little bit stronger than one of a normal fox', but they were not of use at this current situation. His paws gripped into the cold hard-wood floor, and launched him in the distance, making him shine like a street lamp for a split second, before he rushed up the stairs in the form of a fox. Leaping over the counter again, he was quick and small enough to avoid anyone trying to catch him, and he boosted through the open door of the inn into the town square, full of people. "Great, what now?