wondering whereabouts I can jump into things here. The time skip was a good idea, get things up and running. @Zelosse still partied with Mai'lo? Could look into him meeting up with you guys.
pockets
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The Happy Gargoyle
- Last Seen: 7 yrs ago
- Old Guild Username: pockets
- Joined: 11 yrs ago
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- pockets 11 yrs ago
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Most Recent Posts
"Feck me sideways," Rhys groaned. In his mad run from his spawning location toward the distant city he'd come across five wolves, two raiding parties of players, and three jelly like creatures that reminded him of the old school slimes from some other games.
Panic seemed to have taken up a permanent residence in his chest, a fluttering, terrified feeling that just wouldn't go away no matter what he tried. A cyber terrorist attack? Virus in the system coinciding perfectly with his login with a data stick containing who knew what for sure... he pushed down the immediate suspicion and shook his head as if to physically buck the terrified thoughts circling his mind.
"How the hell could it have happened?" He muttered. He ducked as a wolf lunged at him from the side and his right hand flashed back over his shoulder. He spun hard on one foot, arm lashing out just as the beast turned and lunged again. The edge of his blade cleaved through the creatures neck leaving a red line of digitized damage across it. The health bar dropped to zero and a moment later the creature exploded into a cloud of light as it died.
"How did they get the virus into the system?" A chime echoed in his ears telling him that he'd just leveled up but he ignored it, preferring to keep running. "Introducing a virus into the games system should have been impossible."
All around him, people and monsters milled about. Many of the players looked lost, panicked as he felt, and the creatures seemed more menacing and frightening now, knowing that death was permanent once again in a world where it should have been nothing but an annoyance to die in battle. This escape from reality had taken a turn for the real, with lasting consequences.
He finally neared the city, walls rushing by on his right side as he ran while players and monsters dotted the rolling grassland to his left. He could hear voices raised in anger, fear, and dismay. The clash of steel rang through the air and the glass shattering sound of monsters and players alike losing their lives floated unerringly toward him.
His vision blurred and he rubbed at his eyes, attempting to scrub away the tears that threatened. When he was finally able to see again, he looked to the path in front of him just in time to see an attractive young woman exit the city gates right in his path.
"Lookout!" He cried just as he crashed into her, sending them both tumbling painfully to the ground. Rhys rolled several times on the rocky ground at the cities entrance and groaned quietly once he came to a stop. "Oh, son of a fecking... I'm sorry about that. Are you ok?" He pushed himself shakily to a kneeling position and glanced over, hoping she wasn't injured.
Panic seemed to have taken up a permanent residence in his chest, a fluttering, terrified feeling that just wouldn't go away no matter what he tried. A cyber terrorist attack? Virus in the system coinciding perfectly with his login with a data stick containing who knew what for sure... he pushed down the immediate suspicion and shook his head as if to physically buck the terrified thoughts circling his mind.
"How the hell could it have happened?" He muttered. He ducked as a wolf lunged at him from the side and his right hand flashed back over his shoulder. He spun hard on one foot, arm lashing out just as the beast turned and lunged again. The edge of his blade cleaved through the creatures neck leaving a red line of digitized damage across it. The health bar dropped to zero and a moment later the creature exploded into a cloud of light as it died.
"How did they get the virus into the system?" A chime echoed in his ears telling him that he'd just leveled up but he ignored it, preferring to keep running. "Introducing a virus into the games system should have been impossible."
All around him, people and monsters milled about. Many of the players looked lost, panicked as he felt, and the creatures seemed more menacing and frightening now, knowing that death was permanent once again in a world where it should have been nothing but an annoyance to die in battle. This escape from reality had taken a turn for the real, with lasting consequences.
He finally neared the city, walls rushing by on his right side as he ran while players and monsters dotted the rolling grassland to his left. He could hear voices raised in anger, fear, and dismay. The clash of steel rang through the air and the glass shattering sound of monsters and players alike losing their lives floated unerringly toward him.
His vision blurred and he rubbed at his eyes, attempting to scrub away the tears that threatened. When he was finally able to see again, he looked to the path in front of him just in time to see an attractive young woman exit the city gates right in his path.
"Lookout!" He cried just as he crashed into her, sending them both tumbling painfully to the ground. Rhys rolled several times on the rocky ground at the cities entrance and groaned quietly once he came to a stop. "Oh, son of a fecking... I'm sorry about that. Are you ok?" He pushed himself shakily to a kneeling position and glanced over, hoping she wasn't injured.
Rhys Devereux
Age: 23 years old
Age: 23 years old
I'll get a post in as soon as I can. Currently rushing to go cover for a guy at work but I'll work on it.
April 1st, 2032
“Holy crap that’s bright!”
Rhys lifted one hand, covering his eyes against the bright light that assaulted them. “What the hell happened?” he muttered. “I thought I was gonna play Firewind.”
“Welcome, Player,” a computerized voice broke in. “You have entered the staging area for the Fully Immersive Virtual Reality MMORPG known as Firewind.”
His eyes, which had been squinted almost completely shut behind his hand, shot open and he sat up, jerking upright as if someone had just sent a jolt of electricity through his body.
Body. His body.
“My body,” he muttered and looked down at himself. He was wearing a simple pair of brown boots and pants and a loose, black shirt. The kinda stuff you’d imagine in a fantasy book. That aside it didn’t look like regular clothes. The colors were… bright… vibrant in a way he just couldn’t explain. Even the room around him looked different.
“It’s like I’m living in an anime,” he muttered. “Everything’s brighter than the real world.” He scrambled to his feet and looked around him. He was in a relatively plain room, maybe fifty by fifty feet square. He had been laying on the ground in the exact center of the room and on the wall directly across from him stood two doors.
He studied them for a moment and considered what the computer voice had said.
“Character creation?” he muttered. “OH! I have to create my game avatar!” He walked over to the doors and noticed that although both looked identical in nearly every way there was one distinct difference. Each door had a round plate in the center, and on that plate was a male or female figure, much like you’d see on a public restroom.
“Guess that’s how you pick the avatars gender?” he said to himself and with a shrug pushed open the male door and stepped into another room.
The second room was nearly identical to the first save for a single small pedestal standing in the exact center of the room. On the pedestal stood a figure that he realized was wearing the exact same clothing that he was, and as he got closer he was able to make out a few more details. “Whoa,” he muttered as he came to within a few feet of the motionless figure. “That’s me.”
The figure on the pedestal was an exact copy of himself. It was like looking into a mirror in three dimensions. He walked around the figure, looking at it from all angles. “How the hell did they get such an exact scan?” he wondered.
“Records indicate that you have chosen to play as your real life gender,” the computer voice said again, seeming to come from every direction at once. “Standard procedure is to offer the player the option to play as themselves when they have chosen their own gender. If you would rather not play in your own body than you may make adjustments to your avatars in game appearance, if you like.”
“That’s so weird,” he said with a laugh and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet for a moment. “Man this is nuts, it really feels like I’m standing here. I mean, I know I’m lying in bed at home right now but… it’s so real.”
“Please indicate if you will play as yourself or if you will change your avatar,” the voice asked and he frowned.
“Kinda pushy for a computer game,” he muttered but he walked over to the center pedestal and looked at the figure of himself. After a minutes thought he shrugged.
“Why not. Might as well play as me.”
There was a flash of light and he cried out, falling back slightly with his arms up in front of his face to ward off the glare once again. When the light faded, and he was able to lower his arms, he blinked several times, not sure at first if what he was seeing was actually there.
Instead of a single pedestal with a single figure there were now several. Each with an identical copy of himself standing on it. But now each figure was holding a different weapon. Giant battle Axes, Broad Swords, one handed long swords, cross bows, and on and on. He moved from left to right, and as he did the figures shifted, sliding along as if they were on a conveyer belt. He stopped before one figure and held his hand up in front of him, palm facing the figure. A small menu appeared in front of him and he started tapping at the buttons floating in the air.
“Jeez, this is gonna take some getting used to,” he muttered but carefully read over the information. “Ok,” he muttered. “So different weapons belong to different classes, and different classes get different skills. Skills are how you can be most effective in combat. Weapons skills are like special attacks… Ok, nothing I didn’t already read in the manual…”
“So, Rogue, Warrior, Archer, etc. All the classics. And a bunch of others that are more specialized.” He walked to his right, watching as the figures slid by him while he seemed to stay in the very center of the room. Finally a figure landed in front of him and he grinned. In one hand it held a slim long sword, simple and elegant with a straight, double edged blade, and in the other a shorter blade. He reached out and opened the menu again and just before he touched the button to select the Dual Wielder as his class the short blade in the figures hand seemed to flicker.
Then his finger touched the button and a wash of warm light flowed over him.
A moment later the agony hit and he started to scream.
April 1, 2032
“Oh my god. Oh my god, holy crap, god dammit…” Rhys muttered to himself over and over and over. He wasn’t even aware he was speaking, really. Not for a while at least. It took some time for him to come to his senses and when he did he found himself lying on the ground, the grass scratching at his cheek and the exposed skin of his arms.
“Holy… what the hell happened?” he gasped and pushed himself shakily to his hands and knees. He was wearing a simple pair of brown boots, brown trousers and a dark green shirt. The kind of clothes you’d imagine in most fantasy books or games and he lifted his head, groggily. It took a lot longer to do so than he thought it really should have as he kept having to fight the almost irresistible desire to just fall over and go back to sleep.
“That hurt. I mean that really, really, hurt. It wasn’t supposed to hurt was it? I thought playing a game wasn’t supposed to hurt. It’s just a game. Why did it hurt? What the hell happened?” As he continued talking he realized he was starting to sound more desperate, bordering on hysterical so he clamped his jaw shut tightly against the rambling words that still wanted to spill out of him and fought back the panic rising in his chest.
He pushed hard, falling over onto his hip until he could roll onto his butt. Finally seated on the grass he looked around and for a brief moment nearly forgot the agony he had experienced just moments before.
In the distance, maybe a ten minute walk from where he stood, stood a massive city, the likes of which he had never seen. Stone walls surrounded it and towers stood at regular intervals along the wall. The surrounding countryside was rolling grassy hills and gentle valleys, scores of monsters roaming about. Wolves, and creatures he couldn’t identify. Excitement flooded through him but it was tempered by the weakness and residual pain he still felt.
“Ok. I’m in Firewind. That’s obvious enough. But what the hell happened?” He crossed his legs and propped his elbows on his knees, chin dropping into his hands a moment later as he frowned and considered the situation.
“I logged into the staging area,” he muttered. “Created my character, and then I officially logged into the game itself.” Everything appeared to be ok up to that point. “Next thing I know I’m in the worst agony I’ve ever experienced in my life and I’m waking up out here.”
He looked around again. The sun had risen in the distance, still hanging low toward the horizon and a few people could be seen leaving the town and making their way out into the fields. Within minutes the sound of battle could be heard, people yelling and the clash of metal.
“Alright, that hurt, we’ve figured that out. Next order of business, what’s my current condition?” He stood and took stock of himself. He still felt a bit weak but every minute that passed had him getting stronger and the pain was slowly receding. He was still wearing the simple outfit he’d had on in the staging area but now he also had a brown cloak and a leather strap wrapped around his chest. Reaching up and back, he found the hilt of a sword protruding over his right shoulder but he found now secondary weapon.
“Looks like I’ll have to buy myself a short sword?” he mused.
Lifting his hand, he swiped it through the air in front of him. A moment later a menu opened and above that a single green health bar appeared. He frowned immediately as he took a closer look at his health bar.
He had one hundred hit points. But his bar was at ninety. The last ten points in his bar were blacked out. Checking his inventory he found a health potion and downed it but his health bar stayed exactly as it was. “What the heck is going on?” he muttered.
“Ok, how long was I out?” He searched through the menu until he found a clock. “7:20 in the morning?” He shook his head and looked at the time again. It hadn’t changed.
“How the hell did I sleep all night? Is it even possible to sleep in a game? I’ve gotta log out and I haven’t even done anything yet, dammit.”
He reached for the menu icons again to log out when one of the buttons on his menu started to flash and he blinked, staring at the simple button marked ‘messages’. With a shrug he pressed the button and another window opened, a small wall of text scrolling by slowly as he read.
Welcome to the fifth anniversary celebration of Firewind! I'm sure some of you might have noticed by now that friends that have died in game haven't respawned. I am sorry to tell you that they're dead, :) They won't be coming back. Firewind has become a much more realistic game than ever before. Dying in game will result in real world death.
Also, no one can log out of the game anymore. Removing the FIVR gear from your physical body in the real world will also result in death. Noticing a theme here peoples? We're going to have so much fun!!
In other news, here's what's happening. Six servers were affected with twenty-five thousand players logged onto each. If you're doing the math at home then you know that you're trapped in this wonderful, beautiful, ever evolving world with 150,000 of your closest friends. Well... except for those that have died already.
Getting to the beauty of it though, you'll be noticing some changes to the world around you as time goes on, I don't want to spoil the surprises so I'll leave them for you to discover. Otherwise there's only one other thing that you need to know. There IS a way to escape this world. There is a quest that can be completed, or an artifact that needs to be found, maybe a specific boss to destroy. If someone discovers the key, the virus I uploaded will be destroyed and you'll all be able to log out of the game.
In the meantime, have fun, and try not to die! :*
The more he read, the colder he felt. By the time he reached the end he was sure he had ice water flowing through his virtual veins instead of blood.
“Holy crap.” He closed the windows with another swipe of his hand and looked out over the gentle grassland again. About a hundred feet away a small group of new players were attacking a pack of wolves. Four players to half a dozen monsters and the chill he felt grew even colder. One of the players, a young looking man, swung at the lead wolf and scored a hit with his mace. The beast shuddered and a moment later shattered into a thousand shards of light.
Through the glittering cloud of virtual debris a second wolf lunged, its teeth flashing bright in the sunlight and closed on the mains throat. His HP bar dropped all the way to zero and his body shattered, just like the wolves had.
“Aw, damn it, Ryan got himself killed already?” one of the players yelled and the other two laughed.
Rhys swallowed hard, turned his back on them, and started running as hard as he could toward the city gates.
“Holy crap that’s bright!”
Rhys lifted one hand, covering his eyes against the bright light that assaulted them. “What the hell happened?” he muttered. “I thought I was gonna play Firewind.”
“Welcome, Player,” a computerized voice broke in. “You have entered the staging area for the Fully Immersive Virtual Reality MMORPG known as Firewind.”
His eyes, which had been squinted almost completely shut behind his hand, shot open and he sat up, jerking upright as if someone had just sent a jolt of electricity through his body.
Body. His body.
“My body,” he muttered and looked down at himself. He was wearing a simple pair of brown boots and pants and a loose, black shirt. The kinda stuff you’d imagine in a fantasy book. That aside it didn’t look like regular clothes. The colors were… bright… vibrant in a way he just couldn’t explain. Even the room around him looked different.
“It’s like I’m living in an anime,” he muttered. “Everything’s brighter than the real world.” He scrambled to his feet and looked around him. He was in a relatively plain room, maybe fifty by fifty feet square. He had been laying on the ground in the exact center of the room and on the wall directly across from him stood two doors.
He studied them for a moment and considered what the computer voice had said.
“Character creation?” he muttered. “OH! I have to create my game avatar!” He walked over to the doors and noticed that although both looked identical in nearly every way there was one distinct difference. Each door had a round plate in the center, and on that plate was a male or female figure, much like you’d see on a public restroom.
“Guess that’s how you pick the avatars gender?” he said to himself and with a shrug pushed open the male door and stepped into another room.
The second room was nearly identical to the first save for a single small pedestal standing in the exact center of the room. On the pedestal stood a figure that he realized was wearing the exact same clothing that he was, and as he got closer he was able to make out a few more details. “Whoa,” he muttered as he came to within a few feet of the motionless figure. “That’s me.”
The figure on the pedestal was an exact copy of himself. It was like looking into a mirror in three dimensions. He walked around the figure, looking at it from all angles. “How the hell did they get such an exact scan?” he wondered.
“Records indicate that you have chosen to play as your real life gender,” the computer voice said again, seeming to come from every direction at once. “Standard procedure is to offer the player the option to play as themselves when they have chosen their own gender. If you would rather not play in your own body than you may make adjustments to your avatars in game appearance, if you like.”
“That’s so weird,” he said with a laugh and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet for a moment. “Man this is nuts, it really feels like I’m standing here. I mean, I know I’m lying in bed at home right now but… it’s so real.”
“Please indicate if you will play as yourself or if you will change your avatar,” the voice asked and he frowned.
“Kinda pushy for a computer game,” he muttered but he walked over to the center pedestal and looked at the figure of himself. After a minutes thought he shrugged.
“Why not. Might as well play as me.”
There was a flash of light and he cried out, falling back slightly with his arms up in front of his face to ward off the glare once again. When the light faded, and he was able to lower his arms, he blinked several times, not sure at first if what he was seeing was actually there.
Instead of a single pedestal with a single figure there were now several. Each with an identical copy of himself standing on it. But now each figure was holding a different weapon. Giant battle Axes, Broad Swords, one handed long swords, cross bows, and on and on. He moved from left to right, and as he did the figures shifted, sliding along as if they were on a conveyer belt. He stopped before one figure and held his hand up in front of him, palm facing the figure. A small menu appeared in front of him and he started tapping at the buttons floating in the air.
“Jeez, this is gonna take some getting used to,” he muttered but carefully read over the information. “Ok,” he muttered. “So different weapons belong to different classes, and different classes get different skills. Skills are how you can be most effective in combat. Weapons skills are like special attacks… Ok, nothing I didn’t already read in the manual…”
“So, Rogue, Warrior, Archer, etc. All the classics. And a bunch of others that are more specialized.” He walked to his right, watching as the figures slid by him while he seemed to stay in the very center of the room. Finally a figure landed in front of him and he grinned. In one hand it held a slim long sword, simple and elegant with a straight, double edged blade, and in the other a shorter blade. He reached out and opened the menu again and just before he touched the button to select the Dual Wielder as his class the short blade in the figures hand seemed to flicker.
Then his finger touched the button and a wash of warm light flowed over him.
A moment later the agony hit and he started to scream.
April 1, 2032
“Oh my god. Oh my god, holy crap, god dammit…” Rhys muttered to himself over and over and over. He wasn’t even aware he was speaking, really. Not for a while at least. It took some time for him to come to his senses and when he did he found himself lying on the ground, the grass scratching at his cheek and the exposed skin of his arms.
“Holy… what the hell happened?” he gasped and pushed himself shakily to his hands and knees. He was wearing a simple pair of brown boots, brown trousers and a dark green shirt. The kind of clothes you’d imagine in most fantasy books or games and he lifted his head, groggily. It took a lot longer to do so than he thought it really should have as he kept having to fight the almost irresistible desire to just fall over and go back to sleep.
“That hurt. I mean that really, really, hurt. It wasn’t supposed to hurt was it? I thought playing a game wasn’t supposed to hurt. It’s just a game. Why did it hurt? What the hell happened?” As he continued talking he realized he was starting to sound more desperate, bordering on hysterical so he clamped his jaw shut tightly against the rambling words that still wanted to spill out of him and fought back the panic rising in his chest.
He pushed hard, falling over onto his hip until he could roll onto his butt. Finally seated on the grass he looked around and for a brief moment nearly forgot the agony he had experienced just moments before.
In the distance, maybe a ten minute walk from where he stood, stood a massive city, the likes of which he had never seen. Stone walls surrounded it and towers stood at regular intervals along the wall. The surrounding countryside was rolling grassy hills and gentle valleys, scores of monsters roaming about. Wolves, and creatures he couldn’t identify. Excitement flooded through him but it was tempered by the weakness and residual pain he still felt.
“Ok. I’m in Firewind. That’s obvious enough. But what the hell happened?” He crossed his legs and propped his elbows on his knees, chin dropping into his hands a moment later as he frowned and considered the situation.
“I logged into the staging area,” he muttered. “Created my character, and then I officially logged into the game itself.” Everything appeared to be ok up to that point. “Next thing I know I’m in the worst agony I’ve ever experienced in my life and I’m waking up out here.”
He looked around again. The sun had risen in the distance, still hanging low toward the horizon and a few people could be seen leaving the town and making their way out into the fields. Within minutes the sound of battle could be heard, people yelling and the clash of metal.
“Alright, that hurt, we’ve figured that out. Next order of business, what’s my current condition?” He stood and took stock of himself. He still felt a bit weak but every minute that passed had him getting stronger and the pain was slowly receding. He was still wearing the simple outfit he’d had on in the staging area but now he also had a brown cloak and a leather strap wrapped around his chest. Reaching up and back, he found the hilt of a sword protruding over his right shoulder but he found now secondary weapon.
“Looks like I’ll have to buy myself a short sword?” he mused.
Lifting his hand, he swiped it through the air in front of him. A moment later a menu opened and above that a single green health bar appeared. He frowned immediately as he took a closer look at his health bar.
He had one hundred hit points. But his bar was at ninety. The last ten points in his bar were blacked out. Checking his inventory he found a health potion and downed it but his health bar stayed exactly as it was. “What the heck is going on?” he muttered.
“Ok, how long was I out?” He searched through the menu until he found a clock. “7:20 in the morning?” He shook his head and looked at the time again. It hadn’t changed.
“How the hell did I sleep all night? Is it even possible to sleep in a game? I’ve gotta log out and I haven’t even done anything yet, dammit.”
He reached for the menu icons again to log out when one of the buttons on his menu started to flash and he blinked, staring at the simple button marked ‘messages’. With a shrug he pressed the button and another window opened, a small wall of text scrolling by slowly as he read.
Welcome to the fifth anniversary celebration of Firewind! I'm sure some of you might have noticed by now that friends that have died in game haven't respawned. I am sorry to tell you that they're dead, :) They won't be coming back. Firewind has become a much more realistic game than ever before. Dying in game will result in real world death.
Also, no one can log out of the game anymore. Removing the FIVR gear from your physical body in the real world will also result in death. Noticing a theme here peoples? We're going to have so much fun!!
In other news, here's what's happening. Six servers were affected with twenty-five thousand players logged onto each. If you're doing the math at home then you know that you're trapped in this wonderful, beautiful, ever evolving world with 150,000 of your closest friends. Well... except for those that have died already.
Getting to the beauty of it though, you'll be noticing some changes to the world around you as time goes on, I don't want to spoil the surprises so I'll leave them for you to discover. Otherwise there's only one other thing that you need to know. There IS a way to escape this world. There is a quest that can be completed, or an artifact that needs to be found, maybe a specific boss to destroy. If someone discovers the key, the virus I uploaded will be destroyed and you'll all be able to log out of the game.
In the meantime, have fun, and try not to die! :*
The more he read, the colder he felt. By the time he reached the end he was sure he had ice water flowing through his virtual veins instead of blood.
“Holy crap.” He closed the windows with another swipe of his hand and looked out over the gentle grassland again. About a hundred feet away a small group of new players were attacking a pack of wolves. Four players to half a dozen monsters and the chill he felt grew even colder. One of the players, a young looking man, swung at the lead wolf and scored a hit with his mace. The beast shuddered and a moment later shattered into a thousand shards of light.
Through the glittering cloud of virtual debris a second wolf lunged, its teeth flashing bright in the sunlight and closed on the mains throat. His HP bar dropped all the way to zero and his body shattered, just like the wolves had.
“Aw, damn it, Ryan got himself killed already?” one of the players yelled and the other two laughed.
Rhys swallowed hard, turned his back on them, and started running as hard as he could toward the city gates.
Derrick nodded. "Yeah, me own powers caused some troubles back home." The dwarves vanished, fading into tiny motes of light before vanishing all together. "Me Da' was being' talked ta by some o' that IRA and when one o' them found out what I could do they threatened ta out me ta the government unless me Da' did some work for them."
He took a drink of his coffee and shrugged his broad shoulders. "Da' packed us all up and we headed fer the states as soon as possible after that. I wasn't stupid enough that I couldn't figure out it was my fault, so as soon as I was old enough I left, gave them the opportunity to go back home if they wanted."
"So what is it that ye, can do?" he asked after a minute of awkward silence. "Do ye create electricity or absorb it or something'?"
He took a drink of his coffee and shrugged his broad shoulders. "Da' packed us all up and we headed fer the states as soon as possible after that. I wasn't stupid enough that I couldn't figure out it was my fault, so as soon as I was old enough I left, gave them the opportunity to go back home if they wanted."
"So what is it that ye, can do?" he asked after a minute of awkward silence. "Do ye create electricity or absorb it or something'?"
March 31, 2032
“Holy crap.” Rhys was astounded. The fact that he had said nothing but those two words for the previous ten minutes showed just how astounded he truly was. There was a man in his bedroom, plugging in cables and setting up a brand new console on his desk. The guy had been waiting outside his apartment after he got home from work that afternoon. He hadn't believed he'd actually win one of the consoles, not so close to the fifth anniversary celebration. But there it was. Answer a short survey and look what it got him. All he had to do was plug in a program that would gather player data for Yxel Entertainment.
The desk sat next to his bed, placed there so he could game lying down if he so desired, and for a moment he felt a glimmer of confusion when the brand new gaming system didn’t include a monitor. He wondered if he would need to go out and get himself a new monitor, or if his old gaming monitor would be compatible with the new system, when realization struck. A second later his hand struck as he smacked himself in the forehead.
“Idiot,” he muttered. “Of course there’s no monitor, it’s a virtual reality game, the image is projected into your head.”
“Alright, Kid. Here ya go, yer all set up. All ya need to do is go through these instructions, initialize the system and let the software updates install. That should take a few hours so be prepared to wait, ok?” Rhys nodded, accepting the manual from the tech that installed his new console. “Once the software updates are complete all you need to do is install the game.” He held out a small plastic stick, roughly half an inch wide and two inches long that contained his new Firewind Game.
“Oh, and ya gotta plug in this sub-routine also. They want to collect all the data they can on how you play and all that crap.” He shrugged dismissively and handed Rhys a second data stick.
“While your game is installing you need to plug in the hardware and put it on, there’ll be prompts that will explain what you need to do. Young guy like you, I’m sure you’ll figure out the rest in no time.” He patted Rhys on the shoulder, collected his equipment, and left without another word. Rhys stood there, dumbfounded that he had actually won the console. Whatever it was they were looking for they found it in his answers to their questions and he was now the proud owner of a brand new Yxel FIVR Console System.
He stared at the stick in his hand for a few moments longer before a delighted smile spread across his face, his hands balled into fists and he suddenly threw his arms into the air and screamed as loud as he possibly could.
“WHOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!” he shrieked and cheered and started jumping around his room like a complete lunatic until one of his neighbors started pounding on the wall.
“Sorry!” he yelled, even though he felt anything but. Without waiting another moment he ran over to his desk, settled himself in the simple chair and turned on the console.
Nothing happened.
He frowned and looked at the sleek black device. A light was on, blinking beneath the power button on the front and there was a quiet humming sound coming from the sixteen linked micro-processors and three cooling fans used to keep it from overheating.
It was on, obviously, but it wasn’t doing anything that he could see.
A moment later his hand connected with his forehead again.
“Idiot, there’s no monitor.”
He reached out and snagged the black, glossy box off of his bed. The box that was filled with the hardware he would need to play the game. It took a bit of fiddling, and flipping through the instruction manual that he had been handed by the installation tech, but eventually he found a small driver plugged into a slot on the headset, which he plugged into the console. A small light on the driver lit up and he pulled the head gear on and pulled down the visor.
The whole thing looked like a grav-cycle helmet. It had a smooth, cool, metal exterior, but the inside was cushioned and lined with a soft fabric that he new would conform to the shape of his skull once it was flipped on. He plugged in the headset itself to the wall outlet near his bed, then reached up, and pressed the button next to his jaw.
A moment later the entire device lit up like a kaleadiscopic light show. The visor showed a dazzling array of colors and designs flashing across it’s curved surface for several seconds before it settled onto a simple message.
Welcome to your Yxel Entertainment Systems FIVR Gaming Console. Software update in progress, please wait until this update has completed before you continue.
He sighed, irritably. The tech had said it could take a while for the software update to complete itself.
“So what am I supposed to do, just sit here and wait?” he grumbled to himself.
You do not have to remain within your Yxel Headset while Software update continues. If you wish to set it down and return later, you are more than welcome to do so.
Rhys blinked. “Did… did the console just respond to me?” he asked.
No. The Yxel Entertainment Systems FIVR Console did not respond to your question. The Y.E.S FIVR Headset, did. Please, remove your headset and return in… 5 hours.
Rhys quickly pulled off the headset and stared at it in utter astonishment for a moment before he started chuckling quietly to himself. “That’s nuts,” he muttered.
“Voice recognition software on top or everything else. No wonder these damn units are so friggin’ expensive.”
He shrugged and set the headset aside, and went into the kitchen to get something to eat. Nothing to be done until the software finished updating anyway. While he ate he read through the instruction manual cover to cover, then dug through the box and pulled out all the included literature on the Firewind gaming world itself.
“Multiple classes, jobs, and skill-sets,” he muttered several hours later as he read through the game manual for the third time. “Shop keep to Black Smithing, artificing… jeez, this is nuts. It’s really its own world. People can get jobs inside the game. You can buy a house, furniture, hell you can get married?” He laughed and tossed the book aside.
A glance at the clock told him that his five hours were up so he grinned and hurried into his room to try out his new game.
He sat on his bed and pulled the headset on again only to find himself facing a blank visor.
“Umm… hello?” he ventured.
A moment later light played across the inside of the visor again and he breathed a nearly silent sigh of relief as words start scrolling across his field of vision.
Software update: Complete
Initializing system start-up.
Start-up: complete.
………………
………………
………………
Please insert game stick in port 01
He dug the data stick for the game from his pocket and inserted it carefully into the port on the console.
Error: Unit requires data retrieval sub-routine before beginning installation
“Oh shit, where was that….” Rhys blinked in surprise when the game wouldn’t even install and than remembered the second data stick that the tech had handed to him. The one he had promised to plug into his console before running the game so it could collect the data as part of his agreement with them. He dug around in the box the hardware had come in and found the stick where he’d left it and quickly inserted it into the port marked 02. Immediately the error message disappeared and the game began installing.
“Hells yeah,” he muttered and bounced slightly on his bed. He was wound up. Filled with nervous energy and he couldn’t wait to get started. He glanced at the clock. Five minutes to midnight on March 31st. “No work tomorrow. Mom’s coming by in the afternoon so that’s not a big deal. I could play for a few hours and get to sleep late tonight…”
He grinned, and without giving it another thought laid back on his bed and got comfortable. It took a little maneuvering to get his head situated comfortably with the gear on but he managed and as the clock ticked over to 12:00 a.m he spoke calmly and clearly despite the nervous energy that was flooding his body.
“Start up, initialization. Connect.”
“Holy crap.” Rhys was astounded. The fact that he had said nothing but those two words for the previous ten minutes showed just how astounded he truly was. There was a man in his bedroom, plugging in cables and setting up a brand new console on his desk. The guy had been waiting outside his apartment after he got home from work that afternoon. He hadn't believed he'd actually win one of the consoles, not so close to the fifth anniversary celebration. But there it was. Answer a short survey and look what it got him. All he had to do was plug in a program that would gather player data for Yxel Entertainment.
The desk sat next to his bed, placed there so he could game lying down if he so desired, and for a moment he felt a glimmer of confusion when the brand new gaming system didn’t include a monitor. He wondered if he would need to go out and get himself a new monitor, or if his old gaming monitor would be compatible with the new system, when realization struck. A second later his hand struck as he smacked himself in the forehead.
“Idiot,” he muttered. “Of course there’s no monitor, it’s a virtual reality game, the image is projected into your head.”
“Alright, Kid. Here ya go, yer all set up. All ya need to do is go through these instructions, initialize the system and let the software updates install. That should take a few hours so be prepared to wait, ok?” Rhys nodded, accepting the manual from the tech that installed his new console. “Once the software updates are complete all you need to do is install the game.” He held out a small plastic stick, roughly half an inch wide and two inches long that contained his new Firewind Game.
“Oh, and ya gotta plug in this sub-routine also. They want to collect all the data they can on how you play and all that crap.” He shrugged dismissively and handed Rhys a second data stick.
“While your game is installing you need to plug in the hardware and put it on, there’ll be prompts that will explain what you need to do. Young guy like you, I’m sure you’ll figure out the rest in no time.” He patted Rhys on the shoulder, collected his equipment, and left without another word. Rhys stood there, dumbfounded that he had actually won the console. Whatever it was they were looking for they found it in his answers to their questions and he was now the proud owner of a brand new Yxel FIVR Console System.
He stared at the stick in his hand for a few moments longer before a delighted smile spread across his face, his hands balled into fists and he suddenly threw his arms into the air and screamed as loud as he possibly could.
“WHOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!” he shrieked and cheered and started jumping around his room like a complete lunatic until one of his neighbors started pounding on the wall.
“Sorry!” he yelled, even though he felt anything but. Without waiting another moment he ran over to his desk, settled himself in the simple chair and turned on the console.
Nothing happened.
He frowned and looked at the sleek black device. A light was on, blinking beneath the power button on the front and there was a quiet humming sound coming from the sixteen linked micro-processors and three cooling fans used to keep it from overheating.
It was on, obviously, but it wasn’t doing anything that he could see.
A moment later his hand connected with his forehead again.
“Idiot, there’s no monitor.”
He reached out and snagged the black, glossy box off of his bed. The box that was filled with the hardware he would need to play the game. It took a bit of fiddling, and flipping through the instruction manual that he had been handed by the installation tech, but eventually he found a small driver plugged into a slot on the headset, which he plugged into the console. A small light on the driver lit up and he pulled the head gear on and pulled down the visor.
The whole thing looked like a grav-cycle helmet. It had a smooth, cool, metal exterior, but the inside was cushioned and lined with a soft fabric that he new would conform to the shape of his skull once it was flipped on. He plugged in the headset itself to the wall outlet near his bed, then reached up, and pressed the button next to his jaw.
A moment later the entire device lit up like a kaleadiscopic light show. The visor showed a dazzling array of colors and designs flashing across it’s curved surface for several seconds before it settled onto a simple message.
Welcome to your Yxel Entertainment Systems FIVR Gaming Console. Software update in progress, please wait until this update has completed before you continue.
He sighed, irritably. The tech had said it could take a while for the software update to complete itself.
“So what am I supposed to do, just sit here and wait?” he grumbled to himself.
You do not have to remain within your Yxel Headset while Software update continues. If you wish to set it down and return later, you are more than welcome to do so.
Rhys blinked. “Did… did the console just respond to me?” he asked.
No. The Yxel Entertainment Systems FIVR Console did not respond to your question. The Y.E.S FIVR Headset, did. Please, remove your headset and return in… 5 hours.
Rhys quickly pulled off the headset and stared at it in utter astonishment for a moment before he started chuckling quietly to himself. “That’s nuts,” he muttered.
“Voice recognition software on top or everything else. No wonder these damn units are so friggin’ expensive.”
He shrugged and set the headset aside, and went into the kitchen to get something to eat. Nothing to be done until the software finished updating anyway. While he ate he read through the instruction manual cover to cover, then dug through the box and pulled out all the included literature on the Firewind gaming world itself.
“Multiple classes, jobs, and skill-sets,” he muttered several hours later as he read through the game manual for the third time. “Shop keep to Black Smithing, artificing… jeez, this is nuts. It’s really its own world. People can get jobs inside the game. You can buy a house, furniture, hell you can get married?” He laughed and tossed the book aside.
A glance at the clock told him that his five hours were up so he grinned and hurried into his room to try out his new game.
He sat on his bed and pulled the headset on again only to find himself facing a blank visor.
“Umm… hello?” he ventured.
A moment later light played across the inside of the visor again and he breathed a nearly silent sigh of relief as words start scrolling across his field of vision.
Software update: Complete
Initializing system start-up.
Start-up: complete.
………………
………………
………………
Please insert game stick in port 01
He dug the data stick for the game from his pocket and inserted it carefully into the port on the console.
Error: Unit requires data retrieval sub-routine before beginning installation
“Oh shit, where was that….” Rhys blinked in surprise when the game wouldn’t even install and than remembered the second data stick that the tech had handed to him. The one he had promised to plug into his console before running the game so it could collect the data as part of his agreement with them. He dug around in the box the hardware had come in and found the stick where he’d left it and quickly inserted it into the port marked 02. Immediately the error message disappeared and the game began installing.
“Hells yeah,” he muttered and bounced slightly on his bed. He was wound up. Filled with nervous energy and he couldn’t wait to get started. He glanced at the clock. Five minutes to midnight on March 31st. “No work tomorrow. Mom’s coming by in the afternoon so that’s not a big deal. I could play for a few hours and get to sleep late tonight…”
He grinned, and without giving it another thought laid back on his bed and got comfortable. It took a little maneuvering to get his head situated comfortably with the gear on but he managed and as the clock ticked over to 12:00 a.m he spoke calmly and clearly despite the nervous energy that was flooding his body.
“Start up, initialization. Connect.”
Here we got for the start!
March 30, 2032
The Fivers took over the gaming world in the year 2025. Fully Immersive Virtual Reality, referred to as the Fiver system by the general public. The FIVR gaming system, created by Yxel Entertainment Systems, allowed for a virtual reality environment that made the player feel as if they were truly living inside the game. Sight, touch, sound, smell, and even taste.
Games began to come out of the wood work using the FIVR system, but none of them really took full advantage of the programs capabilities. Until two years after the initial launch of the FIVR System.
Yxel Entertainment Consoles and Firewind. The first of their kind. A game system with such powerful servers behind it that players reported feeling like they were really in the game, like the game itself was real. More realistic, to some, than the real world. And a Game that truly utilized the capabilities of the FIVR system.
The Fifth anniversary of Firewind is rapidly approaching and it stands, at this time, as the largest MMORPG ever created with millions of players logging in from around the world on a daily basis. The games 10,000 servers are expected to be running at capacity this April first for the Fifth Anniversary Celebration planned by Yxel Entertainment.
Firewind is an open Sandbox type of fantasy RPG. There isn’t a specific plot or story to follow, but the world of Firewind does have its own rich history and there are storied quests and events that tend to pop up at various times throughout the months and years. With the Fifth Anniversary Patch a couple of new classes are going to be added to the game, as well as the introduction of simple Firearms, mainly pistols.
There is no Magic in Firewind, for simplicities sake players have Weapon Skills that can be activated using Skill Points. Skill points regenerate over time but can also be replaced with potions. Firewind, also has no level cap, but still the ten highest level characters in the game are in the mid 70’s after five years of playing. Leveling up once you get past level ten get’s harder and harder, it takes a lot more to increase levels as you go along but the benefits can be worth it.
Long run, Firewind is designed to force players to make friends and work together. No one can get past level 10 and into the deeper areas of Firewind working solo. Parties and Guilds are a requirement to advance in the world.
As of March 30, 2032, in the Five years that Firewind has been operating less than 25% of the world has been mapped by players. That’s how large the world within the game really is and how much there is to do within it. Some people have even married other players they’ve met within the game. They own shops, smithy’s, Taverns, and Inns. People have built there own lives within the gaming world and for many it’s as fulfilling or even more so than the real world.
Fiver’s are a new breed of gamer, with a better understanding of game mechanics and combat tactics than past generations needed for their games. So Let’s get into those mechanics a bit now.
Each player in Firewind has to decide on a few things when they create their initial character.
1. Is the character going to look like you do in the real world or are you going to create a false avatar? Many people have taken to using their real appearances in games, it’s becoming the norm for gamers to present themselves honestly. Some still like their anonymity though, and that’s alright.
2. You will have to decide on your class which will have a few basics, Fighter, Rogue, Paladin or Knight, that kinda thing. But I’m going to throw a couple of different classes in there in the initial post just to have a little fun.
3. Allocation of stats. Again, for the purpose of the RP we’re not going to worry too much about that but I just want you guys to know what the stats are and what they affect for the character so in discussion you can apply the terminology.
Stats are laid out thusly:
Strength- STR
Vitality- VIT
Agility- AGI
Dexterity- DEX
Intelligence- INT
Charisma- CHA
STR- Governs how much damage a player does with Melee weapons or in unarmed combat. Also affects the weight the player may lift and carry, as well as contributing toward their defense status.
VIT- Measures how many Hit Points the player has. When HP reaches zero, the player dies.
AGI- Directly correlates to a players movement and attack speed. The higher the agility, the more attacks a player can launch at an opponent in combat.
DEX- Governs the odds of a player landing a strike against an opponent, as well as the players ability to evade blows. DEX also governs the amount of damage a player can do with a ranged weapon.
INT- Governs the effectiveness of recovery items and special artifacts, as well as job skills such as blacksmithing, artificing, etc.
CHA- Governs a players ability to coerce NPCs. Higher CHA also means better discounts at NPC run shops. Has no bearing on interaction with other Players however.
March 30, 2032
The Fivers took over the gaming world in the year 2025. Fully Immersive Virtual Reality, referred to as the Fiver system by the general public. The FIVR gaming system, created by Yxel Entertainment Systems, allowed for a virtual reality environment that made the player feel as if they were truly living inside the game. Sight, touch, sound, smell, and even taste.
Games began to come out of the wood work using the FIVR system, but none of them really took full advantage of the programs capabilities. Until two years after the initial launch of the FIVR System.
Yxel Entertainment Consoles and Firewind. The first of their kind. A game system with such powerful servers behind it that players reported feeling like they were really in the game, like the game itself was real. More realistic, to some, than the real world. And a Game that truly utilized the capabilities of the FIVR system.
The Fifth anniversary of Firewind is rapidly approaching and it stands, at this time, as the largest MMORPG ever created with millions of players logging in from around the world on a daily basis. The games 10,000 servers are expected to be running at capacity this April first for the Fifth Anniversary Celebration planned by Yxel Entertainment.
Firewind is an open Sandbox type of fantasy RPG. There isn’t a specific plot or story to follow, but the world of Firewind does have its own rich history and there are storied quests and events that tend to pop up at various times throughout the months and years. With the Fifth Anniversary Patch a couple of new classes are going to be added to the game, as well as the introduction of simple Firearms, mainly pistols.
There is no Magic in Firewind, for simplicities sake players have Weapon Skills that can be activated using Skill Points. Skill points regenerate over time but can also be replaced with potions. Firewind, also has no level cap, but still the ten highest level characters in the game are in the mid 70’s after five years of playing. Leveling up once you get past level ten get’s harder and harder, it takes a lot more to increase levels as you go along but the benefits can be worth it.
Long run, Firewind is designed to force players to make friends and work together. No one can get past level 10 and into the deeper areas of Firewind working solo. Parties and Guilds are a requirement to advance in the world.
As of March 30, 2032, in the Five years that Firewind has been operating less than 25% of the world has been mapped by players. That’s how large the world within the game really is and how much there is to do within it. Some people have even married other players they’ve met within the game. They own shops, smithy’s, Taverns, and Inns. People have built there own lives within the gaming world and for many it’s as fulfilling or even more so than the real world.
Fiver’s are a new breed of gamer, with a better understanding of game mechanics and combat tactics than past generations needed for their games. So Let’s get into those mechanics a bit now.
Each player in Firewind has to decide on a few things when they create their initial character.
1. Is the character going to look like you do in the real world or are you going to create a false avatar? Many people have taken to using their real appearances in games, it’s becoming the norm for gamers to present themselves honestly. Some still like their anonymity though, and that’s alright.
2. You will have to decide on your class which will have a few basics, Fighter, Rogue, Paladin or Knight, that kinda thing. But I’m going to throw a couple of different classes in there in the initial post just to have a little fun.
3. Allocation of stats. Again, for the purpose of the RP we’re not going to worry too much about that but I just want you guys to know what the stats are and what they affect for the character so in discussion you can apply the terminology.
Stats are laid out thusly:
Strength- STR
Vitality- VIT
Agility- AGI
Dexterity- DEX
Intelligence- INT
Charisma- CHA
STR- Governs how much damage a player does with Melee weapons or in unarmed combat. Also affects the weight the player may lift and carry, as well as contributing toward their defense status.
VIT- Measures how many Hit Points the player has. When HP reaches zero, the player dies.
AGI- Directly correlates to a players movement and attack speed. The higher the agility, the more attacks a player can launch at an opponent in combat.
DEX- Governs the odds of a player landing a strike against an opponent, as well as the players ability to evade blows. DEX also governs the amount of damage a player can do with a ranged weapon.
INT- Governs the effectiveness of recovery items and special artifacts, as well as job skills such as blacksmithing, artificing, etc.
CHA- Governs a players ability to coerce NPCs. Higher CHA also means better discounts at NPC run shops. Has no bearing on interaction with other Players however.
Bump
Derrick sat, self consciously adjusting his leather vest. He sometimes forgot that he wasn't the savory looking type. Thick beard and a heavy belt knife strapped to his leg, most people acted nervous around him. This girl didn't seem even a little nervous though. Probably because she had some power to protect herself.
"Kind o' ye," he said and took a drink of his coffee. "I'm jest ridin' around, really. Jest lost me job up in Sacramento recently, so lookin' fer somethin' new, ye know?" He took the offered paper and held it up so that it blocked the view of their table from the rest of the shop.
"Actually, I'd stopped ta have a smoke not far from here and I saw somethin' interestin'. A girl with an orange mustang. She waved her hand over tha battery and the bleeding car just roared ta life. Damdest thing I ever saw." He lowered his voice so no one else would hear him. "Now, don't go worryin'. I ain't gonna out ye."
He focused, pressing an image into his mind and small motes of light gathered on the table in front of them. In seconds a half a dozen small fat characters were walking silently along the table. The seven dwarfs from snow white gathered at the base of his coffee cup. After debating amongst themselves one of them produced a rope with a grappling hook attached and threw it high into the air, for them. It hooked on the edge of his cup and they started climbing up the side.
"I'm a bit different meself, jest thought I'd say hello. Me names Derrick." He held his hand or as the dwarves reached the top of his cup and stood staring down into his coffee. "It's a pleasure ta meet ye."
@Nallore
"Kind o' ye," he said and took a drink of his coffee. "I'm jest ridin' around, really. Jest lost me job up in Sacramento recently, so lookin' fer somethin' new, ye know?" He took the offered paper and held it up so that it blocked the view of their table from the rest of the shop.
"Actually, I'd stopped ta have a smoke not far from here and I saw somethin' interestin'. A girl with an orange mustang. She waved her hand over tha battery and the bleeding car just roared ta life. Damdest thing I ever saw." He lowered his voice so no one else would hear him. "Now, don't go worryin'. I ain't gonna out ye."
He focused, pressing an image into his mind and small motes of light gathered on the table in front of them. In seconds a half a dozen small fat characters were walking silently along the table. The seven dwarfs from snow white gathered at the base of his coffee cup. After debating amongst themselves one of them produced a rope with a grappling hook attached and threw it high into the air, for them. It hooked on the edge of his cup and they started climbing up the side.
"I'm a bit different meself, jest thought I'd say hello. Me names Derrick." He held his hand or as the dwarves reached the top of his cup and stood staring down into his coffee. "It's a pleasure ta meet ye."
@Nallore
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