As Serina walked around, she found the town to be...absolutely jam-packed full of people. NPCs and players alike bustled about to accomplish whatever tasks it was that they needed to finish. Looking around, Serina noted a lot of the more ragged looking people, likely players, were carrying crates. This implied that some form of starter quest was available, however Serina didn't quite know how the mechanics of this worked. So, for now she aimlessly wandered the endless crowd of people, slipping through and creating a mental map of this town, learning where various places were.
After Serina had gotten a basic feel for where everything was, she saw a man, apparently human but he may be something else since Serina didn't quite have a feel for the races' appearances yet. This man was struggling with a heavy keg, so naturally Serina darted over to help him. Taking part of the weight into her arms, she asked him "Hello sir, do you need any help?" The young man smiled and said "Oh yes, actually could you help me with something else? This keg is full of ale for the tavern, I was going to slip away and deliver it but if you could do it for me I can watch my shop instead. Do you mind?"
A quest indicator appeared in the top-left of Serina's vision, though it vanished when she nodded and replied with a "Well, of course I can help!" With that, the man smiled, gave his thanks, and released his hold on the cask. Serina staggered briefly under the full weight of the cask but, with a loud grunt of effort, straightened out. She'd seen the tavern not too far away, so she began to slowly make her way there. Several males, apparently players, offered to help, but their smiles wreaked of lust so Serina turned them all down. After arriving at the Tavern 5 minutes later, she lugged it inside and the Barkeep ran to meet her.
The Barkeep, thankfully a big burly man, took the cask from her and said "Thank ya little miss, I've been waiting on this cask of ale. I'll pay ya, but do you think you could help me with a bit more?" Serina nodded but took this chance to ask a "Local" about the various races "Umm, actually before I do, do you think you could explain a bit to me about the different people here? I mean like the Veni Yan and the Novbelle, I mean." The Barkeep nodded kindly and said "Well, alright missy, I think I can do that." With that, the quest indicator in her view reappeared but changed
CHAPTER ONE: FROM MERCHANT TO MERCHANT COMPLETED
CHAPTER TWO: THE WORLD AND IT'S PEOPLE IN PROGRESS
"The Veni Yan are those magic types you may see running around, with their tattoos. Their big thing is castin elemental magic, you know like fire and what have you. I've never been a big fan of that stuff myself, but the Yan seem pretty big on it, so I guess there isn't really anything wrong with it. Their big thing is they hit like a ton of bricks, but if you get some good equipment, you can counter their elemental damage. I guess you could say they can be the toughest or the weakest out of us all."
Serina nodded and took the time to commit this to memory while the Barkeep briefly took his leave to deposit the Keg on the counter. "It's strange, he's just like a person even though he must be an NPC, theres no way a player could already own a shop. I mean, I know the devs said that the NPCs would be indistinguishable from real people, but this is kinda scary." Just as this thought passed through her head, the barkeep returned from his errand. He paused for a moment, saying "Where was I? Oh yea, just finished with the Yan, right?" Serina was going to nod but he forged ahead, saying "Then theres the Nobelle, kinda the exact opposites of the Yan."
"The Nobelle are usually a bit short-ish, or at least thats what I've been told. They aren't big on any kind of magic, not the Yan's and not like we do either with Ki, but you already know about that. Anywho, they make up for that by being really smart, and they make all kinds of tech to keep up with us and the Yan. Ya see, they fight in a few different ways. Some of em mix up some really crazy concoctions to hit with an element, like the Yan do. Others though, they fight with guns or with, umm whaddya call it, "Powered Arms" or something like that. So the Nobelle are really varied, no two are alike I don't think."
Serina nodded along to this explanation and thanked the barkeep, then asking "Oh! What did you need my help with!" The barkeep chuckled softly and said "I need some nuts for a special Alcohol I brew. Do you think you could go outside the town to hunt up some squirrels?" Serina nodded but added "Ummm, I don't have any weapons." The Barkeep chuckled again, that seemed to be his trademark, and said "I'll help ya with that. I'll give you a couple types of weapons and you decide which you like best while your out, and I'll let ya keep it, sound fair?" Serina smiled her own trademark smile and nodded, saying "Sure!" She was then taken to the back by the bartender, who pointed to a small shelf of weapons, saying "These beauties are usually given to me to pay off tabs, when they don't have cash, so they don't have any sentimental value or nothing."
With that, he selected an aging rifle and handed it to Serina, who equipped it immediately and read it's description. Outback Rifle: An aging rifle used by outdoorsmen for years. Held together by careful maintenance over the years, that doesn't mean it's effective.. She was then handed an equally aging sword, which she put in her inventory for the moment, whose description was Rusted Longsword: No doubt some old hero's weapon of choice in his last battle as a soldier, this weapon may hold sentimental value but it hold little else. It'll do it's job, but that doesn't mean it'll do it well With these weapons, she left the bar and walked outside, ready to finish her first quest as her quest marker again came up.
CHAPTER ONE: MERCHANT TO MERCHANT COMPLETED
CHAPTER TWO: THE WORLD AND IT'S PEOPLE COMPLETED
CHAPTER THREE: SMALL GAME HUNTINGIN PROGRESS