Private Eastern Brisshal A Serpent In Shadows

[Ginevra Delaney]

It was, in all honesty, just a little bit bullshit that it was so hard to find a quest or two in this world, but eventually she'd found somebody that was crying about a beast or something, some kind of bear that had taken down one of his goats and a cattle dog or something along those lines. Honestly, she'd not really cared, his troubles were sad, but the guy would get over it. It wasn't until he'd flashed some money her way that she'd decided that, hell, maybe she could help him get over it all just a little faster?

In the spirit of being a good person and all...

Though, more bullshit arose when the guy told her to wait before heading out, to see if he could get somebody else to help her. It was dumb as fuck. Did he not see the giant greatsword she was wielding? What kind of bear would be able to stand against her when she was swinging this giant thing at it? She huffed, blowing some hair out of her face as she leaned against the giant slab of a sword, waiting for whatever weakling newbie that the farmer managed to attract to help him.

Nevermind the fact that she herself was a newbie.

The thought of sharing the reward made her insides tingle and boil, a small spike of irritation that would flare up and fade away with every breath, her grip periodically tightening and relaxing around the hilt of her sword, the occasionally flash of brightness from the eye shaped gem embedded in the sword's crossguard. She muttered to herself, in her irritation.

Damn it. Maybe I'll get lucky and whoever else accepts this little quest is one of those hero types that'll do it for free or something?

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

There was a part of Imoogi that bristled at the idea that she had to do work in this world in order to make any progress. Work! That was the sort of thing she was trying to avoid by playing Terrasphere. It seemed cruel, for reality to intrude upon this fantasy like that.

But the farmer had been insistent, and then had mentioned that there would be a fight, and Imoogi was instantly intrigued. Killing a creature was a different sort of work, something that she couldn't get away with in reality. It would be a way to test herself, and she'd make a little money in the process, so she'd accepted.

She arrived with the farmer, looking this way and that and wrinkling her nose at the smell of farm animals. Then she saw the other traveler, leaning against a brutish sword, and came to the frustrating conclusion that she was meant to work with this other girl.

Ugh. Might as well get it over with, then. At least she looked like the sort to keep said bear off her back.

Shadow muffled the sound of her footsteps as she approached - unless Ginevra was looking at her, she'd be near impossible to hear. It was difficult not to keep a smile off her face as she stopped next to the other woman and raised a hand in greeting.

Yo. Here for the bear too?

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

The sound of approaching footfalls caught Ginevra's attention, catching at first the sight of the farmer walking towards her, a happy grin on his face, as he looked around. And that was when she caught sight of the other Traveler that was supposed to be helping her and she couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at the sight. If the farmer's footsteps hadn't been giving them away, she'd have never heard this person approaching her. So it was some kind of stealth user? Hopefully not a coward, at the very least.

Still, momma liked what she saw~

That's right. I guess it's just going to be us pretty ladies killing this bear whilst the big, strong farmer cries in a corner.

She grinned, raising her own hand in greeting, before pulling the tip of her sword out of the ground, spinning it before she held it over one shoulder. It was times like this where she wished she could just place it over her shoulder and it would stick to her back, like in a proper video game. None of this stupid strap crap that would ruin all of the aesthetics of her design!

So then, what kind of stuff do you do? I bet you can probably figure what I do. Oh right, by the way, the name's Ginevra, the white shadow. One day, everybody will have heard of me!

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

Imoogi tilts her head. The smile she gives is slight, but there's a definite twist to it.

The White Shadow? I see. Well, I'm Imoogi. May our collaboration be fruitful.

What a ridiculous title is what she doesn't say - she may be quick, but that is very definitely a large sword that she doesn't want to have pointed at her. Instead she reaches for her robe, lifting it to display vials and darts hanging from a leather belt. She pulls one of the darts from said belt and sticks her finger through the loop to spin it as she continues.

A bit of knifework, but my main thing is potions and poisons. I'm only just getting started, but I'm sure I've got something that'll make a bear think twice. And maybe something that'll give your sword a little extra bite.

Round and round the dart goes, and then she puts it back on her belt.

Right then. I think you're more the sort to lead the way, hm?

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

Imoogi, hmm? That's quite the interesting name to have chosen.

She had absolutely no clue what it meant, if it even meant anything. It was possible that the girl had just mashed her hand against the keyboard and come up with her name that way, but the fact that she could say it probably meant that some kind of thought had gone into it. It was probably something that was foreign to her, which made it feel kind of exotic. And THAT was exciting.

And seeing the woman lift her robe, Ginevra leaned forward in interest, though she didn't get quite the view she was hoping for. It was still pretty cool, though. This Imoogi girl was equipped with a bunch of potions and poisons, along with other stuff.

Damn! That stuff is pretty cool! You're pretty alright, Imoogi. Going for an assassin type of build with poisons and knives and stuff?

It was pretty obvious, but she wanted to make sure. Still, when asked if she was going to lead the way, she nodded and beckoned for Imoogi to follow her.

Hell yeah I am. I can keep whatever we face from being too in your face. Not like I'm a tank or anything, but I'm pretty sure whatever I do will hurt this thing.

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

Well, this is the beginner area, right? Even a bear can't be that bad with two people fighting it.

She followed Ginevra without complaint. As before, she was nearly silent as she followed - not even her clothes were making noise. Imoogi knew that she wasn't particularly strong compared to others, so making sure she didn't draw unwanted attention was important.

So, how long have you been playing? I just started recently, myself. It's really something, isn't it? Feels just like real life.

How realistic is it? Imoogi's never seen a real forest - she's barely left the city she was raised in. But the smells and sights and sounds feel as real as a trip to the park, and far more impressive besides. She grins, lightly slapping Ginevra on the back.

I bet fighting a bear's gonna be gross as hell. It'll be great!

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

Ginevra nodded. She had the same feeling. She'd honestly been pretty sure that she could handle something as lousy and weak as a bear by herself, but the farmer had absolutely insisted that there be more than just the one person. It had been a little annoying, listening to him tell her that, no matter how big her sword was, the bear was just much bigger and tougher than she was.

Though she did have to admit, having Imoogi following after her, the woman's footsteps nearly completely silent, sure did make Ginevra feel like she was the party leader or main character from an RPG. And that was a pretty powerful feeling.

I'm pretty new to this game myself. Just a day or two of experience for me, though it's been long enough for me to ditch the action assist system. I hate the way it forces me to freeze up after a skill.

And her skills were all lame, too. A lot of horizontal swings and nothing else. It was like the game thought she wanted to be a helicopter and spin her way to victory. Which was so not the case! Anyway, the slap to her back made Ginevra grin, turning to look at Imoogi and give her a wink.

Hell yeah it will be! I've never killed an animal before, so this'll be a super exciting experience. I've been told that this game is super realistic too, like bodies bleeding and not disappearing.

As they walked, Ginevra could see the farmer's farm coming into view, immediately spotting the huge hole in his fence, through which it looked like a huge body had crashed or something.

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

About the same as me, then. I haven't really used the auto system, myself - as if I need help with throwing things.

Imoogi had it easy on that front, at least. The idea of the system being able to control her like that made her skin crawl. As if she didn't have enough of that in real life. She scratched the side of her face, hesitating for a moment as her nails scraped scales instead of skin. She still wasn't used to that, but as if she'd allow Ginevra to know that.

I've only fought some living plants. Had to collect some goop to make my first potions. They ooze, but that's not the same as bleeding...

She paused as they reached the fence. To be honest, she didn't actually know how big a bear was. It wasn't as if she bothered to learn much about them. The image in her mind had been something about as big as a person was, but this was... pretty big.

...huh. There's our bear, I guess.

I don't have any tracking skills, but it can't be that hard to follow it, right? It looks like it's fucking huge.

Imoogi walked up to the fence and examined it. There were bits of fur hooked on the wood, and she pulled a few pieces off. Something told her they'd be useful for some potion or other, and so far that feeling hadn't led her wrong. She squirreled the fur away in her pockets, then stepped back.

Just have to follow the footprints or whatever. Easy.

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

Good. Another person that had turned away from the rotten, rickety crutch of the action assist system. At the very least, she wouldn't have to worry about her teammate being absolutely torn to shreds because she was caught in the end lag of an action assist activated skill or something. Plus. like Imoogi had said, some actions were just so damn simple that they didn't need the system to move their bodies. What was so hard to understand swinging a big, heavy sword? It was a sword, there was nothing complicated about it.

Fought some plants, huh? I've only really fought another player so far, to be honest. Did some sparring with a friend. I think that kind of battle experience will also be good enough. I'm not the squeamish type, by any means.

Though on the subject of needing to track the bear, Ginevra looked at the fence, then at the trail of damage that had been caused as the bear had retreated back into the forest, whilst Imoogi examined the fence and picked something up. It looked like a bundle of fur or something.

Tracking it can't be too hard, yeah. The thing has to be some kind of mutant super bear.

With that, she began walking out into the forest, figuring that Imoogi would probably follow behind her.

By the way, I'm basically ALL damage, so don't expect a heal or a buff. Apparently none of the things I picked have those kinds of thing.

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

100 / 100

Imoogi followed behind, eyes darting back and forth from Ginevra to the forest. It was easy enough for her to put on a show of confidence, but inside? Inside she was actually feeling a little nervous.

I have a few potions for healing and buffing, just in case. But really, all we have to do is kill it before it kills us. It's just a bear...

Imoogi trailed off. In the distance, she could the sound of something growling interspersed with the sound of snapping bone. It's source, a dark silhouette visible between the trees, shifted slightly at the sound of human conversation. The shape of a head broke the rounded shadow as the creature turned and moved into the dappled sunlight.

The bear, face flecked with spittle and blood, growled deeply and began to lurch their way. It was an old bear, scarred by the efforts of countless would-be bear-slayers. There was no hint of fear in its motions - the humans before it were no different from the ravaged remains of the goat it left behind.

Imoogi stepped backwards on instinct, eyes wide. So this was a bear, then? All the cartoons and nature documentaries had completely failed to demonstrate how fucking huge they were.

T-there it is! Looks like we get to have a fight after all!

She drew her darts and a bottle, and shakily began to apply one to the other. It would take time to envenom the small blades, which was a perfect excuse to let Ginevra make the first move. Not because she was scared. Not at all.

Bear Encountered!

❰ 2 / 2 ❱

DC 20 | Retal 10

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

120 / 130

Well said, yeah. It can't exactly hurt us when it's been killed, so there's no reason to focus on defending against it. Or healing the wounds that it just won't cause.

Was she perhaps overconfident? Almost definitely, but considering that Imoogi also looked like the textbook definition of confident, she felt no need to worry. Besides, she knew how powerful she was, her victory against Lucille had proven it to her. There was no need to fear some big dumb bear, one that couldn't even attack her without getting close to her.

Though it really didn't take them long to find the bear. It could have been said that the bear also found them, as it began to lurch their way. Imoogi stepped backwards instinctively, but Ginevra merely grinned, swinging her greatsword into a ready position as she looked at the giant thing.

Alright! Nature decided to throw a challenge at us today!

A dark cloud began to flow out of Ginevra's eyes, nose and mouth, her Dark Magic pouring out of her as the bear began to lumber towards them. At least, it had made a start towards that motion, before a serious of black tendrils had manifested from Ginevra's sword, snapping around each limb of the mammal, followed by the creature's neck.

A quick snap and the bear's head twisted until the neck snapped, the creature falling lifelessly. Ginevra stared at the bear's corpse, then turned to Imoogi.

Well uh, I guess that's that, then? Good work, teammate?

Rolls

Normal Attack
1d100 (71) + 5 + 0 + 10 = 86
86 damage
Dark Magic | Ginevra Delaney | 903C1

Bear

❰ 0 / 2 ❱

DC 20 | Retal 10

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

Imoogi stared.

She'd barely managed to get her darts prepped. Hell, it felt like she hadn't even had a chance to blink. One moment, there was a bear growling and snarling before them, ready to maul them without a second thought.

The next moment, there was darkness flowing from the woman, and tentacles, and after that? A dead bear, lying still on the ground. And Imoogi was here standing around like an idiot.

...well, shit. Did the fun part all by yourself, huh?

She tried not to sound bitter, or shocked. She didn't want Ginevra to be aware of the feeling of inadequacy settling in her gut. God, she probably though Imoogi was some weak little girl now, huh? Scared of a bear that didn't even last a minute...

I... guess we shouldn't waste it, then.

Intuition told her that the bear would be useful for alchemy. Blood, fur, organs... this was no boring act of chemistry, but real, magical potion-crafting. She walked up to the bear, bent down, and set down her alchemist's kit. Out came a knife, and vials, and all sorts of other paraphernalia.

Let's see what you've got for me, bear... Hope you don't mind. This stuff should be useful for alchemy.

Maybe she couldn't have shown herself to be cool with fighting. Instead, she took her knife and began to hack at the bear's pelt, trying to get through the fur so she could get to the blood and other bits inside. The smell was... bad, and she'd never seen so much blood before. But she wasn't going to show weakness here, not when she'd failed so miserably at first impressions!

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

Yeah, sorry about that. I just get that bloodlust, you know what I mean. I saw this thing and knew I just HAD to kill it, but I didn't want to do anything that might risk spoiling the meat, so I just went for the neck.

Why was she explaining herself? Imoogi had been standing right there, she'd seen everything that happened, so all this was doing was making Ginevra look like she was a self-absorbed little stuck up bitch. It was just that the slight hint of bitterness she'd thought she detected from Imoogi had made her wonder if she'd upset the woman by upstaging her?

It wasn't like she could help it! Her darkness was just too much for this natural beast to handle! Something could only handle so much of the abyss, after all!

Though that was when Imoogi began to descend upon the bear's corpse, preparing a knife and some vials, along with other stuff. Ginevra, for her part, could only blink, even as she stowed her greatsword away in her inventory, watching as Imoogi began to dismantle the corpse.

Oh shit! Are you gonna be making potions out of this thing's blood and bone marrow and stuff? Because that's metal as hell!

She approached, though she kept enough distance to make sure that she didn't disturb Imoogi, watching the gory procedure with interest. She'd never seen somebody butcher or dismantle an animal before.

Do you think you can extract enough flesh for us to have some dinner? We could make a campfire and cook it up here, maybe take the leftovers back to town and sell it? Would be a shame to waste most of the corpse and, well, I've never had a chance to eat bear meat before, so I'm super curious what it tastes like.

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

Imoogi looked up at Ginevra with a blank expression. Do I look like a butcher? was what she wanted to say, but she'd just seen Ginevra kill the shit out of a bear.

It was just cutting meat, anyway. It couldn't be that hard.

Yeah, I can try. There's so much bear here that we could do a whole damn barbecue... agh.

A sour smell spilled from the bear as she cut a little too deep, gaining access to its... innards. Compared to dissecting a frog, this was... way more. Plus, her hands and clothes were covered in blood and who knew what else was coming out of this bear. It actually made her feel a little sick.

God, they really did make this realistic, huh? Even the shit smells like shit...

She began to roughly try to skin the bear. It was... messy, to say the least - sometimes she cut too deep and took a chunk of meat out, and other times her knife slipped and left a hole in the pelt. It certainly wouldn't sell for much at a market, but maybe that didn't matter.

I wish I had a bigger knife. This sucks.

Do you want to try starting the fire? I think this is going to take a while, and I don't know any fire magic or anything.

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

I know right? Isn't it great? A whole barbecue of bear! We'd be so full we probably wouldn't be able to move for a few minutes or something! I've got a bedroll that'll fit both of us though~

She figured she'd get some light flirting done whilst she watched Imoogi begin to butcher and dismantle the bear, since there was truly not better time to flirt with a woman than when she was cutting apart a dead animal to harvest its meat, blood and organs, along with anything else. It certainly was quite the gross experience. If Ginevra had been the squeamish type, she might have feltr a little sick looking at it.

And Imoogi wasn't exactly the cleanest butcher in the world, not that Ginevra felt she could do much better. Her greatsword was technically just a really big knife, but she didn't think she quite had the skill with it to use it to butcher something cleanly. Yet. Maybe that would be a good goal to work towards? Something to truly test her skill?

Starting a fire, however, was child's play.

I've not got any fire magic either, but rubbing some sticks together can't be all that hard, I guess.

Not even five minutes later, she realized exactly how hard it was, as she feverishing rubbed sticks together over a patch of sawdust and dried grass, eyes flashing black as she fed Dark Magic into her muscles to boost her own speed, teeth grit.

Stupid sticks! Why won't you just spark already!?

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

Imoogi couldn't help but smirk at the sound of Ginevra struggling with the fire. With her face turned towards the gory work of bear dismemberment, there was no way the other woman could see it.

...not that she was having much of an easier time. The nausea was starting to get to her. She sped up her efforts, which ultimately resulted in a rather messy cut of meat that didn't follow any sort of normal butchery rules. It was lucky they had so much - it meant she could afford wasting some.

She didn't really have a place to put it down that wasn't grass and dirt, so she ended up wrapping it in some of the patchwork hide. She was covered in blood and who knew what else, and she felt like she would retch at any moment, but she couldn't help but feel accomplished.

Here we go. One hunk of bear meat!

She dropped it on the ground, then took a moment to look herself over. It was too bad there wasn't some kind of cleaning magic - at least, nothing she'd found. Instead she pulled out a water skin and concentrated on it. Alchemy let her make water without much effort - usually for potion making, but water was useful in general. Once the skin was bulging, she began to wash off her hands and face.

Maybe we need rocks? Or maybe metal?

She pulled some metal darts. The idea of sacrificing them to the cause of making fire stung, considering how much she'd spent on them, but she'd probably make enough to replace it after this quest.

Could try banging these together. At least it's worth a try, right?

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

These damn sticks were getting to be a pain in the ass. Ginevra continued to feverishly rub them together, so certain she was that just trying to force it would fix the problem and give them fire, though she really had no clue what she was doing. She was pretty sure that she'd seen this kind of thing in nature documentaries or in survival video games, but those had always made it look incredibly easy, if they weren't just cheating by using a lighter or something like that to start the fire.

And then there was a chunk of bear meat dropped on the ground near her, causing Ginevra to glance at Imoogi and then return to rubbing the sticks together, just looking for a single spark.

Instead, Imoogi pulled out some metal darts that looked like they'd spark if they were knocked together and rubbed against one another. Ginevra nodded, holding her hand out to accept the darts, before striking them together a few times.

After a few tries, eventually she managed to scatter sparks across the kindling she'd gathered, blowing onto it until it grew into a roaring flame. Ginevra nodded, satisfied, placing a few sticks onto the growing fire, beofre handing the darts back to Imoogi.

Thanks for the darts. I think you can still use them, if you sharpen them again.

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

Imoogi shrugged as Ginevra handed her the darts. The sides were a little dented, but the points were still more than sharp enough.

It's fine. So long as the tips are sharp, they should do what they need to do.

She hooked the darts back on her belt before going back to washing herself off. She would have to wash the coat off later - or maybe she'd be able to pay someone to do it for her? Or she might just get herself a gear upgrade and throw the coat away somewhere. Choices, choices.

...now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing that I didn't get a hit on the bear. I didn't know you were gonna try to eat it. I would've poisoned the shit out of it.

She reached forward and carefully cut a piece of the bear meat off, and sniffed it. It smelled like. Well. Blood and meat, mostly. Would it really taste any different from other meat? This game was pretty realistic, but taste couldn't be easy to fake, right?

She speared the meat on a stick and held it near the fire to cook.

...so, what are you thinking of doing after this? Gonna just keep doing quests?

@Ginevra Delaney

 

[Ginevra Delaney]

Well at the very least, she hadn't ruined somebody else's weapons. Ginevra had no clue how angry she'd be if somebody had damaged her own greatsword, but they probably would never have found the body once she'd eventually calmed down, so it was probably lucky that Imoogi seemed to be quite the calm person, all things considered. Pretty insistent on cleaning herself, though, what with the fact that she was pouring water all over her hands.

Maybe you should take your clothes off? You know, so you don't get dirtier or anything? If it'd make you feel better, I could strip too?~

She looked over at the serpent girl and gave her a wink, before she reached for a chunk of bear meat and placed it onto a stick, holding it out over the fire. The question from Imoogi had her cupping her chin in thought, humming.

Well, I was honestly just going to do whatever seemed most fun. I'm enjoying killing stuff, so I probably would have looked for another hunting quest or something.

She paused, before grinning and looking at Imoogi again, giving the poisoner another wink and a flirtatious smile.

Though if I'm lucky, maybe the next thing I'll be 'doing' will be you, eh?~

@Imoogi

 

[Imoogi]

Imoogi paused, the meat sizzling away on the stick, as Ginevra... flirted with her? She blinked at her with a confused expression and an embarrassed blush.

Oh, um...

Sorry, but I'm not... interested in women.

She pulled the meat away from the fire. It was charred on the outside, which probably meant it was cooked enough, right? Either way, taking a too large bite of the meat was a good way to distract herself from what had become an intensely awkward moment.

It was charred on the outside, but borderline raw on the inside. It had the gamey taste of an animal that had eaten mostly meat before they'd hunted it down. The parts that managed to straddle the line between overcooked and undercooked were almost unpleasantly fatty. It took all her willpower to swallow it down and keep it down.

It was absolutely terrible. She'd never tasted something like this before. She wouldn't have been allowed to eat something like this before.

Wow, this is terrible!

She sounded... oddly excited.

Imoogi began to pick away at the charred surface with her fingers, seeking out the bits that were actually cooked. Despite her declaration of how bad it tasted, she couldn't help but continue to nibble at it - it was just so different from anything she'd ever experienced before.

You gotta try some of this. Though... maybe cut a thinner piece, if you do.

@Ginevra Delaney