Complete Private Eastern Brisshal In search of a Dreamcast cult classic

[Aroda]

A sunny, pleasant, a perfectly fine day - the perfect time to go out and wander the untamed wilderness for the sake of adventure!

It was another day for Aroda in this game, and having spent more time in Honeyhome collecting items and information, she had learned of some sort of 'power stones' in the woods of Eastern Brisshal that were huge - around ten feet tall, in fact - sources of magic energy. This sounded like something she should really check out, considering the race she chose needs those in place of sleeping, so finding one would be quite helpful.

They also couldn't be damaged or harmed, or so it seemed. This was good and bad news - they weren't something that could be harvested for Aroda to take with her or use in any sort of 'crafting', but they were also supposedly permanent fixtures, a landmark she could always return to if she ever found a need for its strange qualities. That is, as long as she knew where it was.

And so here she was, traversing the woodlands by her lonesome. Following the best directions she could get from the people and 'landers' of Honeyhome, she set out to find one of these power stones. Though even now as she trod through the forest, she'd yet to actually find it. How troublesome.

"...Haven't I seen that tree before...?"

She murmurs to herself, deep in thought.

@Thousand Swords

 

[Thousand Swords]

Somewhere in eastern Brisshal

125 / 125

❰ 100 / 100 ❱

"If Those rumors had been true there should be a good training spot somewhere around here..."

Faint words as Thousand scratched the back of his head with an Arcane hand while his two real ones rested on the hilts of his weapons while walking. Each time he had come into these woods he met things that wanted him dead and least he could do was be ready for them as he kept his pursuit to get stronger so less things walked all over him like they had so far and his whole life outside the game. A younger Thousand would just enjoy the nature, but now he only wanted the next fight to get stronger.

As he hopped over some bushes with the help of his dynamism he would find someone else and his slightly relaxed face would switch to annoyed. Guess he never could avoid people even when out in the woods leading him to grumble under his breath while hearing them speak about seeing the same tree before. Did people really get lost that easy? Just mark the way you going with slashing it or leaving markers was camping and free trailing basics.

"If your looking for town it's back that way, otherwise why not use trail markers or something so you don't go in circles or walk strait until you cant then pick a new direction to go after that."

His annoyed tone at a raised volume to get the attention of the girl as he walked past her, his default walking speed faster then most others because his mastery and skills he kept on default. The arcane hand pointing back the way he had come while he moved a hand off his left sword and tied a blue ribbon to a tree branch from his satchel and kept walking while speaking up again.

"Follow the blue until you see green, then follow it for town if you don't recall how you got here. My advise don't go woods exploring if you can't get yourself unlost lady."

Rolls

Expertise Check
1d100 (70) + 5 = 75
Knowledge | Thousand Swords

Player Sheet Link
@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

Aroda jumped a bit as some random guy just emerges, talking at her in such a miffed tone of voice. Once she realizes he's just some guy, and that he doesn't seem hostile, the grip that had suddenly tightened over her strangely modified fantasy rifle eases pretty quickly.

This guy...while 'strange' was certainly one of the words that came to mind, she had a feeling that 'rude' might be another, considering his temperament, even if so far he'd...technically only offered advice.

"...Nice to meet you too?"

She offers her greeting slowly as she considers his words, thinking how exactly to respond. He was obviously a player, and apparently had the confidence of someone who'd been playing for more than a scant couple of days, so...

"I only just started a few days ago, and I never exactly spent my free time wandering the wilderness before...but I suppose I expected a game to be a bit more forgiving than a real forest."

The magia - marked obviously as such by her arms and hands, being metal from around the elbows down, and her legs, all of which that can be seen below the hem of her sundress bearing a similar robotic appearance - rests one of such hands on her hip and cocks her head at the stranger.

"...But since you're such an expert, maybe you can help? I'm not looking for town. I'm trying to find a 'power stone'. Do you know them?"

@Thousand Swords

 

[Thousand Swords]

Somewhere in eastern Brisshal

125 / 125

❰ 100 / 100 ❱

Thousand would stop in his tracks when he got asked about the 'power stones'. Tipping his head as the only thing that rang a bell in that aspect was that annoying rock that kept sending him flying. In his defense some people told him if he sought strength to keep trying to attack it until he broke it down, and it took him about twenty times before he decided he was not nearly strong enough to do all of jack against it and just left it be. Reaching into his satchel to get out a small booklet and going over the pages.

"... This way..."

A slight grumble as he began going backwards the way he had come, writing in his book what his blue trail led to at the moment so he knew when to resume placing the markers. Sure somebody might come along and remove them, maybe that had been doing it already but the very lest he kept a general log to know where to go from what point in his book also so it just gave others things to follow and explore as he hopped over the bush again.

Blades slowly drawn and used to pull the shrub enough out of the way for someone to walk through it if they wanted to. He tried to be helpful, only to grumble at old habits and go back to walking his normal speed witch was about double most other people's. Not even slowing down as he would just point to the blue ribbons he was following until they led to a small clearing and he began to follow a line of red ribbons. He had used the colors to break up paths and objectives or end points.

"Why the interest, you don't look strong enough to damage it either. Also the hell took your arms and legs? If you just die you get them back so why stick with the fakes?"

Not the best social person as he slid down a hill and into the next much larger clearing where the stone was resting. Hand waving towards it while he moved to a different set of ribbons and check how many he had in his bag wondering if he should resume tracking that undead swarm or not. Not like he much else to do with his vacation time and maybe he would get a little bit of training from the deal. Looking back to see what the woman wanted from the useless rock in Thousand's eyes.

Rolls

Expertise Check
1d100 (42) + 5 = 47
Knowledge | Thousand Swords

Player Sheet Link
@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

Watching him turn and just start heading off with that simple statement, she blinks once before hurrying off at a jog to catch up.

"Oh, well, thanks- hey, wait!"

And then the guy just takes off at a weirdly sped up pace - some kind of weird skill? Magic? Aroda didn't know, but she had a bit of trouble keeping pace through such a wooded area. Her repeated calls of 'hang on', or 'wait up a second', likely go unanswered as she trails behind him. Aaand then he slides down a cliff casually, which Aroda isn't exactly prepared for, so she nearly tumbles down it herself, only managing to maintain barely enough balance with liberal use of some of her still-quite-weak aeromancy.

As she's finally at the bottom, she internally wonders at how she's not really winded - just a bit stiff? Another marvel of how Magia work, she supposed. Then, she internally wonders, what exactly is up with this guy. She doesn't get less confused when he starts talking again.

Eventually overcoming her befuddlement, she opens her mouth to speak once again,

"My arms and legs? Dude, what the hell took your ears? I'm not an Olympic speed-walker, here..."

With a light scoff, she starts to brush foliage off of her dress while she goes on.

"...Anyways, first, my arms and legs are fine. This body is 'artificial'. That's how the Magia race is - do you not know of it?"

She asks genuinely, as she starts to think this guy might not actually be so 'experienced', or at least as knowledgeable, as she thought. Of course, she doesn't skip a beat as she continues,

"Second, I didn't come here to break the stone. My being a Magia is also why I'm interested in that. Apparently Magia 'recharge' with sources of magical energy instead of sleeping, so it's pretty helpful to know where one is...like this stone. 'Course, I wouldn't mind breaking it if the pieces maintained the 'magical energy' effect, but...that's not important right now."

Her eyes focus on him a little more carefully as she pauses a brief moment to consider how to phrase her final question. He was talking about death here pretty casually, so she had to wonder...

"Third...is uh, is the info about dying here not common knowledge? Or, well, have you not heard anything about it?"

@Thousand Swords

 

[Thousand Swords]

Somewhere in eastern Brisshal

125 / 125

❰ 100 / 100 ❱

Thousand rolled his eyes as the woman seemed to have plenty of energy to complain so clearly she could have more then kept up. Then the slight insults caught his attention so he could only snicker, he had been rude himself so it sort of made sense she would be rude back and led him to shrug it off and yawn hearing her explain a boring story about Magia being robot people or something it did not exactly matter to him.

"Here I was going to ask if whatever did it to you was still alive so I could go fight it, far as the rock I don't think we are meant to break them and honestly sounds like a bitch that you have to be near those things to recharge that race choice. Far as death goes, it's a game so you can die as much as you want, not like it matters."

Thousand yawned again as he gave his replies to the situation, he was just looking for something to fight and blow off steam and chatting was the near opposite of that so his interest was fading quick as he moved the ribbons he was going to use to his belt and placed the blue back into the bag. Looking skyward as he yawned again and turned back to the wood line.

"Don't know much of shit about the game aside from two things. Being weak sucks, and working with people gets me killed. So enjoy your rock sitting or whatever I'm going to go find something to fight."

With that he would wave the arcane hand and start moving back into the woods to go find something to hunt or attack. Sure part of him was curious about the Magia race, or what the rock did for them but he already decided dealing with people would be kept to a bare minimal and if they made him yawn that was his sign to move along.

Rolls

Nothing

OOC: We can keep the thread going, where you work or study the rock while Thousand goes to fight things. Worst case if you want to follow him at a later time he is leaving red ribbons every small clearing so you can see between them to the next and mostly going one direction. or can call it here or any time during his fighting or looking for it. XD
Player Sheet Link
@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

Aroda's pretty much stunned into silence at how this guy answers her, wondering what his...entire deal, is. She got being antisocial, but they were basically in a game, online...what was there to worry about, being social? Was he...one of those kinds? With xX's and leet speak in his name, the 'cool lone wolf' guy? ...As unfortunate as that might be, for him and everyone who meets him, once she hears him talk about going to find a fight, she makes up her mind.

If this thing about three deaths was true, and this guy had apparently died at least once already, and he didn't know...well she'd just feel awful if something happened and she hadn't told him. Whether or not he decided to believe her.

"Hey! ...HEY!"

She raises her voice a bit more than she normally would to get his attention, until she gets him to pause and look back. She jogs over to quickly try explaining.

"Listen to me, dude. You seem like the type - haven't you heard, 'if you die in the game, you die for real' before?"

With that said, she points a finger at him sternly while continuing,

"I've heard that this game has something like that - three strikes and you 're out, sort of deal. Doesn't seem like a joke. So try and be careful, alright?"

There, she'd said it. She let her hands rest on her hips again and hoped the guy's reaction wouldn't be too disagreeable...

@Thousand Swords

 

[Thousand Swords]

Somewhere in eastern Brisshal

125 / 125

❰ 100 / 100 ❱

Thousand did stop, though it was followed by several curse words under his breath before slowly turning to the one shouting for him with a much more annoyed look across his face. his bad habit to listen to people was still there, but least he was not looking down or shouting sorry for walking away mid conversation or
for making them shout to him. Raising an eyebrow as he got what seemed like a warning.

"You realize just how much little sense that makes? Your expecting me to believe a game can track not just one person, but countless players deaths to know who has died three times and then kill them? It's a game, not a horror story kid. Besides if it does kill me it would be doing me a favor."

Thousand would wave as he gave almost a twisted grin thinking it over. He would stop getting bugged by his parents about amounting to something more then a daycare assistant, not have to deal with people using him all the time, or annoying shit-stains by the group of children. Mulling it over more, he did not see any negative to the situation and his gaze gave the same conclusion.

"Besides, what does it matter to someone like you? We never met before today and you don't even know my name. So go play with your Rock, and I'll keep doing what I want and if it gets me 'killed' then score one point for you being right, and score one point for getting me out of my hell loop of life."

Moving to resume walking in his picked direction without much more room to talk, sure he would out of old habit stop if he was told to, but each time it seemed to tip him a bit more into the red of his temper. People always wanted to toss shit on the things he was enjoying, so what if he died, nobody would care much aside from the easy mark was gone or the unambitious child was not staining the family name.

Rolls

Nothing

Player Sheet Link
@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

Aroda blinked.

What...the hell is this guy's deal? It may have been an internal question, but it was written all over her face, too. It sounded to her like he had more trouble believing that the game could...count...than believing the game could kill him.

And he treated the idea of his own death so flippantly. Doing him a favor? What a wasteful, selfish thing to say - Aroda was visibly irritated with the man, who was still technically a stranger at this point, as she shot back at him.

"This game is obviously more than meets the eye, if you'd ever stopped to think about it even once...but if you'd rather spout self-destructive nonsense like that than listen to someone that's trying to help you, then that's your prerogative. I tried."

She starts to turn back to her rock, still calling loudly to him over her shoulder.

"Thank you for your help, stranger. I really, sincerely hope no harm comes to you."

Even through all of her irritation, there's no hint of sarcasm in her voice as she stiffly wishes the odd guy a farewell, and returns her full attention to what she came here to do.

She fishes out a notebook, approaching the power stone to examine it. She starts by copying the rune carved into it as future reference, then sets her things down next to it and starts to lay out a few of her magitechy tools. She was gonna be here for a bit.

@Thousand Swords

 

[Thousand Swords]

Somewhere in eastern Brisshal

105 / 125

-20HP retaliation

Thousand just rolled his eyes as he walked away. Everyone was trying to ruin his fun with warnings, ordering him around, or just being social with him. if he wanted death it was none of their damn concern, if he wanted to fight something then don't stop him even if you know it could or would kill him. Growling as there was always the second side of the people who tried to 'help' those like him who started spiraling. Either way he had no time for them and kept looking for training.

"This could work... OHIE Bears, Let's go a few rounds!"

His words picking up in volume as he entered a small clearing where two bears had been trying to get something out of a tree. What it was did not matter to Thousand as he got his swords out and grinded them together to get the further focus of the two bears. Hearing one roar while the other stood and approached he could only chuckle. Two on one, he liked those odds as his Arcane magic formed a few more swords to use for the fight.

Left hand spinning the sword to hold it back handed while right kept it strait for a moment before flipping it also. Against bears he would need speed not standing still and fighting them head on. Grinning as the first bear started to rush forward and he would match the approach, but not the speed. he was building to be like his name hinted, a force of thousand swords cutting down on his prey at once. Ducking under the bear while his sword slash upward across the underbelly of the bear.

A grin across his face as he rose back to his feet and heard the first bear dropping behind him, not exactly expecting it to fall so easy nor recalling the issue it was two on one as claws drew his focus back into the fight. The shallow gash across his chest reminding him he had a ways to go, not just with focus on battle but speed or defense. Growling back at the bear as the two now seemed to have their own reasons to keep fighting. one had lost their mate, the other had nothing but hate for the thing that harmed him.

Rolls

Normal Attack
1d100 (66) + 15 + 10 + 20 = 111
111 damage (double DC, 2LP damage)
Slash Weapons | Thousand Swords | 844C5

Player Sheet Link
@Aroda

Spoiler: auto monster

2 Bears | DC 20 to hit | 20 Retaliation damage

2 / 4

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