Duoya

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

I'll throw up a post tomorrow.

Dear Gamer: Let's Seek Each Other Out

Brent Young

Nearest player: @GoodLuckTuck

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Barely seconds had passed - the words had barely managed to escape his lips when he simply couldn't take it. This hell hole was terrifying. He was in a hotel that he didn't recognize in the slightest, what looked like a forest was just outside the broken door, and he had enough food for maybe 3 days. and even then, the water situation was far worse. It didn't matter who the hell this lady was - any human interaction, any chance to find out what the hell was happening - that was all that he needed. He walked swiftly, holding the pocket knife in his pocket while trying to look calm. He turned to face the stairway, and found her.

She was white haired, fair skinned, significantly shorter than Brent. He honestly couldn't care less. As the seconds ticked by, he grew more and more paranoid, fearful of the situation they were in. She was standing, looked unhurt, and had a similar pack like Brent had. He kept his hand in his pocket, thankful there was another human but not willing to leave himself open. She must have had a knife, just like him.

"...Do you know where the hell we ar-"

Before he could finish, a mysterious blue light began to emanate from the eye holes of a picture, hanging crooked against the wall. The blue light caused Brent to jump, flinging the pocket knife down the stairs by accident. He nearly dove for it, before the light took the form of the woman, and began to speak. Not from the hologram, of course - there were no speakers there. The voice came from behind that same picture frame, sounding crisp and mocking. Brent probably would have thought of it as a joke had he not been in literally the middle of nowhere, lost and with apparently 3 days worth of supplies. Several things poked out to him, such as the second and third rule... Why did she discourage taking the chip out by threatening death, then immediately say that suicide was impossible? There was no drawback for a suicidal person to dig out the chip - either they successfully do it and bleed out, or they are paralyzed and the machines kill them. Of course... Brent wasn't suicidal in the slightest. He was nearly pissing himself how afraid he was, in all honesty. He hadn't even noticed there was a USB with the supplies - it must have been too dark. In his peripheral vision, however, he saw his knife glinting in the sun, right next to the USB - he must have taken it out accidentally along with the knife.

Eventually, the hologram vanished, and Brent slowly made his way to his knife, being sure to keep the girl in sight. If this "Persephone" was to be believed, then killing a participant was perfectly allowed - in fact, that would be encouraged - you just got 3 more days of extra supplies, a bag, and a new knife. He sure as hell wouldn't do it, but he wasn't about to trust some random girl he met in a broken down hotel... Eventually, he made it to the bottom and, as he bent down to pick up the USB, he noticed the color wasn't black - Just an incredibly dark Green, with brown, barely visible text across the side reading Forest. He placed both objects into his pocket, and got back to his feet. The joy he had felt earlier at meeting another person had now turned to a burning sense of fear. He had to find this mysterious "Halloween" in three days time, or else... what? He'd lose? What did that entail? If it meant going back home, he'd do it in a heartbeat, but considering this monster kidnapped him from his goddamn home and had the audacity to make him play in her little game, he highly doubted that it'd be that easy. He turned back around, and spoke out.

"So... I'm Brent. I'm gonna... Well, I'm gonna head on out, look for this "Halloween" guy that she talked about. I don't want to know what will happen if I run out of time, so... If you wanna come along and look for your partner too, that's cool."

He sounded a hell of a lot calmer than he felt. To be honest, he really wanted her to come - she could help him look for Halloween, and if they needed to sleep, they could do it in shifts. He didn't want to be outside with all the forest animals in the dark, but he'd feel a hell-of a lot safer with another person. Hell, he didn't even want to look for this Halloween guy - the only reason he was ready to drop everything and start searching was because the faster he found this guy, the quicker he got out of this hell hole and could report this psycho to the police. Brent turned already began to make his way towards the door. He already wasted enough time, and they could walk and talk. He began to make his way towards the door, moving at a steady, if slightly fast pace. Unfortunately, he didn't even notice that he never asked the girl for her name, or even what color her USB was.

The Cosmic Warriors [Anime-esque Sci-fi Romp, 7-8 players]

Interested.

Dice (Modern Fantasy with some RPG Elements)

Interested.

Dear Gamer: Let's Seek Each Other Out

I'll try and throw up a post tomorrow.

Edit: Sorry, school stuff has me swamped. Expect a post on Wednesday.

closed

Interactions:

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Karada slowly began to fix his disheveled appearance, slipping on his shirt and jacket, and then finishing with the tie that hung loosely around his neck. He still hadn't showered, but he did so pretty late the day before, so maybe noone would notice. Soon everyone gathered, congregating around the impressive man in front of them... Well, everyone except the blond guy and harpoon boy. Those two seemed to still remain in their rooms, which Karada didn't know would be possible in this extreme sound - they couldn't possibly be that heavy of sleepers, could they? Instead, Karada noticed that, out of the two shorties, Rikkawas far less prepared - her clothes were a mess, she was missing a shoe, and her tie wasn't even on... It honestly looked like she was trying to look like a delinquent, but forgot delinquents had shoes... and weren't that short.

A flash of movement took Karada by surprise as Lorken shot out, slamming his fist into Kaz's stomach. It seemed like he was holding back, but still, the intent and technique were still there. This sudden punch reminded Karada of his own wound - he ignored it when he jumped out of bed this morning, but it was lightly throbbing with pain, alerting him to it's presence. Karada was so preoccupied with this feeling, he barely even noticed Lorken talk about the broken painting, but quickly snapp3ed his attention forwards when he heard his own name.

"Karada and Gankona. The mess in my fucking kitchen. Nobody bothered to pick up after themselves before retiring, leaving the scene without any effort on your parts to right the wrong. Congratulations on becoming the new house janitors."

Karada successfully managed to catch one of the rooms thrown his way, but the bucket soared, hitting him squarely in the injured leg. Karada had a slight intake of breath, but did his best to mask the pain on his face. He couldn't show weakness. Instead, he chose to focus on the house janitor part - why the hell were they the janitors? He understood the punishment part, but wasn't the beard guy supposed to have a job around here? Unless his sole job is driver, which is useless considering every student lives on campus.

"You want to disrespect your roles as heroes that's fine. But I'll be long dead and buried before I let half-idiots like the two of you ruin my sanctuary."

Karada normally would have given a glare for a comment like that, but he instead chose to remain perfectly still, ready to activate his quirk at a moments notice. Nobody calls him a bad hero - nobody. The scene almost would have been tense, had Karada not been practically standing on 1 foot and holding a broom in both hands.

"Gankona and Karada, you will be cleaning up the broken wood and blood from yesterdays initiation. Don't expect any help or any food until the job is done right. Kazuto, for spraying a classmate with bug spray you are going to assist them. I expect the walls of my gymnasium to sparkle, and the back lawn to be cut. Push mower is in the back shed. As for Rikka, you will be dealing with every mirror and window on the property. I expect this all done before the practical combat training this afternoon. Dismissed."

Karada immediately picked up the bucket at his feet, leaving the mop and other brooms for Gank to collect. After collecting them, he started to move, heading for the way upstairs. The second he made it to the gymnasium, he planned on immediatly starting the cleaning process. He sure as hell didn't want to be the guy mowing - he already hadn't showered, so he didn't want to stink very badly... While walking, Karada did wonder - how would the others do? Gank seemed like the type to get bored very quickly, and Kaz was short so he would have difficulties reaching the walls pf the gym, even with a step ladder... But in all seriousness, Karada didn't know enough about Kaz to make a good judgement. Hopefully, he was like Karada, who spent hours every day doing disciplined training alone. Karada knew if he could handle that with relative ease, this would be simple... Well, except for reaching the high walls and cleaning the smell of sweat out of everything... and the blood. He knew that blood stained like a bitch, especially since he took a look at his ruined dress pants.

Afterlife: Dead Sun

The others seemed to listen to Troy's suggestion, as they began to march away from the monstrosity approaching. Since his back was turned and he had no intention of looking behind him, Troy never saw the form of Bal, or his decision to confront the beast and buy time for the others. Instead, he focused on holding the girl up - she obviously wasn't heavy compared to some of the others, but the 20 milligram insects under his skin struggled to support her weight along with his own. They were slower than the others, but luckily, the group was considerate enough to slow down for the pair once they were out of sight of the beast. This was the time that Troy looked over his companions.

The masked spirit held a large, burning lantern, and was similar to Troy in that he kept many features of a spirit. The next was the girl he was carrying, obviously the least monstrous of them all... but also the most shocked. She must have had trouble getting used to her body... The thought caused Troy to briefly wonder how he managed to be so good at walking and moving, despite his entire physiology being changed and lacking muscles... Well, at the very least, the girl was polite enough to thank him for the help. When she expressed her thanks, Troy simply nodded and continued the march, doing his best to keep up with the others. The beast was long and skeletal, the legs clearly being made to cut and tear through flesh and sinew. Troy did his best to keep away from it. The man in armor, the fool that nearly engaged in combat with the flying monster - he was of average height, and seemed to move almost robotically... Speaking of which, the last individual was the robot man, whom Troy honestly didn't pay much attention to - he was near the lead of the party, and Troy was concentrating on supporting the girl.

The group traveled for a short period of time, eventually finding the stone bridge. They had entered the cavern, and Troy could feel the insects in his body tense slightly at the sight of the man in the center. He was robed in black cloth, which covered his face - all that could be seen was the glowing red staff he held, and the skin on his hands. Troy brief reached his free hand, which he regained after the girl started to just use his shoulder for support. Her words stopped him just as his hand reached the hole in his face.

"Thank you...I think I should be fine now, with the generous help of you and your little friends..."

The voice was briefly cut off when she also noticed the man, and she stepped away from Troy, finally regaining her balance and ability to walk. The insects under Troy's skin wiggled gratefully, thankful to be free of the extra weight. Troy kept the hand near his face tensed, ready to throw at a moments notice, when he called out.

“This way! I will show you the way out!”

Troy was still tense, not believing this man for a second - nothing in this hell was nice, the only thing he could rely on was the group. Unfortunately, the man decided to leave them, having turned into the form of a crimson bird, before taking flight and unleashing a piercing shriek. It continued to do so as it flew, seemingly alerting the cavern to it's presence... Dammit... Troy watched as the spindly legs of the creatures climbed down slowly from the ceiling, unaware of the ones already below the bridge. The would easily tear them apart, and looking down, Troy saw the alternative - a pool of burning liquid, releasing a horrid stench. It radiated heat of ridiculous proportions, and Troy knew that he would die if he even attempted to go down there. The creatures continued their advance, slowly approaching the bridge... It wasn't until an arc of green fire shot from behind him that hope revealed itself. The same flame that the masked spirit used flew from it's lantern, and landed accurately on the wall in front of them, causing the creatures to recoil in fear of the flames.

"Go, dear friends, follow the sound of the bird! I don't think it will stay long! I will follow after I finish this blockage...!"

The advice to follow the bird was foolish in Troy's eyes - the thing called a hoard of monster on the group! But the masked spirit made an excellent opportunity, and he turned to look at the group to prepare running. The girl was looking at him, and began to speak.

"...I'm going to go help her...if you know you can't do anything, then please run away."

She then began to walk forwards and, after summoning a perfectly white sphere from seemingly nowhere, firing a beam of what looked like ice at the ground to stop the creatures on the other side. Troy began to run towards the other end of the bridge, the obvious choice. As he did so, he dug into his skull and pulled out roughly 1000 of the disgusting worm-like insects. They wriggled, forming a tight ball by biting into one another, and Troy launched the projectile at one of the creatures in front of them, hitting it squarely in the throat. Hundreds fell into the pool below, and a ball not even weighing a pound thrown by a weakling didn't hurt much. But the maggots that did latch on began to dig into the flesh, drilling through the mouth and attempting to go to the brain. This distracted the creature enough to flail wildly, losing it's grip and even slamming one of the monsters below it off the wall, both falling violently into the pool. Troy finished running the distance, and made it to the other side, relative safety. He then turned to see his companions, still valiantly holding off the monsters...

The smart decision would be to run, leave them behind, and avoid the crow man. He left them, alerted the creatures to their presence, and was still screeching his head off...

Instead, Troy reached into his head, pulling out a similarly sized ball, and entering into a throwing position, almost unconsciously. His fingers gripped the ball, while his eyes locked directly with the torso of the creature approaching the ice. Winding back his arm, he tossed the ball with strong force, allowing it to cross the distance of the bridge and slam into the monsters back, eliciting a violent hiss as the maggots immediately began to devour it alive. This one managed to hang on for awhile, but the sensation was too painful to ignore, and it reached back to dig out the maggots, resulting in it falling into the pool. Troy should have ran after that. But he simply reached into his skull again, preparing to toss another ball.

"I'll cover you guys, so hurry!"

The second his companions made it across, he would run as fast as he could. Until then... Well, he should try and protect the others.

closed

Will also try to get a post out tomorrow.

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

Theodore Smith

Dirk Davidson

Interactions: @Achronum@Tybalt Capulet

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Theo nodded slightly as Aster agreed with him - good. Dirk was the kind of guy that helped others, so Theo needed to help her, both with learning the game, and defending the two of them. The dark thought that, with less armor, he'd be more important flashed across his mind, but was quickly dismissed. Dirk wouldn't think that. Still, they were wasting time - some people in the crowds were already starting to recuperate, and while most would be too afraid to go out and grind, it would be best to stay ahead of the curve. When this is all revealed to be some sick joke, they would be some of the strongest people in the entire game. Hell, who knows - maybe a strong guild will be formed, and Dirk will be invited as the strongest tank in the game... Well, wishful thinking isn't needed right now. The thoughts rushing through Theo's mind stopped him from noticing Kajin's twitching, and the lack of confidence in his voice.

“Okay. That’s not a bad idea either. I still think it’d be best to equip you with even cloth armor but if we are confident we will be okay without it, we can hunt down a quest."

Dirk gave a thumbs up and winked slightly, with the same toothy smile he had been giving the entire time. Theo was definitely getting too good at playing Dirk.

“However, if I run out of mana we need to back out. Healing spells at this level are expensive and I can only cast six before I’m out of mana, seven if my passive triggers on four of the six casts. Dirk is right, I doubt anything outside of dungeons will be excessively challenging but we should keep a high safety margin until we get a better understanding of the game. And since I can’t afford a first aid kit yet, we don’t have any secondary resources in the event things get hairy.”

"Of course. I personally have no idea how healing works in this game, but if you say so, I won't argue. Besides, we don't know how fast the regen in this game is. If you run out of mana, backing off is the smart choice."

Theo personally thought he could go a little longer without any healing, purely based on his pool of health, but that was because of his experience with other games, and the fact he had not yet accepted the fact they could all actually die. In other games, starting area monsters are usually weak, and a single player can reliably solo them, so of course, Theo thought the caution was a bit too much. But then again, if they don't regenerate health or mana after a fight and have to rest, backing off would be a smart choice. Dirk would follow a teammates advice. Kajin was a healer for a reason, he knew how to heal - No reason to question him on something Theo didn't even bother to read during character creation.

“So this is what I recommend we do then. Let’s hunt down a few quests. The first thing Aster spends her Renn on is armor then we keep questing until level 3. After that, depending on how we feel, we could try poking our noses in one of the dungeons on this floor. If the first pull is too much, we run like hell."

A friend invite popped in front of Theo, and Kajin continued.

"If we get separated or have to leave party, we can always find each other through this. Just in case you know? Not sure what we’re going to run into after all! And once we do this, I think our brave and daring tank can lead the way to our first quest, yeah?"

Dirk hit accept. Smart thinking - Theo wouldn't have thought of using the friend system as a communication device, and it's always good to be prepared. Theo noticed at this point that Kajin was a little uncomfortable. A few seconds pass before Theo thinks up a response.

"Smart thinking. man! Good to know we're all already buddies!"

Theo gave Kajin a swift pat to the back, before wrapping his arm around Kajin's shoulder. Then, in a low, much more serious tone, Theo spoke.

"And don't worry about the whole dying thing... As long as I'm alive, I'll make sure you and Aster don't take a single point of damage."

He said it low, almost whispering into Kajin's ear. After all, he was trying to ease Kajin's worries, not embarrass him by comforting him in front of a girl. He clapped his hand on Kajin's shoulder 2 times, before readopting his Dirk voice.

"And you're right to leave the quest-hunting to me! After all, the best way to find a miscellaneous quest is to find..."

Dirk began to look for something, leaning forwards and being very exaggerated. Then he pointed at the bulletin board, located near the front of the city square.

"There! A quest would be super hard to ask around for in this kind of game, so most should be written up and in a place everyone can easily get to."

Theo trudged forwards, his snail pace, carrying him reliably towards his goal. He silently prayed that their was an item or something that increases speed... But eventually, they make it there, revealing countless pieces of papers stuck to the wooden board. 4 in particular stood out, as they were on the front and the paper color was attention grabbing. They were long, and had the signatures of the respective quest givers at the bottom. 4 separate quests appeared in quick succession in front of Theo, all of which he declined after reading. He wanted to talk with the party before deciding. He half-turned, to look directly at the two behind him, showing them the 4 options from his menu.

"What do you guys think? I say we accept them all, and do the Boar and Blacksmith quest first. Then, when Kajin runs out of mana and we come back, we can do the other two. But if you guys would prefer doing it another way, I'm all for it."

An extended arm, thumbs up, wink, and... big smile. Perfect. Dirk wasn't the kind of guy that took control of people - he gave them choices, had them make the decisions. Besides, he was completely useless without a damage dealer, and would run out of HP fast without a healer - he needed them. Even though he thought that was the best plan, he was going to let them choose - he wanted them to like Dirk.

Afterlife: Dead Sun

Actually, I think I'll wait until after @Tenma Tendo to post, I'm not sure if my character would still be helping their character walk for that long, and it would probably be easier than just writing around that.