PP-F1 <First Day> Itzal and Verus

[Itzal 0]

Itzal didn't have much time to waste.  He walked briskly from the town of beginnings.  He had to learn more about this game.  He had to learn how to fight, to defend, to evade, and above all, how to survive.  To do that he would have to either find someone who knew the game or some other informant.  He wouldn't purchase anything yet as he had no idea what would be a good choice or not.  Itzal looked down as he picked up his pace.  Still.  He had a chance.  A chance to be strong and resilient, unlike his reality self.

Suddenly Itzal struck something solid and fell backwards, falling down.  He'd been so deep in thought that he hadn't been aware of his surroundings.  He would have to fix that soon.  He looked at what he ran into.

[trenttrent20 0]

After a few days of mob grinding just outside of the small village of Horunka, the Verus and Adhaerere had decided to cash out at where they began the game. The walk back took them a fair amount of time, but they'd eventually arrive. The primary focus was to find her some armor and meet back up later, so the plan was to split and try and cover twice as much ground. He waved as Adhaerere left to scour the Town of Beginnings and stood there for a moment, eyeing the massive gate they were standing under. He had never really taken the time to explore his spawn point. The only place he knew of in the town was the small pub he'd Adhae in. After that, they got out of town as quick as possible and started to grind a few levels just to be safe. He had no idea where any of the shops or restaurants were, and was slightly curious. 

 

The city was alive with NPC's, as he had somehow found his way into one of the many marketplaces of the town. His eyes were slightly above the crowd, being just tall enough to see over most of the bobbing heads. There was a strangely large amount of traffic in the small area, and he would get shoved or pushed every once in a while. The food vendors had seemed to be drawing in a lot of attention, but from what Verus was able to see it was all just basic ingredients. Adhae would have loved to come to this district. He had really gotten lucky with his first encounter with another player. It made him believe that players were mostly kind and strong, but then again he'd only have met two people so far.

 

He squeezed out of the crowd, literally pushing himself out of the belly of the mob of NPC's into an open area that was much less crowded. It was strange that they had gravitated into one collective instead of spreading out a little, but he did not think much of it afterwards. Verus dusted off a couple of hairs on his shirt and continued to search around, pausing for moment. Pulling up his menu and looking for a map of the city. A small green dot was moving in the opposite distance of him, and he could only assume that it was Adhae searching about. He zoomed out by pulling his hand in a pinching motion back at him, looking at the city as a whole. 

Verus' map disappeared as he was bumped into by a considerably smaller looking player. Verus looked slightly down at him and stared. He didn't look much different than Verus based on clothes alone, so it was as if they were both considered new players; even though he wasn't. "Well..."

 

[Itzal 0]

"Sorry," Itzal instinctively replied.  He noticed that this player was a bit taller than most people and wore the same basic clothes every player started with.  But that didn't mean he was as new as he was.  After all, one of his original plans were to purchase better weapons before getting armor, though as he considered before, he didn't know much about the game to make decisions like that yet.  Itzal looked at his face and saw that he was close to his age, maybe a little younger.  Tall and young he thought.  Many people thought that his small hight made him weak, especially the kids at his school in the real world.  What nobody really thought about however, was that he found a way to use his small height to his advantage.

Itzal rose to his feet and noticed the rapier hanging from the man's side.  This probably meant that he relied on quick and precise strikes rather than sheer force.  A style he could agree with.  Itzal placed his left hand on the back of his neck and looked to the side.

"Sorry about that," he apologized.  "I wasn't paying attention, deep in thought you know?"

[trenttrent20 0]

After assessing the situation for a moment, he grinned widely, showing that it was no big issue. He had offered a hand for the guy to get up, but the man was quick to rise. "Oh no worries man, everyone makes a mistake every once and a while." He repositioned his belt and fixed the straps that held his rapier. It hung on his left, being the only thing equipped on Verus. He really did need some more items and armor, but he just really wanted a better rapier. He was not too far from going up a tier with it, just a few more points and he'd be able to do much more damage then what he was doing now. The thought caused him to smile, but he quickly dismissed it, looking to the guy again. "If you were that deep in thought, can I assume you're a relatively new player?" Verus crossed his arms, cocking his hip slightly to lean to the left. "Or were you just looking for like, a store or something you know? This place is almost too big and confusing at first."

[Itzal 0]

Itzal saw the smile on the mans face and observed him in a new light.  He seemed nice enough and might be willing to share information.  Itzal didn't need much of course.  He just needed the basics than he'd be on his way to train.  A friend of his who played beta told him how to activate sword skills and such, but other than that he was at ground zero.  He tried messaging and finding his friend but to no avail.  He must have decided to wait a little longer before getting the Nerve Gear.  Lucky him.

"Yeah I'm pretty new.  That's why I'm not bothering with shops for now."  He chuckled.  "I wouldn't know what to buy or avoid."  He looked around the city.  "Not to mention I don't understand the mechanics of this game.  Just that it's an rpg fantasy game with no magic."

[trenttrent20 0]

Verus nodded his head to the guy's words, understanding his reasoning. Just another newbie running around undecided what to do. Though he hadn't met many others, he figured that most of them would get lost or something in the Town of Beginnings. "Save up your Col for a while, make armor your first priority. Level one was somewhat scary to deal with." His moved his left hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it slightly. "With low health and all, it's pretty freaky." He paused, mind focusing in on his partner who was somewhere in the city. Had she found anything? Was she alright? After a few seconds of silence on his part, he focused back in on the new guy. "Oh, yeah that's another thing. Find someone to help. I probably woulda died if I hadn't met my partner." Verus wore a confident grin after that, moving his hand down and letting it grip the hand of his rapier. It was tough, but now he was better off. He was about to hit level five and get up to twenty health. He thought about it a lot recently; being up that high would give him plenty of freedom to practice new things on lower level mobs. It would only get better for him from there.

[Itzal 0]

To this Itzal frowned.  Partner.  He sighed inwardly.  Although he was known by his family as a nice guy, he hated trusting someone completely new.  His one and only friend never got the nerve gear and therefore he was utterly alone.  No one he could trust.  He saw the wisdom in the man's words however and knew that this was out of his league.  He was never good at making new friends.

"Alright then," he sighed.  "Any advice on finding a partner?  Or where a decent shop might be?"

[trenttrent20 0]

"Hell you won't have enough col for anything your first few levels." He pushed back the hair that was invading his face, particularly around his eyes. It had been getting somewhat messy and unkept lately. A new hairstyle or bun was greatly needed. "Well, as long as we don't go too far out..." Verus put his hands together, making one slight clap before finishing his sentence. "I could tank all the damage if you'd want." There was nothing else really to do at the moment. The city wasn't gonna give him anything; Adhaerere had most of the col. He might as well go help out a newbie and earn a few skill points. "If you wouldn't want me to though, I can always direct you to somewhere in the city." 

[Itzal 0]

Itzal hesitated.  People never EVER offered anything to him freely.  Ever.  But then again, people behaved differently in video games than they did in real life.  This person might be self-centered in the real world, possibly a little bit even now.  Another counter point to his thought was that, despite his distrust sprouted from past bullying, he absolutely needed someone to help get him on his feet, and fast.  He had no time to waist.  He needed to become strong, powerful, unyielding to all his foes, and to death itself.  And this man was offering such a ticket.  But before he could accept it, he needed to know something first.

"Would you really just drop what your doing and help a noob like myself?" he asked with a hint of doubt in his voice.  Normally he never called anyone a noob, let alone himself.  Originally it was a harmless term that meant a player new to the game.  But over time it became an insult, and he knew most players looked at newbies in that way.

[trenttrent20 0]

"Im pretty nooby still, just sorta post-nooby. That doesn't make any sense..." His voice trailed off as he scratched his chin, shutting his feet for a moment. He'd do just about anything to get some more skill points, and helping new players seemed somewhat easy and fun. Who knows, maybe he'd find one or two he'd like and keep around with him anyway. Adhae would surely be grateful; she loved new people and their interactions. His feet regained their ability to stay still and he put his arms down, looking to the kid. "But, yeah why not. I was just waiting for my friend to be done buying some armor anyway. Besides, boar meat sounds pretty good right now. " He smiled and waited for a response. 

"Oh, and what's your name?" 

[Itzal 0]

This time, Itzal replied quickly.

"My name's Itzal," he replied fairly cheerly with his left hand outstretched in greeting.  Obviously this player wanted something out of helping him.  But he could tell that there was some care for Itzal in his eyes.  And apparently he had a friend who could already afford armor.  Post noobs or no, they knew plenty he did not.  And Itzal knew more than most people that knowledge granted power.  He also knew however, that power would destroy you without proper wisdom applied.

"And I'd love it if you helped me out!"

Edited June 19, 2016 by Itzal

[trenttrent20 0]

Verus welcomed the handshake and gripped his hand, shaking it firmly. Itzal was stronger than he looked, well at least his handshake was. Then again, some people just have good grip. "Nice to meet ya. You can call me Verus, or V, or really whatever its just an ingame name." He grinned, shutting his eyes slightly while he ruffled his hair. "We'll have to make a short trip outside the walls, but there's always a couple herds of boar running around." Verus motioned for Itzel to follow, and started to walk off towards the direction he first arrived from. "First we've gotta head to the gate which is only-" His sentence was cut short by the various amounts of NPC's who just got increasingly loud. It was like they were swarming from one market to the next, however he held up his hand to Itzel, signaling for him to catch up to him. "We gotta get to the gate!" Verus raised his voice to a slight holler as he tried to speak over the crowd.  

[Itzal 0]

Not knowing what was going on, Itzal dashed after Verus with surprising speed.  That's the advantage of having a smaller body.  Even though he didn't have long legs for long paces, he was quick and the lack of body reduced the amount of resistance of wind.  That plus the fact that whenever he ran he bowed his back a little, appearing to look like a flying spear when at top speed, it reduced that resistance that much more.  As for Verus' comment on in game names, he disagreed.  When he logged in, he chose a name that represented what he wanted to become.  Now that there was no leaving, that name was his lifeline.  To survive this world, he had to become a shadow.  Not someone who hid from every fight or anything of that sort, but someone who could vanish and reappear, using the shadows to his advantage.  At the same time he must be strong, so that whenever he did emerge from the shadows he could hold his ground.  That was another advantage of having a small body.  A smaller target to wing at, and smaller targets were normally harder to find.

"What's going on?!" he yelled.

[trenttrent20 0]

The sea of NPC's had passed, and only a couple stragglers were attending to some of the now-empty non-player run shops. "Just some programmed shoppers, nothing big." He laughed, letting out a slight sigh. "Gotta love em though." After making sure Itzal was following, Verus continued on, spotting one of the many gates leading out of the city. "There shouldn't be something too far out of the city, what weapon are you using?" He had honestly not checked what the new guy was using, and it truly didn't matter to him. If it did any form of damage it would be viable, especially at a low level. "You uh...you know how to fight right?" (Short posts sorry dealing with something atm)

[Itzal 0]

(No problem, I know the bare minimum of fighting, iow perma roller)

Now realizing that nothing bad was happening he let out a frustrated sigh, easily maneuvering through the crowd of npcs.  He checked to make sure his weapon wasn't hanging from his side.  Unless he was surrounded with enemies, he preferred it when potential threats were unawares of his weapon or techniques.  Uncertainty, surprise and doubt were always a powerful ally, as well as diversion and stealth.  He ran in pace beside Verus.

"Basic straight sword," he said in a low voice.  Despite that they were surrounded with npcs, he learned from his time in real life that you could never be too careful.  There would always be ears waiting to hear rumors, gossip, and the occasional prey.  "And yes, I can fight.  I wouldn't have bought this game if I couldn't handle a sword.  He hesitated a moment.  Although he knew how to fight, he realized that he never really developed his own personal technique.  He read through many strategies and versions, ways to fight, but never actually selected one.  He supposed he would have to discover it soon.  He nodded to Verus' rapier.

"I see you prefer precision over hacking and slashing," he said with a hint of satisfaction.  "I'm assuming you prefer fast strikes then move out of the way before your opponent can strike back?  A hit and run technique so to speak?"  His eyes gleamed, hoping the answer would be his next option.  "Or perhaps something more developed?"  Despite the fact that this man was helping him, he wanted Verus to know that he wasn't an imbecile.

[trenttrent20 0]

"If you can land every shot and have someone else take the damage for ya, what else more can you need?" He smiled, but thought of how Adhae was always his wall he'd fight and hide behind. It was a wonderful combo; she'd take and deflect most of the hits due to her high armor stats and he'd run around and do as much damage as possible. It never took them more than a few hits to take out a creature, but then again they'd only defeated a handful or so low levels. However, a level one boar shouldn't be much of an issue. 

"At our levels, we don't have much developed or perfected; just simple sword arts on low levels. The more fun stuff comes later on...hopefully." The two had made it a decent ways out of the gate, but still had some walking to do before they arrived at some of the open fields. Verus had always struggled with small talk with new people, but he seemed to be doing somewhat decent with Itzal. "You uh, you planning on going full knighthood? Or more of a brute type build?" He'd always loved talking about builds and point progression in most games. The concept of truly fine-tuning your character was always a big seller to him as it allowed hundreds of different potential builds. "Straight sword can pretty much fit anywhere. Hell you could even just play it safe and be a fisherman if you wanted."

[Itzal 0]

To this Itzal hesitated.  He had just met Verus and already was being asked what he was planning.  After a moment of uncomfortable silence he gave in.  He decided it was time to actually trust someone.  He couldn't be solo forever.

"Naw, I wouldn't be caught dead with them," he said bluntly, but with a touch of humor.  He gestured to his body.  "You really think they'd want this?" he added jokingly.  He shook his head.  "No, I'd prefer a totally different road.  Yes I want to grow in combat skills, but I also want to practice stealth and awareness skills."  He looked at Verus seriously.  "Not many players realize how deadly a surprise attack or eavesdropper can be.  No I don't want to kill other players."  His face darkened.  "But I know there are those who do.  And I refuse to fall to any of them."  He shut himself up.  He already said too much.  If he kept going he'd start talking about things that were personal.  Very personal.  And he couldn't have that.  He forced a smile on his face, lightening the mood.  Hopefully.

"Besides, I hate seafood!"

[trenttrent20 0]

Verus stopped, tilting his head at the player. He hadn't heard of what this guy was just talking about. "Did you just say kill other players?" He knew the game was PvP and all but never had thought that it was a permanent death. There was a slight tone of confusion in his voice, but he shook his head, trying to play it off. "Eh oh well. Besides you're right; I ain't dyin' to nothing." There was a small brown fleck in the corner of his vision, and he slowly turned, spotting a small boar grazing in an open field. Verus slowly drew his sword, listening to the sound it made. Once drawn he held it out, pointing towards the beast. "I'll hit it first so it'll aggro on me. There's a high chance I'll one shot it, but you never know. Follow behind and hit it afterwards if it's still standing." With that, Verus broke off in a slight jog towards the beast.

ID#61848

BD: 10

MD: 6

Verus: 17/20 (-3)

     Energy: 3/5

Boar: 0/4 (-6)

 

He had a strong mind to impress Itzal, and called upon his favorite sword art. "Rip Rivine!" He called out, letting his sword grow a bright purple as he approached the beast. Something felt slightly different about this skill this time though, as his sword was growing an even darker shade of purple with black spiraling around his rapier. He was about to land a huge critical hit and he could feel it. With a sneer on his face, Verus sliced twice right through the body of the boar just as it was biting his left leg. The power behind his attack cut the boar into three large parts, each of them falling a different direction as the boar let out a bloodcurdling squeal. "Stupid thing..." Verus muttered as the boar exploded into hundreds of red particles, all of which fluttered in the air.  His eyes tried to find Itzal, who was now just catching up to him.

 

Edited June 19, 2016 by trenttrent20

[Itzal 0]

Itzal's thoughts swirled quickly as he ran over.  First by mentally beating himself for mention killing other players.  His past was getting to him.  He'd have to cut the past off right now if he was to survive this game.  Second, he was a little surprised at Verus' response.  Perhaps he didn't have the personal experience to realize that some people just didn't care if it's not a game.  Itzal did though.  And he was sure people like that would have gotten into the game.  The third was acknowledging the fact that Verus was indeed far above him.  He didn't worry about that though.  It was a fact, and facts couldn't be change.  But he could catch up.  And that was what he intended.  He stopped a few paces from Verus.

"Pretty cool," he admitted.

[trenttrent20 0]

Verus nodded as Itzal made his way over, watching his own health bar quickly refill back to its maximum. "Yeah sorry about that...you can hit first on this next boar." He tapped his rapier against his boot and pointed to Itzal. "You don't have your sword equipped. Why not?" It seemed just sorta pointless to be running around without a weapon. It was better to have it at the ready then to go into the menu and find it in the midst of a battle. However, he didn't worry about it much. Itzal would learn eventually. "Oh also one bad thing about having me here." He paused, letting his sword arm hang slightly. "It'll be impossible to acquire any loot. These mobs are too low to generate it while i'm anywhere near....so sorry about that."