Private Eastern Brisshal Gobstoppers

[Brutus Dahlgren]

It was a beautiful afternoon in Eastern Brisshal as Brutus logged in at the place he'd departed last. He'd spent all day jonesing to come back online, crawling through performance rehearsals and sparring sessions like a ghost. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been hooked on something like this. Maybe when he'd first picked up fencing from his uncle, or his first time doing LARP? Both things had taken his life by storm, demanding constant attention from him, but not like this.

He was tall in this game.

Jokes aside, something about the grandiose sense of adventure pulled his heartstrings like nothing had ever done before. The leaves seemed greener, the sky bluer, and even the dirt seemed...dirtier. Taking a deep breath, the giant took a look over his needs menu. Sleep and temperature were golden, so were energy and health but...

His stomach rumbled, alerting him to his hunger right as his eyes reached the gauge. "I guess Its time for some breakfast then huh..." he found himself murmuring as he crushed his palm menu. His eyes darted to the trees, looking for the obligatory apple in the fantasy forest, and was quickly rewarded for his intuition. How am I going to get this down? He found himself pondering as he lumbered over, but the idea was quickly smashed as he realized it was only a couple inches over his head. He simply reached up with a large hand and plucked it, grinning like an idiot. Demolishing it in a couple of bites, he eyes his hunger bar and squinted. It'd barely moved an inch, although he guessed that was to be expected for a man as large as him, though much to his surprise his thirst bar had also moved.

This game really had thought of everything. Cracking his neck, he began to scan the trees for more food. He was going to be at this for a while.

 

[Mighty Rumblehide]

When one is injured and on doctor-ordered bedrest for an extended period of time, one finds it easy to wake up, freshen up, and then headset up.

After Zoey Staal goes through the summary login and loading bullshit, Mighty Rumblehide finds herself once more. The morning sun greets her, shining warmly down on her face. A deep breath fills her lungs as she takes in her surroundings.

Trees, check.

Grass, check.

Welp, that's what she gets for staying in Falderen, isn't it?

A quick check of her palm UI confirms what she already knows deep in her heart--she's getting stronger. Equipment's upgraded. Stats are raised. HP bar's getting beefier. Slowly but surely, she's getting closer to being the Mighty Rumblehide; rather that just a Mighty Rumblehide.

Flicking through her quest log, the day looked open to her. It's only a couple of hours to town, she thinks. Pick up some provisions, check some job boards, pop into the guild hall--

*Beep, beep, beep.*

The ping in her UI and the pang deep in her gut signal agree in unison that it was time for breakfast. She had her canteen of water, but... that's an entirely different meter, isn't it? Which meant it was time to hunt or forage!

Ten minutes of looking for berries and game turned up disappointingly little. Perhaps a fistful of wild blackberries. Any rabbits she encountered quickly got the hell out of her way. But after another ten of finding nothing, she happened upon a man--toweringly tall, at that--reaching up into trees for apples with very little effort whatsoever.

"Hello there," the elf shouted, holstering her weapons as a precautionary measure. "Mind grabbing one for me if you can?"

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus paused, mid pluck as he looked over his shoulder to observe the approaching woman for a moment. At first he was caught off guard by her appearance, and then he remembered his own and simply discarded the notion. They were playing a fantasy game, of course he was going to meet fantasy people who looked well...fantasic. He would casually pluck a couple more apples from the branch he was working, tossing three of them one at a time to the elf with a nod.

"Sure thing stranger." He replied with a grin. "Hunger meter running on E too?" He asked, biting into probably the sixth or so apple he'd eaten since logging in. His thirst meter was rising to almost full, but his hunger meter well...it'd hardly moved.

He would need to figure something else out probably.

Seemingly satisfied with his haul of apples, he took a few lumbering steps towards the Mighty Rumblehide, finding himself looming over her as he wiped applejuice onto his trousers and extender a hand to her in greetings.

"Names Brutus, yours?"

@Mighty Rumblehide

 

[Mighty Rumblehide]

She caught the three apples with ease, stuffing them in the crook of her left arm when the mountain approached her. "Mighty Rumblehide," she grinned, shaking his hand with gusto. "Rumble works."

Then, she turned on one of the apples, devouring half of it before remembering her manners and the unanswered bits of Brutus's questions. "Yeah." She wiped bits of apple mush off the corner of her mouth with a finger. "Something I didn't account for when I logged off in the woods last night. Shoulda' just stayed in town, grabbed an inn room or something."

At least then, she could be eating a far more substantial breakfast.

Rumble nodded towards the rising sun and pointed the way. "It's maybe a mile or two down the road. Gonna' grab something a little more filling, then check out the job boards. Care to join? Food and work are both better shared with others."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Nice to meet you Rumble." He gave her hand a firm but not crushing squeeze. He watched as her name updated in real time in his UI.

"I would kill for something more substantial" Brutus replied cracking his neck. "I've been gathering apples for almost thirty minutes but they've hardly moved the hunger bar for me. As for another job." He took another apple and demolished it in a few bites. "Sounds like a plan though."

He would take a step in the direction she'd pointed, then realize he needed to slow his pace to not outpace Rumble. "How long have you been playing the game Rumble?" He would ask turning back to her. "Today marks day two for me, and all I've done was smash goblins and side quests to fix up the shack that they'd ripped up."

His brow furrowed, recalling all the work and the jokes cracked with Corsair, cleaning up messes and lighting candles. Oh shit, did he leave the candles lit? His brow furrowed. He would have to check later.

@Mighty Rumblehide

 

[Mighty Rumblehide]

Well, that made things easy! Not that she was going to bash him on the head and drag him to town by the hair or anything--but bonds are better forged when they are amicable.

The walk to town doesn't need much description, so we will skip that. Instead, have some character building!

"Maybe about a week," Rumble replied, when asked how long she's been risking fines, jail time, an explosive ankle bracelet, or even a discrete bullet through the brain pan delivered via the apartment building across the street by logging into Terrasphere.

"Nothing wrong with getting your bearings that way, though! From what I've learned so far, it takes a while before you, y'know... Get to wreck shit. But there's always a small farming or fishing village in need of some goblin lair being cleared, or a small time bandit group needing to be dealt with, or some wolves that need to be made into coats and rugs."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"You know..." Brutus drawled off, squinting a bit as he thought and spoke at the same time. "It's kinda wild how...real this all feels. I've played a bunch of these VR games, and a lot of them are pretty well made but still manage to feel kinda..." he waved his hand through the air as if trying to use some sort of magic spell to summon the word to his mouth.

"Stiff. Like something was wrong. Sometimes NPCs just trotted along the same paths and only moved if you got in their way, or sometimes they just...stood there. This village, for example, feels like something I would find in a Ren fair. They even got the smell right, which is weird. Alls that is to explain that I don't really mind doing the small potatoes shit, because it doesn't feel like a monotonous checklist of boxes to tick. It feels like Granny Gertrude needs help getting her dinner ingredients together, or it adds a sense of urgency when little Tommy gets lost in the woods." He paused realizing he was monologing and turned back to rumble.

"Whoops, went on a bit of a ramble there, but do you get where I'm coming from? It kinda makes me feel like a hero when I fuck up some goblins because they're a very real threat to these very real seeming people."

@Mighty Rumblehide

 

[Mighty Rumblehide]

She had been busy using the time that Brutus spent talking away to finish off another one of the apples. It was long gone by the time he finished. "I haven't played very many VR games before myself, so I can't really speak to how... accurate and smooth this all feels. But I do know that every move I make, every time I swing my mace--" Rumble pantomimed splattering the brains of some lowly highwayman with a heavy thunk! of an invisible mace. "It just feels natural. Disturbingly so, maybe; but just as smooth and intuitive as if I were doing it in real life."

Perhaps that should be of some concern to her; but those were thoughts for people who had a few points in their Knowledge stat to rub together.

"I will say," the elf continued, "that I'm kind of grateful for it right now. See, I had an accident recently--took a nasty fall, fucked up my neck... Doctors got me on meds and bed rest until we figure out if I need surgery. But in here? I don't have to worry about any of that! I can go out there, out in this great big digital world, live my life, do whatever the hell I want, you know? Go hunt monsters, save a village, be a big goddamn hero! And like you said, Not have it feel like a list of tasks that you're just blasting through in order to get to the next cutscene or whatever. Like you're actually, really here and living! Like everything you do means something!"

Wasn't too long after that the pair of adventurers made it to town. The road travels quicker with company. After passing through the paltry town gate, exchanging greetings with the two guards who stood watch, Rumble and Brutus came across the village square. To her left, a two-story wooden building sat, the painted sign above its door welcoming them to The Winking Skeever.

"Looks like as good a place as any," she nodded. "Let's go."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Orion opened the door for Rumble, beckoning her before him before closing the door after to him. There was a hustle and bustle in the tavern, the lunch rush he imagined. He followed her as they found a nice table and plopped down casually in the rickety chair that groaned to support his weight.

"I'm sorry to hear about your neck. That sounds like a nightmare. I do a lot of fighting IRL, medieval fight reenactments to be specific. I haven't seen any crazy shit, but I did see a guy get tossed from a horse and slip a few disks..." He would order an ale, setting a coin down on the table. "But I am glad to hear that I'm not alone in thinking this game offers an excellent sense of purpose. Speaking of, are you familiar with the problems of this town? I've been here before so I've met a fistful of the townspeople and I'm aware of a few of the common problems that plague this forest, but I'm keen to see if you've encountered anything I haven't. I've mostly seen issues with wolves, some callous bandits, and goblins really. Maybe the occasional spider and the long winded fetch quest or two to gather herbs..."

At another table, a group of men were loudly talking about something, but it was much too loud for him to try and pick it up over the ambiance of the crowd.

@Mighty Rumblehide

 

[Mighty Rumblehide]

"Horses. Scary things. Thankfully I wasn't a horse girl growing up."

She didn't have much more to say until her breakfast of sausage and eggs were done. As much as she wanted to comment on medieval re-enactments sounding like incredible fun! (And not just because she was hauling a shield and a morning star everywhere she went in this little digital world!) Sometimes, you just need to listen when others speak. Get a feel for them. Understand who they are, and what kind of tale their life would make.

"So--" She gnawed off another piece of her toast. Strawberry jelly, if you must know. "I've only been in this county or whatever they're calling them for a couple days now. Haven't met many of the villagers. Trying to get in with the Adventurers Guild and get work that way, you know?" She shook her head. "Fumbled my first exam yesterday, so I'm only now getting around to checking everything else out." Gotta' work on them muscles and that swingin' arm if you're gonna' get anywhere in this life.

"Goblins, bandits, and wolves sounds about right though," she nodded, wiping the last crumbs off her fingers. "S'how it always is in these worlds. Adventurers need to get their start somewhere. Not that I'm complaining--taking down a dragon or something would be epic; but you can't expect people to do that with rusted swords and pot lids and leather scraps, right?"

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and all that jazz." Brutus quipped, munching on some bacon. "But I've been here for a little bit, smashed some goblins and took back a woodcutters shack. Picked some plants, did some chores for the townspeople. I'm getting to know them a little, there's little Johnny who's cat keeps wandering off, his mom who's fence is in constant need of repair. Old lady Gertrude who's always asking for help weeding her garden and picking plants from the forest." He rattled off a few more names that I can't be assed to come up with before taking a sip of his drink.

"All sorts of colorful character around here."

The table next to them began to get a little rowdier, drawing his gaze over to them. "I Swear you've GOT to believe me! Goblins! On fucking WOLVES. If we don't do something the goblins up in ole Glenwood are gonna take over the whole forest!"

@Mighty Rumblehide

 

[Mighty Rumblehide]

"True enough", Rumble said, wishing she had a glass to raise to the statement. "And to think there's a whole world of 'em out there. Eastern Brisshal here? Only just a sliver of the map. Plenty to explore in all directions--just gotta' pick which way you wanna' go, and start travelin'."

Of course, she hadn't gotten around to that yet. There was no way in hell she was leaving the relative safety of this region--not while she was working on her gear and learning her first pile of skills.

As she dabbed away a bit of jelly stuck in the corner of her mouth with a napkin, a couple of locals started shouting incredulously at one another. Rumble would have ignored them; but she picked out the two most important words every aspiring adventurer should know: Goblins, and wolves.

Normally, on their own? Not a problem.

Together? A proper challenge?

(Never mind that a small herd of rabbits recently punked the hell out of her and a few fellow newbies.)

Rumble inclined her head towards the pair. "Sounds like we got work, Brutus." Without waiting for an answer, she rose from her seat and put on her best merc smile.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Yeah, wild that there's no fast travel points or anything..." Brutus mused. "I've hardly left the starting zone, it seems like going somewhere else would be quite the pain in the ass." He continued to eat his meal, enjoying the woman's rather pleasant company before it appeared that the game was ready to fling them their quest. Mighty rose, and Brutus followed after her.

It was showtime.

"Goblin on wolves?" He asked, walking over to the table in question, picking the side opposite the one Mighty has taken. "That sounds like quite the problem, do you mind elaborating?"

The men looked up from their food, four in total, all hunters or some form of woodsman based on their garb. The man who had been speaking looked Mighty over, then to Brutus, eyes widening as he realized the goliath of a man he was speaking to.

"I uh..." he stammered. "Yeah. I was chasing some game over by the old Glenwood settlement. Recently it's been goblin turf so I was being extra careful when suddenly I got ambushed by a group of goblins riding some wolves. I guess they were tracking me by my scent, because I only managed to lose them when I crossed a river."

"Glennwood? Where is that from here?" Brutus asked.

"North sir, about a days travel from here." Brutus would turn to Mighty.

"Any questions for em before we go crack some skulls?"

@Mighty Rumblehide

 

[Mighty Rumblehide]

(For you... I'm not sorry. You've known for years the risk you take signing up for a thread with me.)

Yeah, she had a question. Quite possibly the most important one. "How many?"

One of the other woodsmen spoke up. "Four? Maybe five?"

Rumble turned to Brutus. "I think the two of us could handle a couple goblins on wolves, right?"

It wouldn't occur to her until much later that there was a far more important question that she could have asked: was there any sort of reward involved for coming back with a pile of goblin noggins and wolf pelts--say, gold? A small handful of jewels? Vouchers for the town blacksmith's services? Anything of the sort?

Satisfied with their brand new task, Rumble and Brutus left the tavern, consulted the general store for a more accurate route up to Glennwood than just picking a direction and hoping for the best, bought some provisions to thank them for the directions, and set out.

Hours in, as the sun was about to set and the aches of travel were building in her calves, Rumble took a peek at her UI map. "Says here we're about two miles out from a roadside tavern. We'll grab rooms for the night, so we're not logged out in the wilds where our bodies can get chomped on by critters. We can meet back up after breakfast and hoof it the rest of the way. Should be where the woodsmen said the goblins were hunting by noon or one. Sound good?"

Sounds good.

And so, they did just that.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

By brekfast, Brutus was ready to get this over with. Long slogs out into the wilderness tended to wear their welcome out about three hours into the trip. Everyone romanticizes the Lord of the Rings for being an epic quest, but nobody realizes that those fuckers were out there basically walking for days at a time with no deodorant, no podcasts to listen to, and had probably never heard of I spy. But it was part of the hustle, and sometimes you had to suffer to succeed.

Still, Brutus and Mighty found themselves stalking towards Glenwood Outposts. Apparantly, according to some stories from the local hunters, this used to be a good place to trade for quality pelts. Allegedly elves knew exactly where to put the arrow to minimize damage to the goods. According to some of the racier tales from the huntsman, other elves knew exactly where to take another type of arrow, and so thus many of them were quite sad to see it abandoned, and even worse to have it taken over by goblins who were significantly less agreeable than elves.

Truly a tragedy.

"Alright, what's the plan ya think?" He asked the elf, rubbing his chin. "Cause this is kinda the spot for em to congregate, so if we're not careful we're gonna get a lil more than just a couple of wolfbound bozos."

@Mighty Rumblehide

 

[Mighty Rumblehide]

Looking around, Rumble saw nothing but dirt road, underbrush, trees, open sky above, rolling mountains beaten down by the ages in the distance, and a small river winding their way through the woods to the east. Is this goblin territory? But then she caught herself wondering, what did she think goblin territory looked like? Fuckin' Mordor or some shit?

Not every bloodthirsty, raid-happy group of peoples have to do full despoiling scorched-earth wherever they make their home.

The elf kept her voice a little on the low side. "We should look around for some tracks--maybe from a regular patrol. The earth might be soft enough near the river; a wolf carrying a whole goblin on its back would be big enough to leave some sizable tracks around here." Rumble pressed a finger to her chin in thought. "Actually, the river might be a good natural border. I think we definitely check around there."

And so she did. Eyes to the ground, she wove her way between the trees in a slight crouch. She scanned left and right, looking for any snapped branches, any indentations in the mossy earth, any scratches in the dirt. Minutes passed as the pair traveled along the bank of the river without much luck--until--

"There!"

Rumble knelt down next to a series of tracks scuffed into the mud. "Wolves. Four, maybe five of them." Just like the woodsmen said. "Look here; not traveling in single file. Swaying back and forth just a little bit. Maybe from goblins yanking them every which way, trying to go after every little noise in these woods?"

She glanced up at Brutus. It hurt her neck to do so. Why couldn't more people have chosen reasonable heights for their avatars in this stupid game? "I think we get downwind and hide in the brush, and wait and see if a patrol comes by. We can assess from there. What do you think?"

Rolls

Expertise Check
1d100 (62) + 10 = 72
Awareness | Mighty Rumblehide | 287C1

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"The wolves probably aren't the most trained mounts so it makes sense if they were a little on the jumpy side." This sort of trailhead CSI was something he was getting used to. He squinted as he took a gander at the tracks, the paw shape and the size of the stride matched up with roughly what he thought he knew about wolves. Admittedly he had spent more and more time on Google or at local libraries looking up all sorts of information about animals, survivalism, and fantasy novels featuring cool heroes so he could pick up cool Heroic banter.

"Getting downwind and getting the drop on them would be a good idea. Goblins are schemers by nature, if we let them control the theater of battle we can expect traps and shenanigans." This would be the second time he'd set a trap similar to this, though the first time had turned out...middling in success. He hoped the Elf was readier to sit still in a brush pile than he was.

Following her suggestion, he found a nice large patch of brush more than capable of concealing her and his giant frame and lifted up a few branches, motioning for her to go underneath.

"Ladies first."

@Mighty Rumblehide