Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)

The old man had said the magic words. Stat boost. Figurative words, at least. He was probably putting words in the NPC's mouth. But the intent was there. The mention of a discount was even better, though they'd probably have to coordinate it. Though...it would probably do to preview the goods first. Maybe if there was some kind of shop interface? As good as the deal sounded, he didn't want to lose all his silver buying the talisman for the wrong stat.

"So...old man? Can we see merchandise before we buy, please? I want to verify you are as good as you claim, yes?" Amulak continued in a jovial tone, before murmuring aside to the rest of the group. "Has anyone worked out how shop interface works? Or equipment preview? I want to make sure annoying shit from earlier wasn't trolling us."

---

Lew tried his very best not to tremble as he got closer to the smith, astonished by the many small but important details this NPC had. As she enlightened him on the currency of this region in the world, he couldn't help but be further impressed regarding the nature of this game's depth. It indeed seemed like a fair bit of information Lew would have to share with his companions once they congregate again. At the same time, it seemed that there was another roadblock he'd have to jump before he could experience the rest of the world. As much as a game with proper depth like this was endearing, it also meant there were more hoops to jump through in order to actually have fun.

After a moment of consideration in regards to the potential etiquettes of these lands and how to excuse himself, Lew's train of thought was once more interrupted by the smith's offer to accept his coinage. He couldn't help but produce a slight smile, happy that he would be able to accomplish this goal quickly.

"I thank you kindly for your assistance." Lew said with a rather generic bow, unaware of Horogi's customs, before making his way towards the directed table. With a vast assortment of armaments to choose from, Lew quickly considered his options. A spear was Lew's ideal choice of weapon due to its low skill floor and simplistic design. At the same time, as Lew considered his progression choices once more, he began to think just what it would take to actually earn recognition from a clan before he could become a Samurai. Based off of common tropes in Eastern media, it's likely his skills with a sword would be scrutinized, and since he has both no previous skill with such weapon or any natural Dexterity to make it up, it's more than likely that choosing a blade now would be in his best interest in order to attain enough experience to wield one with some proficiency. It was with this rationale that Lew had made his decision, reaching towards the weapons and making his pick...

A pair of swords, one katana and one wakizashi. Lew made these choices with his rudimentary knowledge of Eastern traditions in mind based off of a few somewhat historical anime he has seen in the past, and a few other things he has read in passing while surfing the web in the past. Something about Samurai carrying two swords, both as a symbol of status and as some sort of etiquette. In Lew's case, he had also based his decision on scenarios in which he would not be able to use his longer blade, such as in very narrow environments. It also seemed sensible to grab two weapons in the case of his allies, of whom would likely spend their funds buying talismans instead of equipment. Allowing them to borrow one of his swords until they could scrounge up their own equipment was ideal, after all.

After tying his sheathed swords to his belt, Lew once again turned to the ogre with another bow, completing their transaction before turning to the direction of the door. Lew took one deep breath as a means of having another sensation to call back to this chance meeting before walking off. Hopefully, he would return to this very same place to conduct business more properly with Horogi's official currency. Yes, totally for that reason, and not for anything else.

Believing that he had more time to make a slight detour, Lew had began to trace his steps from the smithy to the keystone in the center of town. There were some things that he needed to clarify before he ventured off into the wilderness with his allies, and it was likely they would take their time in retrieving their talismans as well. And if he did keep his friends waiting a while longer, it would have at least been for a good cause. The sooner he was able to understand what he could contribute to the party, the better he would be able to help protect his friends. As he made his way back to the Keystone, he placed his hand on it once more, before uttering his query.

"'Samurai' class: specifics, description."

aмeℓιa

^{___________________ Class: Warrior Funds: 0}
Walking through the city was fun. It was warm and lively, and even if it was cramped it was new - it reminded Ames of a big city. Suddenly, she thought to herself how dumb that would have sounded if she'd expressed herself aloud. Nyu-Taro was a big city. Anytime a particularly large person or animal pushed past, the red head grinned. When tiny but inhumanly strong people she presumed were other players easily parted the crowed, she laughed. When the swell of bodies pushed their group out of the congested road and into a more open area, the newly classed warrior did a quick head count. No one was missing, thankfully.

Not only had they managed to stay together, but it seems they found their target too. Ames momentarily bristled when the old man grabbed Ari, but Raime and Amulak were there questioning him, and Ari herself didn't seem too disturbed. While they did their thing, Ames nudged Calace with her shoulder.

 "Don't worry, we'll get everyone going in the class they want to be in soon," she reassured the woman.  "Get these talismans, meet up with Lew, beat each other up a bit..." at this, Ames waggled her brows at Mags who'd tagged along with only minimal complaints.  "...get Kriz up to speed and be on our way! ...oh yeah, Kriz!"

The head spinning walk to the tea shop nearly made Ames forget about the friend they left back at the Keystone. The red head pushed past the group in front of the talisman maker, ignoring the questions they had for the old man and for each other. She knelt down and dropped all of the silver she had into the man's hat, a total of fourty, and smiled at the artisan.

 "Two please!"

The man raised his hand to his mouth and gratefully produced a couple of talismans. Ames took them with a nod and stood up.  "I'm gonna take one back to Kriz, I'll see you guys at the gate we were gonna meet Lew at," she announced, before diving back into the throng of people and letting them sweep her along back in the direction of the Keystone at the city's center.

---

Klein mulls over the character models, busying with customizing the physique of what will become his "second life", as the game would say. Despite going over multiple guides, VODs, walkthroughs and ICGN's "5 things you should know before buying" series, none of those had proved to be specifically helpful in customizing your character's gender. Most of the time, he would play as a female just for how good the models are. Jiggling physics. The apparels. The decorations. The mods. Especially the mods.

There was never a competition where the male model would win, except when it is a male protagonist oriented gameplay.

And yet, here he is, spending two hours of his life creating his avatar. On one side stood his fantasy. His drive. His dream for his future companion. A fantasy girlfriend, whose voice so soft it might have been a spring breeze, a pleasant voice to all that heard her words. And yet, she was muscular, capable of fending for her own. She wouldn't mind sleeping in the open field beneath a starry night, surrounded by the carcasses of predators who had mistaken her as their prey. Or, she wouldn't be stranger to a bar brawl or the liberator of some handsome princes. And she is right here. Klein could have played her. She is him. He can be her.

But on the other hand, stood a man, who is nothing but everything that reeks of hypermasculinity. He has glaring eyes, a wide jaw, shoulders of a bear, and the back of a tiger. His back etches with scars, trophies of some great achievement that he had accomplished in the past. But he won't remember all of them, because a real man doesn't need to remember his own achievement. Others do it for him. He is even bald. Like a better version of 007 and Terminators. No, like Hulk smashed with 007 and Terminator.

---

Are you sure you want to quit?

• Yes
• No

---

A screen popped up, reminding Klein how long had it been since his last interaction. And, With a regretful sigh, Klein gives in to the screaming masculinity that had been discriminated against and oppressed for too long, choosing the male avatar over female and hopped into the game. But it was not before he took a selfie of himself as a female.

Then, everything else was kinda simple. He had a very clear path for his character, opting for a more brute force and direct confrontation rather than waving wands and chanting spells like a bunch of priests. The pain setting raised to 40%, a valuable lesson he learned over battle royal games and FPS. He changed the combat from Stylish to Defense Automated, hoping that would give himself some time to master the manual combat.

And everything was done.

After being spawned, Klein just followed the guide.



He slapped rock, picked up the coins and the pouch from the floor, inserting his class search, and started heading west to beat up some frogmen. But a player that lied restless near the Keystones caught his attention, who seems very close to death's door despite no hostile NPC in sight.

Uh, hi? Mind if I asked what happened here?"

Klein asked, pointing to the players who seem to be out of breath.

The first thing that Raymond noticed about Mei Rei Tan was how extraordinarily quiet the tea shop became once he closed the door behind him. There were talismans glued on them, red paper with gold-infused ink, and he could feel an almost imperceptible hum emanating from them. Soundproofing? Quite possibly. The rest of the tea shop seemed to follow that silent atmosphere. Most people sat alone at tables, relaxing and sipping at hot and cold brews or sampling flour-based desserts. It certainly looked like a tea shop for recluses to escape from the hubbud of the outdoors with, and the owner looked to reflect that. With waist-length hair pulled back tight against his skull and braided neatly, the middle-aged man wore silken robes and sported a clean-shaven face. He raised a brow at Raymond's question, almost bemused that the Immortal was treating his establishment as one of those western speakeasies.

"Your order will be coming right up, sir."

Moments later, far too fast for the normal process of tea-making to occur, a mug of fragrant tea was placed at Raymond's table. Gold leaf lined the hairline fractures in the mug, while the murky green tea was offset by a single flower petal floating atop. The shopowner smiled, and said, in a hushed but not secretive tone, "Fa Trung thinks of himself as an entrepreneur, but blames misfortune rather than inability and slothfulness. He was never famous, sir, only unlucky enough to be misled by short-term success. Now, please, enjoy."
_@Searat

---

"Misfortune?" The old man echoed, a glimmer of true hope in his eyes as he looked up towards Ari. "Yes, misfortune most foul, most cruel! Oh, those dastards of the Tsi-Lei Gang, lying about their loans so they could steal everything from me the moment my profits dipped just a little!"

He covered his face with his hands, letting out a choking sob. "If only I could buy it back, the deed to the building that my family had owned for generations...oh, if only..." Even as he suffered from those recalled memories though, the old man continued to magically produce talismans, handing them over to the always heroic, always active Ames. Amulak, seeing this quick exchange, could confirm that there wasn't any shopping interface at all. If he so chose, perhaps it wouldn't be so hard to just steal back his twenty silver after the old man handed over the talisman...

If Amulak were to interact with one of the talismans, however, he would see the curious talisman's stats.

Fa Trung’s Talisman
+5 STR, AGI, END, DEX, LCK
???

The item's effects, though part of it appeared indecipherable, certainly appeared to fit the bill, and if he were to then press it somewhere on his body, the dark and mysterious man would feel lighter all of a sudden. Twice as light even, and able to move just like how he would move in reality: unbothered by gravity.
_{@GreenGoat@Psyker Landshark@Haha@OwO}

---

It wasn't so exhausting, just lying there. At least, now that he was upright and gravity's weight was pressing on his head rather than directly on his chest, Krizantemë could breathe decently and just watch the world around him go. Players, in their eccentric, min-maxed outfits that looked absolutely hilarious when rendered in the vibrant realism of the Fantastic perception setting, talked about all sorts of stuff, most of it passing right over the lilac-haired youth's head. Shipments of live cargo to Mora-Sho paying well. Recent surges in higher level monsters over at the Goldspun Fields, with rumors of a Goblin King in the making. Some wannabe-paladin assholes camping the Blasphemed Tunnels and jumping newbies. Feet pics of the Flamebringer Princess going for 50k rishi a pop over at the Floating District.

Fun to listen to, but it only reminded him more of how he was stuck here, waiting for friends that may very well just be drawn away by those hella interesting things and forget about him.

Time passed on. People came and went, some of them glancing at Krizantemë, while others didn't even acknowledge his presence. The shadows grew longer, the night fell...wait, no, that wasn't the night. That was just someone's shadow! Craning his neck up, Krizantemë would see an absolute mountain of a man, every inch of his body practically oozing the sort of hypermasculinity one would expect out of misogynist American cartoons. Amulak may have gone for the creepy-hot look, but this beastly beefcake looked as if someone swerved so hard into the barbarian badass archetype that he came out of it looking like a two-bit gritty-medieval-fantasy Netflix villain!

And it was at this exact moment that both Ames and Lugh circled around the Keystone to see Krizantemë, currently being 'oppressed' by a very big man with a very broken nose.



_{@Cu Chulainn@Versa@Shovel@Yankee}

With a heart slap on the backs of Amulak and Calace, Mags decided it was her time to leave. "Gonna go stir up some shit. Don't wait up." She told the rest of them as she left. The babies just needed to hand over their silver and they'd become full fledged toddlers. Actually, their stats might have become better than her own once they got those talismans. Depended how hard they minmaxed, really. In any case, she was already out the metaphorical door and heading back to where the others went.

In her utter bloodlust for a fight, seeing a member of their little B-Team being harassed by some freak ugly giant gave her great excuse to start a fight. She'd have to approach the scenario as carefully as she could. The perfect plan to start a fight was in her mind. After a brief circling of the area to find the perfect angle, she charged in to protect Krizantemë. Though, protect was the wrong term. No, she was involving everyone she could.

Rather than being a normal person and asking who this giant was, perhaps even placing herself between the weak wittle baby and the massive giant, Mags broke into a full sprint directly behind Ames. With the mighty yell of "Go get 'em!" as her battle cry, she delivered a dropkick into Ames' back in an effort to send her forward. If everything went to plan, Ames would be sent into the giant who'd get angery and start a big ol' brawl. Then, she could use her new character sandals as an improvised weapon for five attacks so she could unlock the brawler class. Actually, was la chancla an improvised weapon? She was certain they were banned by some sort of convention...

In any case, that was if it hit. If Ames happened to bend over at the exact same time or take a hard turn for some reason, Mags would basically slam her tailbone onto the ground and her attempt to "protect" the child would have basically amounted into her breakin' her ass.

---

What sympathy he felt for the old man diminished as the NPC who owned the tea shop told him in a hushed tone that it was Fa Trung's own fault and ineptitude that caused his own fall. "And here I was, feeling bad for the old fool." Raime says as he takes a sip from the tea he ordered. He let out a content sigh as the flavors spread over his tongue. The bittersweet flavor he expected mixed with a surprisingly subtle hint of a floral taste he would have missed if he were not savoring the drink. Even if this was just a game, this tea tasted far better than the tea he buys from the grocers.

The exceptionally made tea and the calm and silent atmosphere of the shop was just perfect.

The NPC just may have netted another regular.

"Superb. My compliments to the tea master." Raime compliments the drink and the maker and proceeds to enjoy the tea. A few more moments pass before he decides that it was enough time for his friends and party mates to acquire the talismans. "I'd hate to leave but I suppose my friends have done their business by now. How much silver do I owe you?" Raime asks the NPC.

---

---

---

So the Samurai was a mix of battlefield controller and duelist, then... Interesting, but not exactly what Lew was hoping for. While the suggestion of self-sufficiency was there, Lew hardly felt like he would be too interested in some of the class's other benefits. As a matter of fact, the more Lew thought about what it would take to be a samurai, the more implausible it seemed. One of the class's requirements was to impress a Clan Leader, a seemingly impossible task for Lew, whose real life Charisma stat likely ranked at a solid -10. It was then and there that Lew realized playing a straight tank would not truly sate his interests. Perhaps he should seek out a more straightforward "swordsman" type class.

Not too long after did Lew notice Kriz seemingly being harassed by... Some sort of giant? Another Ogre, perhaps? No, NPCs wouldn't likely stir trouble with newer players, especially in a starting hub town like this. This has to be a player, and one that likely took full advantage of the character creation system. Before Lew could speak up to deal with the issue, he noticed Ames making his way back, followed by the rambunctious stomping of a certain shitposter. It seems that those two'll handle the situation better than Lew ever would.

Wait. Is Mags seriously... ?!

Lew made a dash for the clusterfuck-to-be, realizing that Kriz has a very real chance of being absolutely crushed if cause and effect ended up happening like Lew had assumed. Intercepting himself between the pseudo-Ogre and his limp companion, Lew positioned himself in a matter where his back would cause the giant to slope off should Ames stumble into the giant in a matter that would topple him on top of Kriz. At the same time, Lew raised his shoulder up to absorb most of the shock of this giant crashing into him, trusting in his absurd Endurance to muscle through.

aмeℓιa

^{__________________________________}
It was pretty fortunate that the way back to the city's center was basically a straight line, minus the crowd weaving... which Ames still thought was fun. When people pushed you along it was like a really slow roller coaster, but you used your legs instead of riding in a cart. Once the mass of bodies spit Ames out into a more open area, it was easy to spot the giant stone and make her way over to it. It hadn't been that long, right? So Krizantemë should still be right where they left him, leaning against the Keystone...

And so he was. With a new gigantic bald friend? That was nice. At least she hoped it was a friend and not like... a mugger. Kriz had given his silver to her, so at least he wouldn't get taken if that was the case, but still! Bullying newbies was low. Looks like they're just talking anyway. No worries - hey, is that Lew?

Ames tilted her head curiously, speeding up a bit when she realized that Lew was getting between the giant man and their friend. So he really was a mugger?! "Hey! He--"

Her words were abruptly cut off by a pained exhale as all the air left her body and she was sent flying forward. Poor Ames hadn't heard Mags coming up behind her until the battle starved girl had given her order and violently connected her feet with Ames' back. Amelia had been kicked and dropped before, but not drop-kicked - it hurt! If Ames' pain setting wasn't brought down so much it would have been a lot more painful, as it was the thing that hurt the most was the sharp sting of betrayal-- Okay I'm being dramatic now.

Ames slammed straight into the large man, bouncing off of the guy after the impact and hitting the ground with a thud. "What the hell Mags!" the red head grumbled from where she laid on the bricks. That chick was way too impatient! Ames rubbed the spot where her face had smashed into the man's chiseled muscle before pushing herself up onto her elbows, torn between scowling at the man she'd been pushed into, or the girl that had done the pushing.

Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

Ari licked her lips. So an unjust acquisition of property due to obligate obscure clauses in an agreement. The first step to justice then.

"Eh~ So they took the deed huh? Where do these Tei Lai gang live and how does the deed look like? And how much did you owe them for them to take the deed?"

These people were just NPCs after all, and there was something to be said about standing up for justice. Already she had an uncharacteristic mischievous look on her face, though whether that was because of her current choice of avatar or her actual feelings was unclear to all but her. A little detour wouldn't hurt. After all, everyone seems to have gotten what they needed from the man.

Amulak al Acturus (Stanislaw)

Amulak's eyes passed over the exchange between Ames and the old man, his gaze narrowing as he inspected the amulet that passed into her hands. +5 to stats with a ??? effect added, huh? Well, well, well. Seemed it wasn't a scam after all. Well, maybe. That mystery effect was concerning. But not concerning enough for him to pass up the chance to fucking breathe normally again.

"Amulak take one, then. Thank you for business." He said, handing over the requisite twenty silver and immediately equipping the amulet onto his person as soon as he received it. All of a sudden, the exhausted feeling he had finally dissipated, allowing him to feel like a real human again.

"Ah...much better. Breathe properly now without looking like idiot." He sighed in relief. The dark-haired man glanced over at the absolutely massive gigachad that had just showed up next to them before shrugging. "Eh. We fuck up character creation. Minmax too hard. Buy amulet to fix stats for now, yeah?

Amulak paused at that, glancing around. Hmm...weren't they missing one? Stanislaw did recall there had been at least one more in the Discord group who'd expressed interest in playing this game. Where was the guy that was super hardcore? Before he could muse on this further, he was broken out of his thoughts by Mags literally shoving Ames into someone. Oh god damn it, what the hell was she doing?

"What fuck are you doing?" Amulak stepped up calmly, still speaking in his comedically exaggerated Slavic accent. "We start fight in middle of town now? Sounds like shit idea. Anything bigger than shove, we probably get guards on our ass, no?"

---

"Ah, I see."

Of course, disaster would strike when he is least expecting it.

Klein didn't understand why all these people would just form a circle around him, seeing how all he wanted to do was asking some questions. At first, it was probably because of his character appearance, which they are free to stare at as long as they please, that was causing the ruckus. But, the situation escalated pretty quickly. Out of nowhere, one of the bystanders just decided to plant himself between Klein and whoever it is lying on the floor. After that, a blunt force was applied between on his back, pushing him toward the samurai and his friend. At this point, it was clear that this is an ambush on a newbie. And while not a newbie himself, his character stats don't really support a 1v5 right now.

That doesn't mean he won't go out without a fight though.

"I yield." Klein yelled, his hands raised to the air.

While it may be strange for a brute to surrendering, Klein felt no shame in admitting his defeat. After all, his character stats are not the best right now. But, if they still decided to rob him, Klein would just dc and join the game at another time. A shame that he can't play with his friends. But, at the very least, he remembered the samurai's name. Dysphoria.

"I'll give my 20 coins to you. If you let me get out of town and don't follow me." Klein proposed, hoping the gang would just take the money and leave him alone.

But then, a thick and heavy accent voice cut through, speaking wise words in a very dumb situation. "We start a fight in middle of town now? Sounds like shit idea. Anything bigger than shove, we probably get guards on our ass, no?"

“Silver?” The ponytailed man paused, as his eyes flickered up and down Raymond’s attire. “Oh. Two silver, with an extra to account for the exchange fee. Nyu-Taro, as well as all other city-states within Horoshi, deal in rishi, dear customer. I recommend you get what silver you have left exchanged swiftly, if you intend on doing further business around these parts.”

If asked about where exactly to exchange, he would shrug.

“All four clans print rishi in similar denominations, though with obvious cosmetic changes. Choose which ever you imagine yourself doing business with in the future would be my advice, though only the most zealous would truly care where you get your rishi from.”
_@Searat

---

“It’s been…so long, Madam Immortal. I could hardly remember the specifics of my deed after they…oooooh…”

The old man groaned, cradling his head in his arms as he rocked back and forth on the ground, as if some past trauma had kicked up all of a sudden. Around Ari, her companions had all already set off for the Keystone again, leaving the heroic girl alone…nope, Calace was there as well, having stuck around for the time being. Would those power-gaming professional gamer-types even care, when there was power-leveling to do and when the old man clearly had nothing in terms of rewards?

Unlikely, but maybe she could take a note out of Magpie’s book and just force the issue onto time.

Below her, the old man seemed to have gathered himself up again, taking deep, painful breaths through his rotted teeth. “My, my name though! It should have my name on it…Fa Trung’s my name! The Tsi-Lai gang, I heard they operated…by the southern gates! Oh, Fa Trung remembers now. Two blocks west of the southern gates, underneath the bridge. You’ll see a couple boxes stacked up. If you move them outta the way…that’s where their den is!”
_{@GreenGoat@Haha}

---

Though Magpie conspired to cause public brawls and mischief at the detriment of her companions, the world itself seemed to be wholly against cooperating with her in this case. The wannabe-Brawler’s full-bodied dropkick was more than enough to send Ames stumbling forward, right into the back of the unsuspecting Klein, who also stumbled forward as a result of the impact only to be stopped by a…rock? No, a man, bearing two swords upon his person.

As the masculine power fantasy barreled into him, a tidal wave of muscle spilling over him, Lugh was absolutely unmoved, having hardly felt a thing at the collision. At such low levels, the differences in stats was proportionally massive, and the dark-haired warrior boasted an Endurance that was practically infinitely greater than some of the other people present. Just like how a dainty, buxom priestess could push aside a carriage drawn by seven oxen, so could Lugh withstand the impact of being lightly pushed by a pushed barbarian.

The barbarian, of course, ended up surrendering immediately after, offering up all his money and pride. A couple other players now were looking at the scene curiously, wondering what exactly was going on with that bunch of level one noobs. No one stepped in yet though, and as far as Amulak could tell, there didn’t seem to be any guards rushing over either.

As everyone found themselves at an awkward standstill that tragically didn’t look like it’d devolve into a street brawl, a light shone behind Lugh, Krizantemë’s form dissolving into pixels of light.

Their hyper-minmaxed friend had just logged out and…well, now things were even more awkward.
_{@OwO@Shovel@Psyker Landshark@Yankee@Cu Chulainn}

---

"Huh, is that so? Thanks for the information and the tea." Raime says to the ponytailed NPC before fishing out a couple of silver coins and laying them just beside his empty cup. Standing up, Raime would give the NPC a polite bow of the head before leaving the calm and serene of the shop and back into the streets. Making a mental note to visit a bank to exchange some of his silver coins for Rishi. Banks ought to have money changers here just like in the real world right?

Upon crossing the shop's threshold, he noticed that his companions that could barely stand and walk were now looking much better now with the talismans on their person. "I guess this means everyone is feeling good now?" It was around this point he noticed that Ames and Amulak were gone, but that didn't bother him as he knew she likely went back to bring the talismans to their more severely debilitated friends back at spawn and Amulak had no existing tendencies to sow chaos on a whim. The fact that Mags was gone as well? That bothered him.

Raime scratched his head in both confusion and mild annoyance. "Pardon my language, but where the fuck did Mags go?" Please God, for the sake of everything that is good in the world, don't let her be doing something stupid.

---

---

Rather than getting a fight, Mags got something more in line with what a toddler would receive: strict reprimands. No, she received nothing but scorn for her attempts to streamline the process of unlocking the brawler class. Really, the giant being such a coward kinda hurt. The fact that he was going to offer up the entirety of his starter stipend to not get into a fight made Mags almost consider taking it. The thug class did sound pretty entertaining...

No. It was too difficult to do this early on. She'd also have to wipe someone down to 20% HP, which was easy. She could have just beaten up probably Amulak. The difficult bit was stealing 10 more silver and then running it down to Thunderstruck Grove to find a hideout. She'd continue to try to get brawler, for now. Though that twenty silver was enticing...

Wait. She had a better plan. If those cowards REFUSED to fight her with goading, she'd just move to the next emotion: embarassment. With the same amount of energy as a toddler that chugged fifty hours worth of energy and didn't get the toy they wanted, Mags started to thrash on the ground in a wicked tantrum.

"I just want to fight!" She whined with the verisimilitude of a failed playwright. Bad acting, certainly. But she was making a scene. Though, after a few moments of thrashing, she essentially gave up. Less of being embarrassed at her own actions and more being bored at how indirect the baby method was. After coiling her legs into her torso and rocking onto her shoulders, she kicked up with a push from her hands. Quickly back on her feet, she made another general threat to the group.

"If I don't get my brawler unlocking fight, I swear to god I'll throw a steel chair into the crowd. As we all know from award winning documentary The Boondocks, it's an event that'll only end up in a complete riot." She paused for a brief moment. "Old show, don't worry about it."

Ari Reina Caladis(Theresa)

---

A location, an objective and a reason to do it. This was how adventures started wasn't it? By small errands and tests, then onto larger endevours like dragon slaying and fighting a deranged evil old man on top of an apocalyptic machine fortress.

"I understand. I'll help, and these gu- eh?" She faltered noticing the lack of other people. Did most of them already leave? "Ah, maybe just me then huh? I'll try to help old man. If I don't get back here at all, then I'd have failed."

Well, from the instructions they were given, Ari surmised that the rest of the group must be at the frogmen's location already. Having cooled off a little from the shock of noticing they had been left behind by the rest of the team, she naturally wanted to get a bit more stuff before going on that heist.

"Pardon my language, but where the fuck did Mags go?"

"I don't know. Maybe they went ahead towards the frogs?" Jumping up and down experimentally a few times, Ari stretched, her tail stretching at the same time. "Lets go there too. They might already be getting a whole pile of stuff."

Like a bow stave losing its string, she sprang towards the direction of the frogs. "Cmon! I'll race you both!"

---

Between the beefcake's surrender, Amulak's protests, and finally Kriz's unceremonious logging off, the situation did indeed devolve into an awkward one. Not that Lew felt any shame in the situation, anyway. His interception was made mainly to defend the clearly crippled Kriz from a terrifying domino effect, not necessarily "gang up" on another player, especially one who now clearly shows no malicious intent. If anything, Lew was quite pleased with the situation. It seems that having an END difference this massive at least puts him in a clear advantage over other players of his level. Still, this little experiment was not enough to answer just how well leveling END would be for him in the long run.

"Sorry about that. One of our friends is a bloodthirsty idiot who would have caused one of our other friends to evaporate had I not stood my ground there." Lew stated to Klein, believing that his light shove was indeed a full-fledged tumble that Lew had easily absorbed. "It seems he logged off, though. Probably couldn't withstand being statistically disadvantaged. By the way, if your Strength or Endurance happen to be less than '10', you could easily fix that by purchasing a talisman from an old squatter up the road, if I remember correctly."

With enough pleasantries exchanged to hopefully clear that misunderstanding, Lew turned to the keystone once again. Inspired by his own 'monstrous' physique in comparison to a player who looked more beastly than himself, Lew had made a new search inquiry, one that would likely set him on a path he could never turn back from...


Clicking his tongue in annoyance, it seems that Lew would indeed be gated towards the path of the Samurai. If you can't beat 'em, might as well join 'em. Lew once more began to think of the Samurai's different class requirements. The 'Max SP' requirement was the easiest. Lew just needed to level up once and drop two points into SP. The part about facing five ogres in solo combat? Based on her past and present actions, Lew could only wonder if Mags counted as an 'ogre' for the sake of meeting these requirements... No, she is nothing compared to the beauty that was the Ogre Smith he ran into in his earlier venture. Speaking of Mags, the last requirement would likely be the hardest if the group had to keep Mags in check most of the time. Normally Lew didn't care about his online reputation as it's in no way linked to his personal or professional one, but between the crowd that began to form along with with one of Mags' famous temper tantrums, Lew could only feel the shame that was directed towards him. And with that shame came a revelation.

"Very well, you'll get your fight."

Untying the swords from his belt, Lew stepped away from the keystone, tossing his sheathed blades near Ames' feet. Lew had already noticed there weren't any guards gathering at the time, but in case he was arrested, he could at least trust Ames to hold onto his newly acquired weapons. Standing at about six or seven feet away from Mags, Lew turned towards the adult-sized toddler before stepping into some sort of exaggerated fighting stance.

"I, Lew Duv-..." Damned screen names. "I, Lugh Dysphoria, accept your challenge with honor and dignity!"

While a public fight between level zero noobs isn't exactly good publicity, it's at least enough for Lew's name to be noticed and recognized. Hopefully this fight would go on long enough for Mags to meet her class requirements. Lew wasn't exactly worried of getting hurt either, and this could indeed be a good test to see how well his END would fare against actual damage.

"Oh, right, no nut-shots or we remove your custom emote privileges." Lew remarked casually. Just what kind of Discord server doesn't have any custom emotes, anyway?

"We got one! Do I see two?" Came the announcement from Mags' voice, rattling out like a auctioneer. "After all, I need to start a fight with multiple people."

She was thinking of hitting Lew's nuts for the first time he volunteered for the fight. This time around, however, the attached removal of custom emotes made it too painful a consequence. No longer would she be able to reply to messages with that stupid pogfish, nor could she post the Giga Chad. Well, she technically still could. She'd just need to send them as small images. They wouldn't be in line and that made it too sad.

Preparing for combat, she took off the two starter 0 stat sandals on her feet and equipped one in each hand. They were her improvised weapons, after all. Las chanclas. Lethal weapons.

"Ames, don't you want in on this...? I'm classically trained to fight, after all."

aмeℓιa

^{__________________________________}
At the ripped man's surrender, Ames' head whirled around and she stared at him. He wasn't a mugger, he was just a new player like they were! Before she could flush with embarrassment, Ames scrubbed a hand over her face and groaned. The novelty of Cacophony Concord was quickly fading in the face of Mags' single minded desire to become a 'Brawler.' The most frustrating part was that Amelia knew Magdalene could be funny and helpful - just right now she was choosing to be unfunny and unhelpful.

I guess we should get it over with and just fight, that or we'd have to split up from her and I don't see that going down well at all. Ugh. Fighting first, then we can find some healing class or something for Calace and get on with frog fighting...? Ames' brows were scrunched. Mags was throwing another tantrum while Ames thought to herself, but she didn't really listen. It was definitely the same threats as before. She was pulled out of her own head when Kriz logged out in a flash of light. "Uh? Kriz?!"

Wow, double embarrassing. With a sigh, Ames finally climbed to her feet and dusted herself off. The bishounen avatar gave Klein a weak but earnest smile.

"Yeah, what Lugh said... we're not thieves or bullies or anything - uh, well, not ALL of us are at least! Bullies that is. None of us are thieves. _{Ugh, doing great Ames.} I'm sorry for crashing into you dude, ehehe..."

While said wannabe samurai was off to deal with Mags, Ames figured it would be a good time to get to know this misunderstood beefcake. And hope he didn't press charges or anything. Even though nothing really happened. Amulak had a good point even if she didn't see any kind of police-looking guys around. She scooped Lugh's swords off the ground and cradled them to her chest before looking back at Amulak and Klein.

"Pretty embarrassing misunderstanding huh? Oh well. I'm Ames. That's Amulak - " she nodded to the man as she introduced him. " - you probably heard Lugh just now, aaaand the girl he's fighting would be the bloodthirsty idiot he mentioned. We've got a few others too. What's your...?"

She trailed off, noticing Mags addressing her. Ames did say they'd be willing to help people get the classes they want. Part of her really didn't want to enable Mags, but another part said that once she got what she wanted the other girl was more likely to chill the hell out. Better to help out in that case, huh? Also, not gonna lie... kind of wanna get her back for that kick.

"Fuck it. Fine." Ames sighed and passed Lugh's swords onto Amulak. With one more apology to Klein, Ames approached Lugh and Mags. "I am kind of interested in how the stylish setting works. I figured I'd find out against the frogs but... well. Anyway, you're gonna get what's coming to you, Mags! How many people do you need? Better safe that sorry, right? So let's get this over with..."

It was time to use the skill that all proud Americans mastered a young age... being loud. Ames took a breath than cupped a hand over her mouth and shouted.

It was a public invitation now. It wasn't going to be the honorable duel that Lugh perhaps was hoping for, but in time Ames would be happy to help her friend with unlocking his classes too. For now, they were going to give their little gremlin what she was asking for. "Okay. Brace yourself Mags. Or don't."

Ames wasn't trained in fighting. In the real world Amelia was an athlete but couldn't really say she'd even been in a real fight. However, in CaCo under her current settings, the game adjusted her body. Her feet were near naturally pulled into a proper stance, and when Ames snapped her fist out to swing at Mags' face she felt her body follow through with the strike as if she actually knew what she was doing.

---

"Figures." He let out a sigh as Ari began to test her non-poor stat afflicted avatar's feel and range of movement. But before he could even try to give her a response, she bolts off. "Jesucristo...what's with this group and splitting the party?" Raime said with confusion in his voice as he tries to catch up to the cat-girl. With the number of players, NPCs, and narrow streets preventing his range of motion, he was forced to lag behind. After a few moments of trudging and basically squeezing through the crowd, he manages to pop back out to the spawn point...only to see the chaos done by his friends and companions.

To be honest? He wasn't really that surprised. With a deadpan expression, he threw his arms upward in defeat and walked back to the bustling streets of the city. Deciding that he would not partake in the silliness and instead go do something else. He needed to find a bank to exchange 10 of his silver coins to Rishi and go buy his equipment. A basic crossbow and bolts would suffice for now.

He would first ask an NPC or player for the nearest bank to exchange currencies, then look for a hunting/weapon shop to purchase said equipment, and finally wait for his companions at the West Gate.

---

---