[SP-01] A Nice Day In November <<The First Lesson>>

[August 0]

[OOC: I'm currently in the process of completely rewriting this thread, as I completely redeveloped my character. I am not going to start a new thread or continue posting new posts on this thread until it is all sorted out, that is all.]

Floor 1
<<The First Lesson>>

November 6th, 2022. 

Approximately 8:00 AM Central European Time (3:00 PM JST)

- - Two Hours Before Incident - -

________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Among the strangest practices we as a species seem to do is finding smarter ways to do stupid nonsense, the technology of the nerve gear is no exception." 

…was the exact thought that passed through Léo's mind as he watched in dumbfounded awe as a skinny balding man wearing nothing but a bucket upon his head and colorful hosen chased a chicken down the street all while yelling at the poor bird. The bird ran his way, clucking in a frenzied panic, and ran right underneath Léo's legs. He quickly stepped aside to allow the strange man to continue his strange verbal assault on the flightless bird. Léo felt a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth has he watched the peculiar display, before turning his attention to his map.

 

He and his only friends had planned this for months now, since Akako was a beta tester, he had a bit of a layout of the map and told everyone to meet down in a very particular district around a very particular fountain. Unsurprisingly, this made for some difficulty to find, as the streets weren't even named. Eventually though, using landmarks, asking around, and a bit of common sense, he was able to find the fountain. 

 

So far he was enjoying the experience, it was everything he had imagined and more. There were some complications, sure, but that's to be expected. Ever since he logged in, he could see a little icon of a chain under tension with the label "high ping" just barely within his field of view. He sighed as he sat down on the rim of the beautiful limestone fountain and opened the menu, and began disabling most of the HUD. The annoying green crystals made him feel like he was playing Sims as a sim, and the health and energy bars out of the corners of his vision were distracting more then anything. Just as he was finishing up, a voice called out to him. 

 

"Make a wrong turn?"

 

 

Edited June 5, 2022 by August
I completely rewrote this whole thread lol

[August 0]

Léo recognized the voice, he felt the faint shadow of a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth as he turned his head to see a group of two. A young man with a sandy goatee and short slick hair, and a woman who was slightly shorter then him who had her long black hair in a bun, she looked rather tired, and worried. He did not recognize their faces but the voices he made out all too well. "Yeah well, it has been quite the whirlwind. Have either of you seen Akako?" Léo responded, closing his menu as he got to his feet. "I was kind of hoping you knew." Tomás said running his hand through his slicked back hair. "I'm honestly not surprised that Akako is late, it's Dhruv and Ichiro I'm more concerned about. They are probably in game, and as lost as we were." Zoey commented, looking over her shoulder like they would appear nearby at any moment. "Should we go look for them?" Tomás asked, the question was more intended for Léo then the already worried Zoey. "I've been looking for everyone for almost an hour now, and honestly, I've had enough." Léo said with a chuckle, one hand on his neck. "I think I'm going to go do something else, lik-" "You there, stop please!" Léo's words break off as the group turns to see a well dressed man with approaching with long purposeful strides.  "Pardon me, but I am in need of some assistance, and you appear quite capable." Léo glances back to his friends for a moment as the man continues, he begins by adjusting his monocle. "My name is Dorian, and I am the mayor of this town. As part of those mayoral duties, I issued a small loan to a member of the community a few months ago. Well, the time to collect had come around and I-" The man runs a finger through his well groomed mustache. "You see, I've forgotten who it was I loaned the money to. Terribly embarrassing, I know, but I am a very busy man, and I cannot keep track of everything that happens. I'm sure you understand." There is a short silence, but just long enough to be awkward. Tomás opens his mouth to speak but the mayor interjects with a wave of his hand. "Should you be willing to track down the loan recipient for me, and collect the col, I would be eternally grateful. Just, maybe don't let anyone else know I forgot who the loan went to?" A menu appears in front of Léo, asking him whether or not he wants to accept the quest. He looks up at his friends, gesturing to the mayor. "Ok, I'm going to go do this fetchquest, but first lets friend each other so we can keep track of where we are." Zoey sighs, and Tomás shrugs. "Alright sounds good." He says, opening his menu and navigating to the friends list. "Me and Zoey will keep looking for the others, we will let you know if we find them. What's your handle in this?" "Right sorry, the handle I'm using is "August"."  Léo presses the button to accept, and the mayor nearly explodes with enthusiasm. "Excellent, I knew I could count on you! You might start with Zackariah, the alchemist. He's often doing projects for the town, so it may have been him that borrowed the money."

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by August
Rewrite

[August 0]

Léo waves his friends goodbye as they turn back towards the more densely populated streets in search of the missing three. Not before watching the mayor chase after them shouting "You there, stop please!". It seemed like the crowd was picking up, more and more people seemed to be flooding the streets. "Lotta people, hopefully it won't strain the server." He thought to himself, remembering that his connection to the server was already very poor. He used the map to identify the location of Zach's shop, and was relieved to find that it wasn't very far away, a stone's throw. He bid his time, taking in the sights of the busy streets, the feeling of the sun against his virtual skin, and the sounds of laughter and conversation mixed with the occasional bird call. He became so engrossed with it that he almost walked right past Zach's shop, it was another player with the same quest walking past him, his map open. Léo only saw a glance, but that was all he needed. He swiftly turned around, this time paying attention to the buildings, and saw the building he was looking for, it blended in with the rest of the buildings, nothing particularly remarkable about it aside from the strange smell originating from inside. Léo stepped inside just after another player left the building, and was met with shelves and shelves of colorful potions in various vials and jars. “Oh, hello," comes the distracted greeting from behind the counter. A man with a long, snow-white beard glances up from a bubbling cup of sweet-smelling purple liquid. "Are you here to order something? I’m sorry, but I am currently swamped with orders, and I’m running out of supplies.” Before Léo could interject, light comes into the man's dark eyes, a lightbulb going off to signify a brilliant idea. “Would you gather a few materials for me? Flowers, herbs, rare woods, whatever you can find outside the city walls. I promise I’ll help you fill your order as soon as you return. In fact, I would be willing to show you how to do it yourself.” Léo scoffed, "A fetchquest, within a fetchquest. I should have seen it coming." Léo pondered a moment, as  a new objective for his current quest appeared in his menu. The marker displaying a wide location outside of town. Weighing out the pros and cons of continuing, he decided to go for it. "Alright, I'll get you those materials old man." 

Edited December 7, 2022 by August
Another Rewrite

[August 0]

After roughly a eight minute venture, Léo found himself beyond city limits. He left the city to the north, heading west towards the large forest region. Three more minutes and he arrived at his destination, and to his surprise his friends hadn't messaged him yet, but it does give him time to look around for materials before it does happen. The forest is dense, but beautiful. The windy leaves casting dancing shadows over the mossy ground coupled with the smell of fresh rain. As Léo looks around, it occurs to him that he has no idea what he is looking for. He continues to walk for about forty meters, looking for anything that stands out. A sudden ding sound is heard, he opens his menu, and notices a message from Tomás:

"We found Ichiro, still no sign of Dhruv or Akako yet. Where are you?"

After giving it some thought, he responds with:

"I'm northwest of the town, there was more to the quest then I had thought. I'll be back in about 15 minutes."

And with that Léo marches on.

Spoiler

ID: 197957

Result: LD 5 - Failure

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by August
Rewritten

[August 0]

A minute of walking later, the forest around the young man seemed to taper out into a serene grove. The grass was tall, shrubs were dense, but it was not unmanageable. A gust of wind pushed the greenery around like ripples on a pond, and through the slits of grass he saw a purple flower. Intrigued he approached, kneeled down beside the orchid shaped blossom, and plucked it from the ground. He inspected it, turning it around in his hand, the petals were purple in hue and became a pale white towards the base, it didn’t appear to be damaged either. Léo delicately places the flower in his satchel, before standing to his feet once again.

 

He looked around the meadow again, and felt a joyful feeling overtake him. He was far too hasty and desperate to enjoy this, he couldn’t appreciate the work these developers put in, but now that the excitement faded to a pensive calm, he could admire it. The sounds, the sights, the felt so very real. He could feel the wind against his skin, and couldn't help but smile. For the first time in a long time, he felt that same passion he felt in the parks of his home.

Spoiler

ID: 197958

Results: LD 16 - Success!

Ingredients found: 1/5

Edited December 7, 2022 by August
The Wrote has been Re-ed

[August 0]

As he continued on, the grass seemed to grow taller the further he ventured, trees more sparse until he had arrived at a meadow along a cliffside. The wind was stronger now with no trees to block it, whistling as the occasional strong gust blew past his ears. The view was something straight out of a fantasy story, large funnel shaped mountains dotted the landscape reaching into the sky and grasping at the clouds.

 

Am I on one of those?

 

He thought as he glanced over the ridge. 

 

Nope. 

 

The steep ridge dropped nearly straight down towards a lakebed, a drop that was almost fifty meters down.

 

Just a regular cliff.

 

He kneeled at the edge for a moment, tossing a golf ball sized rock down the side, and watched as it landed in the water with a satisfying “kerbloop”. He was about to stand back up when he noticed something on the face of the cliff. A small blue mushroom growing out of some exposed tree root. He got on his stomach, his right arm dangling over the edge, and reached. He grabbed the large mushroom and pulled back, crawling away from the edge as he did so, before finally getting to his feet.

Spoiler

ID: 197959 

Results: LD 12 - Success!

2/5

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by August
Reworked

[August 0]

N/A

Spoiler

ID: 197960

Results: LD 6 - Failure

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by August
Reworkin

[August 0]

N/A

Spoiler

ID: 197976
Results: LD 10 - Failure

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by August
Reworkin

[August 0]

N/A

Spoiler

ID: 198156

Results: LD 16 - Success!

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by August
Reworkin

[August 0]

N/A

Spoiler

ID: 198157

Result: LD 6 - Failure

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by August
Reworkin