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Mind Games

When are we going to start the IC? Are you still waiting for character sheets?

Tales from Kingdoms of the Sky Online.

Sorry for the long post guys. I'll try to tone it down in the future, but this instance seemed to call for a slightly longer post, what with a battle sequence and all.

Tales from Kingdoms of the Sky Online.

Tanika shivered. The forest ahead of her was nothing like the one she had found refuge in the last couple of days. It was dark, just like its name-sake, but in a very different way one might imagine darkness. There was a chill in the air and the ground was damp, making a sickening 'squish' with each step. Ahead of her the forest lay, sucking the darkness towards it, setting itself apart from the sun shining behind her. Like it had no effect on the looming forest. The smell of mildew hung in her nostrils as she passed the first group of trees into the forest, spider webs hung above her.
"Very Tolkein." she murmured to herself before snapping her mouth shut. Something might hear her and she couldn't run away before she had some gold to show for it. She crept through the forest on the balls of her feet, eyes darting left and right. How am I going to do this? I don't know how to fight. The deeper she went into the forest without contact made her more and more anxious. If she did run into something she was well beyond her GINGERBREAD ability. Ok, ok. Be smart. She tried to think of a battle tactic but it was hard for her to focus. She felt like she was in some trippy serial killer movie and she would turn around any second only to have a knife at her throat, or in this case, pincers. Ok. I can't stand my ground in battle. I'm not built for that and I can't take too much damage. What can I do? I'm fast. That's helpful for a getaway so long as I don't get surrounded. What else? I have knives, throwing knives. That could work. They're long distance. I won't have to get too close.But when she actually imagined herself doing that she almost had to laugh. How ridiculous was she? If she were to actually come face to face with anything how likely was she to remember her tactic.

Something rustled ahead of her in the leaves and she darted backwards a few steps, reflex already taking hold where most would have froze. A spider the size of a dog crawled forward, fizz gurgling out of its mouth and a strange guttural sound emitting from somewhere deep inside the creature. They both stood there for a second. Tanika bouncing on her toes and the spider clenching it's pincers, apparently surprised by her presence. Tanika was about to run before she remember why she was here. She needed the gold. She reached for a knife in her pouch, pulling it out with a 'clink'. The creature screeched and lunged at her, a thick fluid spewing out of it's mouth. Shit! she cried before dodging out of the way. The creature instantly reeled and lunged again. Tanika activated her HERMES ability and began jumping and hopping to avoid the creature's advances. When she saw an opening she threw her knife at the spider. It stuck with a thunk in its head and the creature stumbled forward.
Yes! Kill shot! Exhausted, yet proud, Tanika pumped her fist in the air. Above the dead spider a health bar appeared. A small 'beep' sound appeared and the health bar decreased.
-17pts hovered in the air above her and the spider squealed before standing up, as if with new vigor. Tanika's smile deflated. Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

The spider charged at her, oozing from the wound in it's head. She threw two more knives before darting out of the way, her foot sliding into the spewed fluids. Her shoe sizzled and a pain shot up her leg before she had time to jump away from it. Acid?! Are you serious? Acid spitting-spiders?! Why were people not spreading this information? Hadn't someone bothered battling the spiders before?
-34pts
Pissed, she threw another knife, not bothering with aim. It found its mark in the spider's eye with a popping sound. Blood and puss gushed out and the thing screamed, clawing at its face and stumbling around blindly.
-17pts
Tanika stepped back and a twig snapped. The spider's head whirled and charged in her direction. It was too close for her to dodge. It was going to ram her. Shit. she whispered before throwing one last knife. One last edition to it's helmet. She pulled the last knife to the ready but didn't get a chance to throw it.
Critical: -17pts The spider crashed into her, its entire body weight on top of her, scratching at her face. She put her hands up in an attempt to push the spider away from her. It dribbled acid on her hands and she screamed. The pincers were opening and closing, opening and closing, bare centimeters from her face. With a last ditch of strength she sunk the last knife deep under its chin. The thing wheezed like steam escaping a kettle before relaxing on top of her.
-17pts
Congratulations! Gold rewarded.
Tanika cursed. Yah, thanks. She pushed the monster off of her, breathing heavily, and yanked her knives out of its hide. The thing had taken a chunk of health from her. Nearly 50pts. She reached for a health potion, wincing at the movement before realizing she hadn't brought one. She looked at her hands. They looked like she'd stuck them in a furnace. Without a health potion she was done for the day, that is, supposing she could get back to the town before another monster found her.

Tales from Kingdoms of the Sky Online.

My character is heading out towards the spiders in the forest. Possibly meet up with the other two heading that way?

Tales from Kingdoms of the Sky Online.

Tanika was sweating from wondering aimlessly in the heat all day. She was beginning to realize how dumb her current job was. No one had any gold to spare on delivering messages. At least not for a while. Once the town started going back to how it had been before the Log-out Failure she could hardly expect to make enough money for a meal, especially with the prices of the inn, and especially with how much she needed to eat. She hadn't made a single transaction all day. It frustrated her. Her career choice hadn't been a problem until two days ago, luckily she'd managed to stock up about 5,000g between meals, but she knew all too well that it wouldn't hold up much longer. "Perhaps until the dust settles I had better find a different line of work." she said aloud.

Immediately she thought of farming. It was about the only option available. Any other jobs the town offered she lacked the skill set for. If she wanted a new skill set she'd have to get experience. Either that or wait it out until the town went back to normal, but she knew right away that would be a suicide risk. It had to be farming, yet the idea terrified her. She wasn't built for it. She wasn't strong and her health wasn't any more spectacular than average. In a battle state she was mostly defensive. If she were in a group she would most likely play the part of the distraction, or bait even. But she wasn't in a group, she was by herself.
What shit! she cursed.
A passerby overheard her, thinking she meant him. Excuse me?
Tanika looked him over. He was a big burly player with a rough face. She blushed.
Sorry. she said. The man just rolled his eyes and continued on his way. She noticed his pouch dangling from his belt, heavy. It chinked with every step.
Wait! Sir! He turned around, eyebrows raised. Do you know where I could go to farm?
The man looked her up and down, obvious surprise written on his face. I would think that a messenger such as yourself would have heard the rumors.
Tanika shook her head in response. I don't read people's mail. I just deliver it. But, even if I wanted to, there haven't been any deliveries for a while.
The man huffed. Well I should say so! No one has the coin to pay for a message they can deliver themselves. Tanika waited patiently. The man sighed.
Look kid, you don't exactly look like dungeon material. For hell's sake, you don't even have any armor. You're wearing cotton! The least ya' could do is pay for some decent leather. He stroked his chin, eying Tanika. But I know times are tough round here right about nows so how bout you head down to the forest with the spiders. I think its called the Deadly Forest or some'tin like that, maybe the Dark Forest. Yah, that sounds right. Its either that or the caves and I don't think you'd do so wells in there. You look like you need to move fast, aint so much room for manuevering. Naw, I'd say your best bet is definitely the forest. Just be careful though, kid. Them forests have lots of nasty spiders in'der. Theres Queens too. If I was you, I would head for the hills like yo life depends on it if one of them buggers shows up. Little flower like you'd prolly die. He turned and hustled off. Likely to the inn to lighten his pouch a little. Tanika didn't even have time to thank him before he had disappeared into the hustle and bustle of Cloudhaven. The fat man was right though, caves sounded like a death trap for a Runner. The Dark Forest it was.

Mind Games

Screen Name : Watcher

Character Name : Doesn't remember. Everyone just calls her Watcher because that is what she does. Sits back and watches.

Gender: Female

Age : 18

Appearance : Long curly black hair with bangs over brown eyes and an oval face. She is thin to the verge of malnourishment with pasty white skin from lack of sunlight. She is much shorter than others her age. In fact, she doesn't look much different from the twelve year old girl brought to the facility six years ago. To those that didn't know she was a vet, they would assume she was a sickly child.

Personality : Quite and reserved, though, highly intelligent. She tends to sit on the outskirts of crowds rather than being involved, though she wishes others would invite her to sit with them. She has a serious nature and doesn't appreciate jokes to hardly any effect.

History (optional) : Watcher has been here for as long as she can remember, but as far as she knows, her life began at the age of twelve when she first stepped into the facility. She is a vet amongst the children, few older than she and none left from her entry group. Upon her entry, she was looked after poorly and was continually malnourished thanks to some obscure reaction to whatever drug they had pumped into her. As a result, her growth was stunted, and she maintains the appearance of a sickly twelve year old girl.

Rank : Teen

Ability : High observance. With this ability she notices nearly everything around her to the smallest detail.

Weakness : Very sickly. She has a crippling reaction to nearly every drug they test on her, yet, somehow she manages to pull through.

Number : 47564

Other : N/A

Password : Mind Games

Tales from Kingdoms of the Sky Online.

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.

Tales from Kingdoms of the Sky Online.

Are there trees on the outskirts of Cloudhaven? Because I just wrote a blurb for my character and it just occurred to me that I didn't know if there were or not :P
Sorry, I didn't want to go ahead and take the creative license if it would screw something up.

Tales from Kingdoms of the Sky Online.

I'll do that next time. Still new to this site.

And I'm not freaking out or anything, I can wait. I'm just really loving this story and cast of characters already.

Tales from Kingdoms of the Sky Online.

Oh my god guys! I want to start so bad! Getting more and more excited with every post!