Private Eastern Brisshal Bánh mì

[Nota Oldman]

The situation at hand was enough to put James, rather, Nota on edge. From the previous scenario of customizing the copy of himself, he was aware that he was in some sort of simulated environment. Perhaps overly cautious, he had designed his character to be as different from himself as he could muster, and had even decided on a cheeky name.

"Hmmmmmmm. I vaguely recall a crash..."

Nota's eyes twitched back and forth as he delved into thought. He was vaguely 'aware' that time must have passed since his most recent concrete memories. The more he explored his thoughts the more apprehensive he became until he had to drop the issue and catch his breath. He was now in an unknown environment that required his immediate attention.

Scanning the small clearing around him, Nota was surprised to find himself in the depths of a forest. From between trees, he could see even more layers of vegetation extending into the distance. Spinning on his heel, it was roughly the same in every direction. He was at an indeterminate depth in the woods, and the realism of the forest was beginning to offset his conclusion he was in a simulated environment.

"H-hello? Is anyone nearby? Gah, damnit.... Of course there isn't."

Shaking his head in exasperation, Nota could only slump his shoulders and start walking. Standing still wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he may as well walk while he thought. Who knows, he might stumble on some sort of landmark. If he found a river, he could try to follow it towards civilization. That would be the ideal outcome.

@Penthesilea @Redan Darc @John Yun

 

[Redan Darc]

All that was Terrasphere had been living up to Fausto's expectations. Getting the chance to be the daring archer Redan was great, even struggling with the particulars of magic. Real feeling magic. There were just so many possibilities for Redan Darc, he could go anywhere and do anything. There was really way too much to think about, especially at this point in his life. Really the bigger fish to fry was figuring out if Terrasphere's physics and real world physics lined up enough that his years in archery club could transfer over.

Redan then turned what should have been a short stay in the starting region of East Brisshal into a several day long "camping trip." A brand new character was surprisingly hardy, he'd discovered, after feeling genuine thirst and hunger after two days of shooting arrows in the woods. Not even arrows at things really. Dealing with water was easy, it's not like he had to worry about microorganisms in a simulated reality. He hadn't found food to be that pressing a concern. All of that practice hadn't amounted to a meal. It became a certainty.

Wandering around the woods learning how to approach the system around the ghost game had occupied so much time. Enough time alone he had figured all the players had gone to higher level areas that mattered. Then there was someone else. Redan was quick to close and open a fist and tap a magnifying glass icon. He was surprised to not see a name float over the short green-haired guy. Every other "living" thing he'd run into would have a name appear after sufficiently examined.

With less than a thought he called over while approaching, hopping through the undergrowth with springy steps.

Hey! Where are you heading?

He bounded close with strung bow in hand and no quiver in sight. Only slowing down when it became clear how short the green-haired person was. He had thought he'd found another player but wasn't sure anymore. Redan not being able to fathom someone who would choose to look like that.

Are you from here?

@Penthesilea @John Yun

 

[Penthesilea]

Nature stinks. Left wandering through the brush, Penthesilea considered her first few moments in this allegedly amazing program to be a rousing failure. Tormented by bugs, accosted by low-hanging foliage, and otherwise disheveled by the lack of all the various luxuries she had grown to be accustomed with. Seething, she had allowed her frustrations to continue to mount. Swearing under her breath, her eyes began to glow, as she callously fantasized about the eradication of much of the life around her. Her pleasantly unpleasant thoughts and served to keep her sane until she forced herself into a screeching halt after hearing a faint cry breaking through the tortured-sounding wailing of the cicadas.

Chasing the voice that roused her suspicions, she crept. Finally her field of vision, she caught a different sort of green shifting amongst the greenery. Sizing the the crop of hair up and creeping closer, she estimated it to be a person--possibly between 120 and 140cm in height, between the ages of 8 and 30, possibly male. While she had no reason to fully suspect that her first encounter with a non-arthropod would be an arduous, deadly affair, she did. Preferring to err on the side of caution she sprung right into full-on defense. With snake-like acumen, she snapped downwards, entirely prone. Slowly, she crept closer and closer, observing the green-haired sprite and taking a moment to size him up, while considering plans that didn't both begin and end with "if he misbehaves: Burn him". Laying flat against the ground she slowed her breathing, attempting to minimize the totality of her existence, as well as the ambient noise she was going to have to break through in order to hear what was truly afoot in the brush.

The fatal flaw in all of this was her in-game lack of stealth skills, as well as her actual lack of training in this area of clandestine tactics. Most troubling, she was getting dirty, and she was entirely unable to abide by that. However, as she prepared to stand, she felt the unmistakable sting of a muddy boot slamming into her shoulder blade, with all the grace of the awkwardly paced questions that would follow. Stunned for a precious, valuable moment, she was fully taken aback the reality of the pain she was feeling. Slowly, she arose behind Redan, her sable outline directly contrasting against the verdant beauty that failed to shroud her. In her eyes was a warm, yet antagonistic glow, and as she dusted herself free of as much caked mud as she frantically could; it was clear she was under an immense amount of strain as she attempted to regain her composure.

Excuse me, I need a moment. Speak amongst yourselves for the time being.

@John Yun

 

[John Yun]

With the vaguest hint of diffidence, a rare thing for John, he examined his own hands intently. The level of realism present around and, well, within him was something he'd never considered possible. John had blithely moved through character creation, not dwelling on the feelings or the environment during the process. The sudden wealth of auditory, olfactory, and visual stimuli post character creation left him mildly panicked.

Some moments passed before he calmed down and he began to go through some stretches, testing and prodding himself experimentally. A grotesque smile crossed his face as he felt even better than he did in real life. No old lingering injuries nor aching joints, only a feeling of prime strength and control. Satisfied, and looking forward to this new experience, John started to doggedly march through the forest.

It really did feel like he was marching through a forest, John thought to himself 30 minutes later. There are many ways to describe John, but a man of nature is not one of them. Surely, this was a game? It felt real, but it was just as boring as real life so far. At least it was more interesting than sleep.

Luckily, he didn't have to march much farther before he heard vague voices in the distance. No ideas of stealth in mind, John walked straight towards the vocal activity. His cold eyes surveyed the array of personalities; a green-haired child, a tall spindly brunette, and a teenager. He let out a soft snort of derision before muttering under his breath,

None of them would last five seconds...

Yes, he was looking for a fight. No, he didn't particularly enjoy hitting women and children. John's face scrunched into a bit of a grimace before asking aloud,

Hey, have you seen any uh... monsters or something around here?

His dismissive tone and general demeanor would be best described as 'disinterested'.

@Ivben Burns III

 

[Ivben Burns III]

A simple tune full of merriment was hummed by a completely immersed and delighted Ivben. Although it had only been about three months since he logged on to Terrasphere after his retirement party had ended, he had never in his wildest dreams expected that this final gift from such an unexpected sources would yield something he longed for. He hadn't a clue how this game worked or how this witchcraft-like doodad allowed him to live and move about in such a realistic environment and he really did not give half a hoot. The only thing that mattered to him was that he could finally move forwards, quite literally. During his time playing however, he hardly progressed in the game due to how he was so mesmerized by the wonderful feeling of walking.

When he first joined the game he came across some complications. Like a newly born doe, he soon nearly collapsed to the ground whilst his legs where spread far out and knees pointed towards each other. His arms were awkwardly flailing in a futile attempt to remain on his feet. Eventually he fell to the grassy forest bed with a hearty laugh of pure bliss and delight.

It had been many years without limbs for Hubert, so once he became Ivben it was quite the cumbersome transition. With one foot in front of the other, any weeks of patience and practice, he was making progress on relearning to walk.

Ach! Zis is ze fery best zing zat had happened to me for quite das time!

Very quickly however, he began to adjust to his environment. Although he mainly worked in a metropolitan environment, he had been out west to assist in forest fires quite frequently so such a forested place like this was foreign but not completely unimaginable. Soon his grumbling stomach soon confirmed the his next course of action. Ivben then kept an eye peeled for anything that seemed even the slightest bit edible and would then quickly place them in his arms.

It was such a wonderful feeling using his own hands to change the environment so! Eventually he continued on his way as he was meticulously harvesting an assortment of berries, mushrooms and other interesting looking potential edibles that could satiate his hunger before adding it to the collection in his arms. He didn't really mind what exactly he was plucking as long as it could be plucked or picked. As he continued his forging, he noticed several individuals up ahead of him that appeared to just be standing around. Being a social butterfly that he is, Ivben immediately started a mad dash towards them causing a few edibles to fall to the ground. He then shouted with much gusto and energy,

Hallo! I have das berries here! I am of ze quite certain zat it will be ferry tasty to be zee eatink sie berries and sie muchshcrooms ja?

As long as the crowd was willing he'd pass around some of his food and happily munch on whatever was left from the pile as he stared at the strangers with stars in his eyes.
@Kettle

 

[Kettle]

Kettle’s ears bolted upright as they heard the first of several voices.

She had been sitting in a state of idleness in the woods, lost in her own head as she tried to acclimatize to this strange world. Besides the dramatic change in her own appearance, another jarring change for the lepus was just how extraordinary her hearing had grown with the change of form. These new ears heard everything in amplified detail - which had turned out to be both boon and burden.

Choosing to forget the numerous times otherwise innocuous sounds had caused her a great fright by their new volume, Kettle tried to master this new sensitivity to sound by honing in on the new voices. Her fluffy long ears flicked from side to side, a pair of antennas scanning the airwaves until Kettle discovered the right shape to hold them in and pick out the distant conversation with remarkable clarity.

For a grifter, stealing sensitive information was crucial. With these ears, Kettle concluded that she could easily eavesdrop on others without their knowledge and spin that to her advantage. However, the delight of putting this valuable new ability to use was quickly dashed with how unimportant the conversation she overheard was.

“Nothing interesting.” Kettle sighed.

She kicked her legs idly over the side of the oversized tree stump she had perched on. As she listened, more voices joined the nearby group and perked her interest. Kettle needed to ingratiate herself with the locals before she could start to make money off them, so there was no harm in seeking out the nearby lost souls.

Kettle slid off her seat and approached, the journey through the woodlands easier the more she adjusted to her form. She discovered them in a small clearing of the woods, though paused at the edge. The variety of shapes and sizes in the gathering shocked Kettle, unaware that she could easily be considered the most abnormal of them in appearance. She stepped back and into the shadow of a tree, her ears flopped down to frame her head - the group much noisier up close than afar.

Perhaps she had not quite adjusted enough to start her usual routines.​

 

[Nota Oldman]

Nota's heart was not ready for the series of shocks he was about to receive. One moment, he was by his lonesome, god knows where in the middle of an unknown forest. He had called out in worry, looking for anyone to talk to, knowing full well it was a fruitless endeavor. He was in the middle of the woods, after all, and he hadn't heard the sound of a single being during the brief time he had been there.

The next thing he knew, a weird series of questions were posed. Where was he heading? Was he from here? Exasperated, Nota turned to respond. This was a poor choice. Rising from the ground behind a young capped man was a female figure, spectral and lithe with the dark backdrop of the trees. Her arms flailed about in a jerky fashion that made Nota's skin crawl. Was this hell?

Turning to flee, another being barged into the clearing they all occupied. This one was less surprising, but far more intimidating. The series of stomps were noticeable a few moments before the square jawed giant had appeared. The man was huge compared to Nota's new perspective, and that stern grimace was worrying.

"M-monster? Over there..."

Nota's hand raised and a finger was directed towards the ghastly witch that was stalking the teenager. This seemed like the most likely candidate to be called a monster. Scratch that. The giant fucking tank of a humanoid that charged towards them with reckless abandon, scattering fruit and mushrooms as he bellowed in tongues was the true monster.

Slowly, Nota's small figure seemed to compress in on itself as he lowered himself to the ground. His knees were pressed together as he rested upon them, before bending over at the waist and clutching his hands in front of his head. His forehead was inches above the ground and his eyes were closed. He was not a religious man as an adult, but in this moment of emotional turmoil, Nota was feeling exceptionally biblical.

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Nota had been shaking slightly as he spoke, praying with all his might for protection against these monsters. After a few moments of clenching his eyelids shut, Nota peeked with one small squint, scanning the group that had now formed. Not only did they not leave, there was even a new face. This was hopeless. Nota was in hell, and evil spirits were swarming him like a lunch buffet.

@Redan Darc

 

[Redan Darc]

It certainly was a lot, Redan could only guess. The already timid looking shortie had withdrawn mostly from the world. He didn't imagine a player would freak out that much just because other players wanted to know them. That meant he was dealing with a... game character? He couldn't handle whatever panic brought Nota to his knees so instead he tried his best to be the center of attention and give the kid space.

"There aren't that many monsters around here, at least not anymore!"

Redan paraded further to the "front" of everyone while producing a green translucent arrow. Light shone through it as if it was a prism as he spun it in his fingers above his head. Redan's mouth pulled tight as he tried to mimic the sound of a bow being strung as he mimed drawing the arrow he'd produced with his arcanamancy. He let the magic fade from view before stabbing at his chest with a big thumb.

"I'm a pretty good shot, since I'm supposed to be modest here, best around I'd wager. You're all lucky to have met me! The legendary archer Redan Darc!"

He loudly guffawed with a great deal of doing. It was incredibly forced. He dropped an aside towards Ivben.

"I wouldn't eat any of that if I were you by the way. Like, half of what grows in the wilderness in this part of the States is probably going to kill you."

@Penthesilea

 

[Penthesilea]

Her time in the game had been exceptionally mundane. At this time, she wasn't sure there were even any monster to take note of. Her worst encounter as of yet had been with the likes of a rhinoceros beetle that challenged her sanity by way of being far larger than any insect should have any right to be. Sighing, she shook her head,

"Not yet. Just some birds, and bugs."

There was suddenly a lot to take in. Wishing for nothing more than to tend for her agitated wound, she found herself being continually assaulted by a string of emotional agitation. Luckily, her level of agitation had yet to reach the level of the most diminutive of this ragtag group of adventurers. Having been raised Catholic herself, she used to her aunt's prayer to Saint Michael at the first sign of any mischief. Before she could reprimand anyone, she felt it necessary to defuse.

"Yes yes. *Amen*. "

Was the full extent of the effort she was actually willing to put forth towards calming Nota's nerves. All of the hard work she put, however, was quickly unraveled by the proper introduction of her assailant. He was right about one thing, virtually none of the berries brought forth by what amounted to a man who chose to bring the entirety of the Lower Saxon dialect with him on his adventures. A quick bit of scrutiny at the berries he carried, and the voice he spoke in at completely turned her around concerning the rambunctious Redan Darc.

While she wasn't willing to write off all of the berries as poison (this man was a lot of things, but Stasi material he was not), she wasn't even going to try. In effect, she did decided that they were all unpalatable based only on who had acquired them.

"No, thank you. Enjoy yourself."

She brushed off the unusually tall geriatric, turning her attention back to Redan.

"Very good, Mr. Darc. Glad you could be of service."

It went against a lot of her judgement to giver her name out, even in a case like this where it would be of virtually no consequence. Monsters were on her mind, as well as anything else that could be lurking around. She was completely confident in her assessment that Redan hadn't killed a single monster, but rather, was more likely to be luring a monster their way with his braggadocious nature. From her experience, monsters were usually quite keen to cut that sort of thing down. Before she could take off, having eliminated the previously threatened Nota as a possible threat, she had to make sure she wasn't walking out into certain death.

@John Yun

 

[John Yun]

Blankly staring as the cavalcade of unusual strangers all arrived like apparitions out of the ether, John received inconclusive answers to his inquiry about monsters. Sure, the skeleton of a woman could be described as monstrous is some semblance of the word. The towering old man who stomped into the clearing with all the grace of an elephant could likewise be described in a similar fashion. Other than that, John did his best to block out all other noise coming from the individuals in the clearing.

The only thing that vaguely caught his attention was the magical arrow that the teenager summoned, but that interest quickly disappeared once Dorc opened his mouth again. John raised a meaty hand to his rub at his temples as he let out a sigh.

He had already been walking for some time, so he found a nearby fallen log and sat on it. Resting his chin on his hand, he supported his arm on his leg as he continued stare blanky into the distance. At the very least, all this noise would potentially attract something.

@Ivben Burns III

 

[Ivben Burns III]

The wonderful fruity flavor of the plump juicy fresh berries permeated Ivben's mouth as he casually continued to pop the little flavor orbs one at a time. Little did his new friends know, but after three months of exploring this wooded wilderness, he had learned a thing or two about the berries and mushrooms here. He had already discovered several berries that were incredible diuretics first hand and purposely chose not to harvest those. Typically the ones he was currently eating just caused mild rash and irritation at most. The mushrooms however he had no idea what they did and was too scared to even attempt to eat them. He kept them awkwardly in his grasp in hopes of finding someone who knew how to identify this fungus and confirm its edibility. He didn't want to end up in the ground without knowing what hit him!

During his three months of forest exploration, he had been by himself for the most part. Whether it was dumb luck or coincidence, he hadn't really seen much wildlife or even more than a glimpse of another person. Needless to say Ivben was quite thrilled at the sudden fortunate encounter with some many faces! Although some seemed more boring and wimpy than others it was definitely better than having no one around. He was almost certain he'd find a kindred spirit within the group to help pass the time along with merriment! The outgoing aging giant quickly got to work introducing himself. In a swift motion he threw his collection of berries and mushrooms far behind him and shouted with glee,

"Ze berries are not ze tastink best for sie das eatink if I am beink honest. How I could go for ze nice roasten Spanferkel. I digresch. Ze namen be Hubert Weiss---- Nein!!!! Ooof! I mean uh Ivben Burns sie Third at your service!A Professional professional that assists assisting with anyting zat you need! I'm just here to drink sie drink and eat sie good foods and have sie good times wiz ze peoples of this great world. And I can also walk. I remember back in sie summber of 85. We lot were in sie Gifford Pinchot fighting a massive blaze of nearly sie twenty feet bursts. It was lookink grim when ze rascal knucklehead Peterson says to me 'We better put out zis quick or we're libel to be das fired'. I swear Johnson near peeden himself when----"

Ivben faced the group as he continued to drone on about nonsense old stories to anyone who was willing to listen. Unbeknownst to him, a shadowy figure came out behind a tree and began to nibble at the harvest he had tossed out. It was a young baby boar!

@Kettle

 

[Kettle]

Perhaps there was something of interest here, it dawned on Kettle as she observed the group of odds and ends from the side. The volume of the gathering still disturbed her sensitive ears, yet every outburst provided more and more information for the eavesdropper to absorb. Within the span of a minute she had a few names and motives to work with, the sort of details that could be spun into a scheme of enrichment.

The lapus considered her marks. The short one was confused and god fearing. The archer was overly self confident. The giant was an open book - so open that Hubert/Ivben already felt like a familiar target. The other two were less forward, though the notion of a monster hunt seemed of interest to both. Above all, they appeared as green as she was when it came to the world of Terrasphere - a boon to the scam artist as they might be easier to manipulate, but on the other hand, they were very unlikely to have anything of great value on them.

Considering all this, Kettle stepped out from the tree. She had heard the baby boar sniffing close to the forest clearing, and chose to step carefully up behind the creature as it feasted on the dropped food of the giant.

“Boo!”

The wild pig let out a shriek in surprise and then whined loudly as it scampered across the clearing - directly through the group.

Kettle grinned as the boar scampered off into the woods, making sure one of her ears was half flopped as she revealed her presence.

“Greeting adventurers!” Kettle announced, her hands hoisted high and wide with her words. “Are you all here for the monster hunting quest? I never expected so many brave souls to answer the summons!”

Generic NPC.

Kettle channeled these words as she spoke, remembering every quest giver they had interacted with in Wilson’s gaming history.

“My name is Coco Fluff. I used to live safely in these woods until all these monsters and bandits moved in. Now there’s danger behind every tree!” Kettle explained, going with a simple enough backstory for ‘Coco’. A sort of tutorial faced at the start of every game. “Will you help save my home by slaying these invaders? If you deliver whatever they drop on defeat to me, you’ll be greatly rewarded!”

Though she had no experience of the monster hunting she proposed to send this group on, Kettle figured that monsters would drop items and money when defeated. That was how it happened in other games. She could pose as the quest giver, have this group go fight a bunch of mobs for her and then give her all the drops they found. As for the great rewards promised - what starter quest did not have an emergency or boss moment for the adventurers to deal with at the end? She could disappear with the drops after pointing them in the direction of that.

“Ah, if you would like to participate in the quest, please announce your name to register!” Kettle added, figuring she could learn a little more from the less forthcoming members.

@Nota Oldman​