Complete Vintergard Memories

[Hanno Futaba]

It was to Hanno's surprise to see that the world of Terrasphere seemed to have continued despite the lack of access the real world had to it. Whoever was behind that game didn't seem to want to lose any progress behind it, or at least wanted to make it as meticulously realistic as possible, as expected from a world where NPCs were nothing short of a miracle of Artificial Intelligence.

From what he could have caught, the 'players' that were stuck in the game remained in there, something that certainly brought him chills, but also a glimpse of relief. He did worry about them during the four years of radio silence regarding the VRMMORPG.

Breathing a sigh, Hanno moved closer to an Adventurer's Encampment, finding himself there to find out more about the events during the disappearance of the game. It seemed like a whole city has been destroyed, which was a big deal he wished to explore and see with his own eyes.

For once, he stepped into a tavern (or anything remotely similar to it), not for a wish to drink until he was fainting, but rather to find answers.

His eyes grew wide when a familiar face was spotted though, and the somber expression on his face turned into a bright one. "Heya buddy!" He greeted in his usual manner, adjusting his enormous shield on his back. "Has been a hot four minutes, huh?" Hanno chuckled.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash doesn't feel particularly great right now.

When he was in Vintergard, all he had on his mind was getting out - dodging robots or fighting them when necessary, desperately trying to remember how to use a sword, and trying not to think too hard about the whispers and wails of the spirits still wandering those ruins. There was nothing but adrenaline and anxiety pushing him forward, leaving him no time to think about much else than survival.

But he has a quiet moment now. He's been given the rundown of what happened to Vintergard, but that's not what's on his mind right now. Right now he's more focused on his (her) choices, the things that made Aisling decide that Ash was the character to play in Terrasphere.

There are parts that shouldn't be there that he can't stop focusing on. He's too tall and keeps tripping over things or bumping his head. He has green hair.

"It's not too late to do a reroll, is it?" he mumbles into his mug - a drink more to restore his flagging thirst meter than for the taste. Though the simulated drunkenness might be helping, too. It means he's not paying attention to his surroundings, and so when Hanno approaches him he nearly knocks the mug over as he turns.

"O-oh. Hi," he stammers, looking at who is obviously a 'traveler' like he is. He looks... vaguely familiar, but it's been four years, and it's not as if he knew anyone in Terrasphere long enough to commit to long-term memory. "Um... sorry. I don't think I remember you." He scratches his face, nervously. "Did we, uh, play together, back 'before'?"

...why is he so nervous? There's some memory tickling at the back of his mind, something locked in darkness...

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

When the man asked if they had played together before, a grin crossed his lips and he cleared his throat, looking at him with a solemn expression for a moment.

"Why fear death?" He started, averting his face and resting a hand against his chest.

"Today, it walks with us as a friend!" Hanno continued, suddenly chuckling and looking up at him. "I mean, that was pretty awesome, it inspired me to kill myself in that fight and I hate it." He shrugged with another laugh, that showed he didn't really hate it, then peeked at the seat next to Ash as if silently asking if he could take it.

"I am Hanno, Hanno Futaba. You've visited the Curry House someday too, didn'tcha? I could remember this face no matter how far I'd go." He said with a grin. "What you doing around here? I've heard things went pretty South in this place. I came here to check this place, wanted to see what happened with my own eyes."

The shield rumbled in his back as if agreeing.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Oh.

Oh no.

Ash blushes furiously as Hanno's words unlock a memory, looking back towards the mug in a vain attempt to hide it. He did say that, didn't he. In the midst of the chaos of Titania he decided to be a hero, melodramatic speech and all...

"I did say that, didn't I..." He looks down at his mug like he's contemplating whether he could drown in it. It's not far from what he's actually thinking, but he eventually seems to calm down. "Good to meet you, Hanna. Ash Vargold, at least here in Terrasphere." He sits up, and then nods in response to Hanno's unspoken question about sitting next to him.

The mention of the Curry House, though... he unconsciously bristles, but that one seems much foggier than the memories of Titanius. He leaves that alone, then sighs. "Well, apparently I logged out in Vintergard four years ago, before the game got shut down." He grumbles - on closer examination it's pretty clear that he's beat up, and his clothing isn't in great shape. "And so when I logged back in, it was right in the middle of robot hell."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Chanlye]

When he was called with an "a" rather than an "o", he took a moment to snap it in his mind. "H-Hey now, my name is Hanno, not Hanna. She is my cousin." He lied, now blushing a bit himself. It took a whle for him to understand what was going on in the past, but as soon as someone had the kindess of explaining the shanenigans he was doing, he didn't know where to shove his face.

The shield on his back rumbled once again, with a quiet "Ku ku ku" escaping from it. Hanno simply elbowed it with a frown. "What you laughin' at?" He sighed, taking a seat and smiling gratefully at the guy.

"Ash Vargold! So that was your name!" It was a shame there wasn't a raid members list at the time, nor a name popping out on the top of player's heads.

At the mention of Vintergard and robot hell, he frowned. "So shit really went down in Vintergard. I've only heard stories-" He crossed his arms. "Still... This is so damn weird, man. Are you alright though? You didn't... die, right?" He asked concerned. The dude surely had died in Titanus battle, so if he had died again-

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Oh, sorry." Why did he say Hanna? That was a weird mistake to make. Maybe he was more scattered from escaping Vintergard than he realized.

And then, the shield rumbled, and for a moment Ash's heartbeat stuttered before falling back into calm rhythm. He looked over Hanno's shoulder, at the familiar purple hue, and immediately looked back at Hanno properly.

"Luckily, I didn't die." He takes another sip, making a bit of a face in the process - he's not a fan of alcohol in general, even this thin and weak stuff, but after being told that the water isn't particularly safe he'll take it over worrying about digital food poisoning. "Ran into some other people in the same situation, and we were able to get out alive. Considering I've already got one death on me, I really don't want to pick up a second as soon as I logged in."

He takes a breath, and shrugs. "What about you? I guess you didn't spawn in here - were you just in the area, or did you actually come all the way here to see it?"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Don't worry 'bout it." He smirked, with the colors on his face fading slightly. It was just a friendly talk after all. He carefully turned to the side, waving to a waiter or whoever was taking orders and asking for some ale for both of them.

"Me? I came all the way walking here. The perks of always travellin' is that you never log in the middle of a siege or a destroyed town- Hell, I remember that the last thing I was doing was trying to grab an apple, so I kinda just logged in falling flat on the ground." He shrugged.

"Considering you are counting your deaths, I guess you already know the deal. I'm glad everyone is doing a good job at spreading the news." Hanno said, with his expression turning a bit more serious after Ash revealed it. "I'm surprised you are still logged on after knowing that, are you into this sort of thing?" He asked, not really sounding judgemental about it, but rather curious and intrigued. Not that Hanno could say anything, considering he was there, but he wanted to know the man's reasons.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Why did he log in?

Ash blinks, as if the thought had never come to him. He knew the game was dangerous, after all - he'd nearly taken a second death just logging in, and then where would he be? And yet, here he was.

"...I guess I just wanted to prove to myself that all this had been real in the first place." He leans forward on the bar counter, tail swishing slowly. Freaking weird, how many instincts are baked into the avatar.

"After it was shut down, everything just seemed to... vanish off the internet. It was surreal." He idly swishes the mug in front of him, then takes another sip. "For a while I started to wonder if I'd dreamed up the whole thing. No one talked about it, and I didn't play long enough to make a lot of IRL friends."

He sighs. "I guess I just wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't crazy. That all this actually happened." Then he turns to Hanno. "What about you, though? What made you decide to come back?"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno somewhat grinned at Ash's answer, because he felt the same, in a certain way. Not that he thought it was a dream, but it felt real, too real. So Ash's answer resonated with Hanno, and he nodded understanding. "Yeah, nobody wanted to be part of it anymore, and it is just fair, considering the dangers." He said.

"I honestly expected to find this place empty, with the exception of new unaware players and... you know. Those that stayed." Hanno said, pursing his lips when the question was returned to him. But that was expected.

"For a lot of reasons. To meet my buddy again-" He elbowed the shield. "To try to convince people to leave, but that already proved to be impossible, so I will try to keep people as safe as possible." Hanno shrugged.

"And well. I also do... feel this is all real, in a certain way. So I came to check up the UI locked people. Find out how they are feeling, what happened. And everything... so far I found none of those I knew though."

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

"You would think, but... well, here we are." Ash shrugs, glancing towards Hanno's shield. No doubting it - that must have been a Titanius drop, which means Hanno was definitely there.

Asking if he'd died too feels rude, though.

"...I can only wonder what it must been like. Being stuck for four years, with no contact with the real world at all." He looks around the tavern - it's not crowded, but there are other people. He wonders how many are players, how many are landers... and how many have gone from one to the other.

"I'd like to stay I'll stop playing after this," he says, watching people interact. "But I think I'd be lying to myself if I did. Back when the news first came out, I definitely planned to quit, drop all this for good. But seeing that trailer after four years?."

He looks sideways at Hanno with a wry smile. " It made my heart race like it hadn't for ages. In the end, I guess you can't get over something like this that easily, huh?"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Just the idea made Hanno shudder, pursing his lips. "Yeah. I was also expecting to give them some news, you know. I actually got to meet- Well, see one of the guys that got stuck into the game. I went there with others to, y'know, log him out by force." He admitted.

"Needless to say we didn't really find him." Hanno muttered. "So I kinda wanted to at least... Update him about things, if he wishes me to." He said, wondering if Sean missed his family or something similar. Was it too weird to visit a family of a dead friend? There was a bit of a lie saying that he was childhood or a school friend, but still.

However, the talk was starting to get him a bit grim and solemn, so soon he pushed those thoughts away, instead focusing on Ash's words.

"I get what you mean." Hanno smirked. "Say whatever you want, it was badass." He nodded.

"It shouldn't be like that, but I guess that's just how it is." He shrugged with a sigh, and soon the drinks he had asked to the waiter came to the table, giving them one more reason to get distracted in that small conversation.

Hanno was quick to take his tankard, raising it toward Ash. "For a heart racing welcome." He offered a cheer.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash nodded and took the second tankard in response to Hanno grabbing his. He didn't plan on getting drunk - he hated the taste of it in real life, and all the virtual reality in the world wasn't enough to make him like it here. But he could drink another mug for the sake of celebrating... whatever they were celebrating. The return of Terrasphere? The fact they were alive? Maybe it didn't matter in the end.

"To a heart-racing welcome," he said as he knocked his tankard against Hanno's, and then tried taking a big swig of the drink inside for the sake of doing things properly...

...and, well. Sputtered most of it across the floor. At least he missed Hanno, but he looked embarrassed. "...I don't know how people drink so much of this stuff." He set his tankard aside with an apologetic glance to the waiter, but he was still smiling. Maybe things like this were what made Terrasphere feel like it wasn't so bad.

"...so, did you see what you wanted of Vintergard?" Ash gestured vaguely towards in the direction of the ruined city. "Because if you're planning on going inside, I'd strongly recommend against it."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno didn't mind the mess, opening his mouth and only feeling disappointed that nothing fell on itm and he thought this would be one of the perks of being small enough! Well, too bad. He followed the conversation with sips of his drink, letting out a chuckle at Ash's disbelief on so many people liking it. "I guess it is more the 'drink with others' deal than drinking by yourself. As long as you don't lose control..." Hanno shrugged.

When asked about his reasons, Hanno took a deeper chug and sighed, looking up at Ash and clearing his throat.

"Quite a few things." He said. "I've heard a lot about magi-tech sentries, things that I didn't even know existed. Yeah, golems are a thing, but that? Not even my friend, Kleper, used to tinker this kind of stuff. And she was very smart at those things." Hanno glanced at his drink, taking another sip.

"So I wanted to check all that. See what really happened with my own eyes... and well, take the many unanswered requests from the quest board about it." He gestured at a nearby board, completely covered by wanted ads.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash shuddered. "Yeah. We fought one of those, actually - took four of us just to take down one of them." He fingered some of the bullet holes in his outfit - he still felt a dull pain where he'd been shot, even after he'd healed them. "They'll summon others if you let them, and I'm pretty sure we just fought one of the small ones. I don't want to imagine the bigger ones."

He took another sip, this time making sure he didn't spray everywhere. Just to fill the thirst meter, he told himself, wrinkling his nose. Damn these caenis senses. "But if you're going in I guess just... be careful. Don't go on your own."

He paused a moment, eyes flicking towards empty space. Hanno had a familiar feeling, almost a smell that he associated with his own brand of magic. Whatever that was supposed to smell like. "And be wary of the spirits, if you try to call upon them. There was a lot of death there, and none of it peaceful. They can be... overwhelming."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Four of you guys to fight one off? And it was small?" Hanno crossed his arms, with his expressions turning gravely serious for a moment. That sounded like a very tough bunch then, which could make an exploration alone become completely unfeasible. He would need some help with it later in the future, so he took that into a mental note for future reference.

He looked up at Ash, grinning. "Gotcha, I wasn't planning to. In this world no one achieves anything all by themselves-" It took a moment for Hanno to register that he said 'world' instead of 'game', but that was a silly detail that he brushed off.

Ash's words then made Hanno uncross his arms, reaching for his drink. "Spirits, you say." His lips twisted slightly. "Generally they react well to me, but they also ask a lot. Spirits that aren't peaceful are always a trouble, but perhaps I could exorcise some of them." It would be better to do it, to allow them to be finally free, at least in his point of view.

"Regardless of the case, both of us still have one life to risk. Just after that, we can't give any more slips... If you want to know something, it is better than real life that you only get one, and can die being hit by a random truck." He shrugged.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Yeah. And there's bigger, too. Some people in camp said something about 'Regulators'. Not sure if we would've made it out alive if we ran into one of those."

When Hanno brought up death in the real world, he couldn't help but snort.. "Ah yes, the dreaded Truck-kun. Sure, real life's pretty random and dangerous on its own, but... it's not right that a game is making us think about real life consequences at all."

He set the drink aside, trying not to be too obvious about trying to scrape the bitter taste off his tongue with his teeth. It was tough, considering the fangs and all. "The thing with Meta+ was... pretty bad. But there's got to be some kind of middle ground between 'legal' VR and... however Terrasphere does all this."

...he was rambling. He sighed, and ultimately shrugged. "I'm gonna be in the camp for a little longer - I'm waiting for a caravan back to... Finweald, I think they called it? See if I can get myself somewhere a little safer to figure out what's going on." He opened his palm menu and glanced at it before he turned to Hanno. "Mind if I send you a friend request? Might be interested in hearing about anything you find out in there. Or at least that you haven't lost another life."

He smiled darkly after that one.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno's lips pursed at the news. He would need a lot of help if he wanted to go through that place, lost by both time and disaster, overtaken by creatures so tough that needed to be outnumbered to be defeated. It was a tough situation, but he needed to act accordingly to make sure he wouldn't waste his 'last' chance before things started to become an actual real risk.

Thankfully, there weren't any plans for him to go alone, even because his Affliction wouldn't allow him to last too long by himself, even if he could bear with it much better nowadays.

A smirk crossed his lips at the mention of 'Truck-kun', but he handwaved it while taking a deep breath. "I think there is still a lot we will learn, even for those that don't play the game, I doubt News will be quiet about all this," Hanno said, looking at Ash and grinning. "Worried about me? That's nice. Of course, I don't mind, buddy. I will keep you updated, and of course, if you need anything let me know." He opened his UI, being quick to send a request himself.

Notice

Hanno Futaba has sent you a friend request!

His expressions then shifted to something more solemn, huffing. "Yeah. I will make sure to not lose another one. But also... Make sure to think twice if you ever lose your second. Because after that... We don't really have another chance, right?" He said, serious.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Notice

Ash Vargold accepted your request!

Ash closed the palm menu. "Yeah, I definitely will. I'm planning on playing it safe already - after Titanius, I'm not sure if dying for this world is really worth it." He said the last bit quietly - after all, he didn't know if there were any landers in this makeshift bar that would take offense to that.

"I might just keep heading east towards the newbie area, to be honest. Do some mentoring for anyone new joining the game." He crossed his arms with a thoughtful frown. "The last thing we want are people getting eaten by wolves learning how to play the game."

A beat. "We don't want people dying at all, but I bet you could put a big blinking billbord in Brisshal that says 'this game can kill you in real life' and people would still play. Hell, they'd probably take it as a challenge."

He looks over at his mug of beer and decides against trying to finish it. "Well, I shouldn't keep you from your own plans, and I need to do some shopping." He stands up and stretches. "Stay safe out there, Hanno."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Perhaps that was one thing that Hanno and Ash didn't share. Hanno did think that the world was worth fighting for, dying... Would be complicated, maybe not. He would only know when it comes to it. After his second death, will he continue to fight for it? Will he think that the locked players and the Landers are worth it? He could only wonder, he could only think about it.

But right now, he wanted to protect the people in it. Players, UI-locked, and NPCs- Or as he prefers, Landers.

"That's a good idea, buddy. In fact, I will be doing that too after I'm done." He adjusted the shield on his back, standing up along with him and grinning.

"Still, I'm glad to see ya. I will be careful, and you better to. You can be I will be safe though." Hanno elbowed his shield, the loyal shield that didn't leave him even after all these years he disappeared. "I am never alone, after all-"

@Ash Vargold End!