Open Western Brisshal The Starcaller's return

[Darkness]

Saying anything less then she fell from her porch chair and spilled her coffee when the shooting stars started would undersell Kaede's reaction. So long, every day and night if she had the time she watched, hoped, hell even started to pray such a thing would happen and when it did she was about as shocked as many others. Grumbling as she rubbed the back of her head and double checked to make sure she had not spilled anything on her outfit as she rose back to her feet and hurriedly walked inside.

"One shooting star sure, but not during the day or hell that many! Did they figure out what was wrong?!"

Her words a muffled mix of excitement and curious as she tried to find some of her old equipment to hopefully help people that might have known her in the past recall her. Sure she looked sort of the same, if you subtract the doom and gloom, the messed up hair, and the fact she was sober. Stopping as she overlooked the blackened scythe that rested above her fireplace, hand slowly running the dulled blade she could never bother to sharpen after she lost her friends the second time since the disappearance. Holding the weapon lightly as she sighed and set it back on the mantle shortly after.

"Maybe another time... Or rather should start thinking about getting you cleaned up much like myself ha-ha."

Her voice now a playful musing as she rushed to get her old gear on over her casual outfit and took her backup weapon from the closest that she kept in better shape. it was more the main weapon for her the past year, the older and stronger one hurt more to wield emotionally then anything. Rolling her shoulder as the weapon felt heavier then usual but not enough to stop her from heading out to the forest where she could still vaguely recall most people started at. Some of the people who knew her avoid her as she looked more like a woman on a war path then a worried friend.

"Maybe they start somewhere new, or maybe players of old start where they had last been? I think I'd have heard a few shocked screams if that was the case..."

Kaede looked over seeing she was not the only person rushing out and a silent exchange of words seemed to cross them at a glance. 'You think it's real?' was the only thing Kaede could think she said without her words. Shaking her head as she tried to think positive about things and ducked under a branch into the wood-line to either meet a friendly face, or assist a new player. Either way she had some words of advice, and a lot of catching up to do. This world had no Manga, and she needed to know what happened with her favorite books.

 

[Sepulchre af Umbral]

Kaede's search took her deeper into the woods, and in the distance a familiar purple flash catches her eye. Another burst of the purple swirling energy followed, and there's no mistaking it for anything else besides the Taboo Art of Dark Magic she's well-versed in herself.

A distant mighty yet tiny "Haaaah!" echoed in the forest, disrupting its stillness, and is soon followed by mystical chanting. Flashes of blue spirit magic and violet dark magic can be glimpsed rising up and convalescing together to form the grim visage of a spectral cloaked figure holding a scythe in its boney grasp. It remained semi-transparent and difficult to make out among all the trees, but the resounding clang of steel against steel is unmistakable as a command is shouted and the spectre swings its scythe down against an orc's rusted blade.

A few feet behind the spectre stands a short Faerin with long indigo hair, wearing a frilly dress and hat clearly not designed for travel in the woods. Fae hold a book open in one hand, the other directed outwards toward the spectre as fae desperately try to skim the pages and keep the spell going.

Sepulchre af Umbral glances around, trying to calculate a way out of faer sticky situation. Fae bite down hard on faer lip. Sure logging out was an option.... but fae just arrived! Maybe fae could direct the scythe separate from the spectre to use it in a hasty retreat... but using this much magic was already using up more Energy than fae expected.

 

[Darkness]

Kaede's brain clicked a few times trying to think what would be the best thing to say to someone who was so freely using taboo magic, sure it was out in the woods but if any lander saw it could raise several flags. Course this thought train was given a pin when she noticed the younger caster struggling to fight a orc. Slowly reaching her left hand towards the orc as her staff melted off her back into a blackened halo and shot forward at the ground below the orc.

"Nonqui Nossipu uequiste quamratis, emieco, postli, pomiuo, flesaemam, eossi, tiestad."

Her words echoed over before the black circle glowed faintly and a dark gold bubble encased the orc. Transparent one second, clear to see the next as Kaede fused Chronomancy with cursed magic to form a slow trap to attempt and assist without stealing to much from the experience. She overlooked the construct of the reaper and with a few seconds she could gather why the person might be having some trouble.

"If I may, you would be better off only trying to manifest the bare minimal of things. The more you construct might look cooler, but takes more from the limited and slow to regain resource that newer casters have."

Kaede would move slightly between the small figure and the orc as she spoke. Her outreached hand slowly tracing a circle skyward as she kept the Orc slowed down to make up for the newer caster's choices but still give them enough of a challenge. Sure she wanted to come in like a hero, but that only would make people more reckless in this game and you only got four chances here or if this girl was a lander, one.

"If you do not wish for my help I can Undo the slow spell or focus more on giving you a front-line to assist so you can cast less flashy spells. Darker magic is after all taboo in this world.~"

Kaede would stay out of the girl's way so she could cast freely, every so often using her right hand to catch or smack the orc's weapon aside as black blood encased the hand to be used as armor. She took this time to get a better look at the girl, she was dressed like a player might do, but she had also met her fair share of odd landers during her eight years roughly stuck here, four being unchosen.

@Sepulchre af Umbral

 

[Sepulchre af Umbral]

Sepulchre's eyes widened as a figured darted forward and a black halo crashed into the ground at the orc's feet. Fae tensed for a moment, worried a bigger threat had presented itself for faer to contend with, even as fae couldn't help gasping in awe at the beauty and power of the spell as the golden bubble encased the orc. Fae snuck a glimpse behind, eyes widening at the sight of a person clad in dark purple before focusing faer attention back on the clear threat.

Fae pondered over the caster's advice as fae tried to focus on faer own spells and not the sorceress's movements. It was hard not to admire how clearly skilled she was though.

"Really? I would've thought the higher damage from bigger spells would be more effective. Didn't think the combat would be that complex..."

Sepulchre turned faer attention toward re-evaluating the situation. Fae weren't foolish enough to turn down help if it was being offered, even if it turned out to have strings attached later. After all, fae were going to need to interact with others if fae ever hoped to get to the bottom of Terrasphere's existence. It was good to know that casting taboo magics really was taken seriously and wasn't labeled such for flavor. Definitely something fae would ask this caster about later. For now, there was an orc to be dealt with.

Fae took a breath and adjusted faer stance, shaking faer head.

"No need for that, I appreciate the help. Less magic you say... (fae grinned) just the scythe good enough? Figured with you holding the orc there it'll be easy enough to slash it to bits. Unless there's another approach you recommend?"

Sepulchre would then focus on dismissing the spectral figure and dispelling the Dark Magic enshrouding the scythe, leaving only the boney scythe hovering the air.

@Kaede Hoshi

 

[Darkness]

Kaede would scratch her head some thinking how to explain things but simply opted to shrug and focus on holding the orc stationary as she could. Moving both hands to face the foe as she resumed the incantation to go from a slow into a temporary time stop though taking all her focus to upkeep the magic forcing her dark magic that was normally bottled to leak and begin rotting the area around her.

"Swing away, and preferably before my magic gets to far... fixing the damage of dark magic is a tedious task..."

Moving more out of the way as her hands started to shake, the magic circles around them spinning off their axis and starting to clash into each other causing small blast to cut up her hands as she refocused on the spell to stop it from going fully off. She really needed to work on her less taboo magic so she could do things without making Landers or other players more warry of her then she would enjoy them being. The whole reason she got sober and was not as much of an open pervert was all the same reason as just wanted to get a slightly normal life now that this one was all she had.

Either way if the Orc was dealt with or still alive after ten seconds Kaede's magic would forcefully disarm itself releasing the foe and leaving Kaede to either rush to defend the little newbie, or simply to walk over to them to give them a pat on the back. Either way Kaede would forget her magic was still leaking out rotting the area until a few moments after the patting or first tanked attack leading her to focus more on getting a lid on that mess.

@Sepulchre af Umbral

 

[Sepulchre af Umbral]

Sepulchre would nod and gasp softly at the sight of the caster's hands. Fae didn't realize the spells in game would cause physical damage to their caster. Fae really needed to be more careful... fae swallowed hard and refocused on the orc and maintaining faer own spell, faer own hand beginning to shake from adrenaline and exertion.

"Alright, leave it to me! Spirit Scythe, Star Formation Slash! Hah!"

With that proclamation, Sepulchre swung faer arm in an X-formation in front of faer, the scythe following the motion and slicing the orc's chest open. The creature would scream in pain if it wasn't frozen in time, all it can do is glare in enraged fury before the next swipe of the tiny Faerin's arm directed the scythe to cut it clean in half through the waist.

Fae panted softly from the exertion, dismissing the boney scythe and whistling in admiration before the other caster's spell ends and the two bloody pieces collapse to the ground as gravity reclaims control. Fae turn with a prideful grin toward the impressive spellcaster.

"Heh. And not a drop of blood on either of us! (Sepulchre's expression shifted to concern, glancing at the other caster's hands) Well, not the orc's blood at least. I think I should be able to help with that? (fae glanced around the forest) We might want to move out of these woods first..."

Fae frowned and pulled up the world map from faer UI, trying to determine where a reasonable respite might be near their current location.

 

[Darkness]

With the orc dispatched, and the head pat not denied Kaede would turn her focus to cleaning up her own mess. The black halo expanding over the area as it turned back the hands of time to restore the dead grass and Kaede's wounds, then shrunk to only cover the orc's remains as it sped up the decay process to give the earth a apology rather then sharing it with corpse eating things. it was not until after it was fully decomposed she forgot to let the new player loot the body if they wanted to do such.

"I'm fine... The perk of having support magic is able to deal with overclocking the debuff from time to time ha ha."

Kaede hummed before turning to the Faerin, her mind wondering why so many players she was coming across had been picking the race that was mistreated and or shunned in this world only to shrug it off as a statement against adversity or something. She was not the think it over type, just a go with the flow or where she wanted. Adjusting her attire some as she slung her bag around to get some medical herbs and bandages out offering them to the new player.

"Since I prevented the usual 'loot the body' after combat, hope these make up for it... Most orcs are bare bone with what they need and only that if alone like this."

Kaede would place them back in her bad if the individual declined them. Adjusting the bag back onto her back before looking around tracking something just out of view it seemed. Totetsu was chasing something again, and while it did not sound like a person or something to worry about Kaede would let the puppy do as it liked. One day she hoped it would outgrow that bad trait but for now it was cute to watch the bear sized puppy doing what a little pup did when play fighting.

@Sepulchre af Umbral

 

[Sepulchre af Umbral]

The tiny Faerin glanced at offered bandages before glancing up at the caster offering them.

"Huh? Loot the - oh, you're treating this like a regular game then. Are you a tutorial NPC then, or someone helping run the game? And you don't got to worry about repaying me for the loot, I'm only interested in unusual drops or glitches. Have you witnessed any glitches in your time playing? MMOs are notorious for having a few bug here and there, especially after their initial launch."

Sepulchre frowned as fae poked faerself between the eyes instead of adjusting a pair of now non-existent glasses. That wouldn't be enough to dampen faer enthusiasm about this place and faer excitement over running into someone else almost right away! It was too early to tell if this other caster had the same interest as faerself, so it was best to take the questions slow, even if Sepulchre was bursting at the seams to ask if she was a dead person.

"I've got some healing spells, is there an advantage to using the bandages over a spell? Sorry... I didn't really think combat would be a focus of this game. I sound ridiculous I know, so I really appreciate how helpful you've been!"

Fae would accept the bandages if there was an advantage and it was made clear there were no strings attached in the offer.

Fae beamed up at the caster, sticking out a hand.

"My name's Sepulchre af Umbral! Pleasure to meet you... and is that one yours, or do we got to worry about fighting it as well?"

Sepulchre had leaned over and gestured to the large dog frolicking in the background, and would raise a questioning eyebrow up at the sorceress.

@Kaede Hoshi

 

[Darkness]

Somewhere in Western Brisshal

"Ouch, I know I don't have the Name over my head from the UI lock issue but everyone calling me an NPC sort of hurts. The only glitch I've been aware of the last five years is getting locked into the game and people saying I died in real life..."

Kaede would place a hand over her heart as she spoke, she was getting used to the fact people from the new wave of players called her NPC or a lander because her UI display of name would not show up since she was locked in. Either way she would wait until the second part of Sepulchre's words crossed her mind before she would reach to hold the hand and kiss the back of it before giving her introduction.

"My name is Kaede Hoshi, one of the trapped, A known pervert so be warned.~ As for the difference of healing magic to bandages one saves you SP and that makes a big difference in longer expeditions or combats. As for the giant hound yes... That is Totetsu, my partner in crime more often then not."

She would hand the bandages over even if the girl was not to keen about them it would help one time or she could sell them for something else. Humming as she moved away slightly and whistled to call over Totetsu and the puppy ran up and shrunk down to tiny size and Kaede struggled to get him off the ground using her magic to buff her strength just to achieve it.

"Got him from a event lottery back before I was locked in, Just thankful she can shrink herself since otherwise her playing would take out a number of trees..."

Kaede hummed as she held Totetsu up and cuddled her face against the puppy who licked it in response to the show of affection. setting the puppy down who would grow back to the size of normal dog and run off to go play again. She could only sigh at the dog's short attention span but she enjoyed the fickleness. Turning her focus back to Sepulchre and speaking a small bit more.

"That name is hard to pronounce... Sephie is what Im going to call you that or Umbral."

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@Sepulchre af Umbral

 

[Sepulchre af Umbral]

Sepulchre would blink hard at the UI Locked information, but overall takes in stride.

"You don't know whether you're actually dead or not? That must make you some kind of ghost... and sorry about that, I didn't check my UI. I just assumed a game of this size would have a tutorial or basic combat instructions, and you happened to be the person I ran into."

Fae would suppress a grin, as enthusiasm at that sort of information wasn't appropriate. Fae would soon be distracted by that from receiving the kiss to faer hand from Kaede instead of the expected handshake or simply the offer being ignored, and flustered instantly with a blush.

"O-okay?! Um, Ka-Kaede Hoshi... you certainly know how to make a first impression. Tetsu - I mean - Totetsu must get that from you."

Sepulchre would take the bandages and flash a smile out of shock, still trying to process the greeting that had just happened and keep up with the rest of what Kaede was saying. Do fae try to explain that was supposed to be a handshake, or did Kaede know that and intentionally ignore it? Kaede turning her attention to her dog caused Sepulchre to focus on Totetsu instead, leaving those questions to rattle around in the background of faer thoughts. Faer cheeks are still tinged red as fae come back to enough to respond to Kaede's declaration of giving faer a nickname.

"Um-Umbral please! Sephie is too close to Stephanie, and Umbral has the cooler meaning! I - I figured I'd call you Kaede if that's alright with you."

@Kaede Hoshi

 

[Darkness]

Somewhere in Western Brisshal

Kaede's smile would twist to a more teasing one as she leaned closer to the flustered individual and hummed while considering teasing them more to prove a point but decided verbal teasing was better for strangers even if they got flustered from other types. Moving back to stand strait as she laughed hearing the complaints and reached to pat the faerin's head only to stop short and move her hand back.

"Eyh? But Sephie is so much cuter, and you can even make it sep-sep-chan~ But I'll comply this time since you did allow me to kiss your head without slapping me.~"

Kaede hummed as she moved to find a spot to sit down and relax before laughing as the mention of tutorial reached her mind, the issue with her mind sometimes in the fact she got information in mixed piles based on what she would enjoy reacting to first.

"Yep, this game does none of that, not even when it first opened to the public eight years ago. We just got dropped in a forest and had to figure things out ourselves. Least this time around there are some veterans mixed in with the new players and then there is the UI locked to recap what they all missed."

Kaede would adjust her outfit as she hummed some more recalling her, less then enjoyed moments of first time playing the game. She was such a nerdy kid back then, and got into some bad or rather embarrassing moments. Either way she would move focus briefly to Totetsu to ensure the hound was behaving before back to the faerin with a smile.

"So, as a Veteran of Terrasphere and the stand in tutorial figure what would you like to know about this deathtrap fantasy reality VRMMORPG? Combat, lore, mechanics, death, or it's best date spots to take people?~"

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@Sepulchre af Umbral

 

[Sepulchre af Umbral]

Umbral would try to recover from being flustered, but Kaede's insistence on a cute nickname and casual mention of date spots make that hard.

"In - in that case wouldn't (fae blushed harder) Umbra-chan or, or Umbra-kun work too? P-possibly even Uma-chan if you're absolutely bent on cutesy."

The Faerin shook faer head, trying to refocus on what the caster said after the nickname conversation. Faer eyes widened in excitement and fae rocked on faer heels, practically bouncing.

"You were here at the launch eight years ago?!? What was that like, how did you learn about the game? Have you ever encountered someone who claimed to be a developer of the game or anything suspicious? And oh wow... there never was a tutorial... yet the game mechanics seem pretty developed. Interesting. How did you all learn how to play with no prior players to use for guidance?"

The Faerin would avert faer eyes downward as Kaede adjusted her outfit, not knowing where else to look. Fae then followed Kaede's eyes to check on Totetsu, smiling at how happy the pup seemed happy to be outside and exploring. At the mention of lore discussion Umbral's head riveted back to Kaede and this time the Faerin did jump up and down in excitement, beaming in anticipation.

"Lore and death please! Lore and death!"

Umbral would catch faerself jumping quickly and force faerself to stop and clasp faer hands behind faer back. Fae would shuffle faer feet and smile apologetically.

"Sorry Kaede... that was a really poor choice of words on my part. Got a little too carried away there, whoops! Um, ah, thanks for being so kind and willing to help me out! But yeah, if you could point me in the direction of the lore I'd super appreciate it!"

@Kaede Hoshi

 

[Darkness]

Somewhere in Western Brisshal

Kaede seemed to mouth the nickname choices for a bit, not exactly keen on them as they did not fluster the little Faerin as much until the whispered one was spoken. Kaede mused it a few times in her head before nodding in approval and listening to what else the girl had to say in reply to her statements. The barrage of questions made her chuckle nervously about how to properly respond to them. the memory of that time was hazy at best and parts she was missing from over drinking that day or week.

"Not much different from what you all got I think, aside from some of the UI lock rushing over at first sign of you all coming... Like that..."

Kaede would point upward as a star crossed the sky, it was the sign a player had joined the game for the first time or logged back in after the disappearance. That said though she would resume responding to the questions.

"As for how we learned... it was a pain ha ha. Some people took a few days to figure out how to log out, others got killed rather fast out the gate thinking something was a easy fight... I recall one group of players died to a rabbit, best drunk show ever. Never met a developer, and trust me when I first got locked in I tried ALOT to call one out... Think the crater I made is still there even..."

Kaede would take a moment to both catch her breath and think the next question over. she spent most her time locked into the middle area of what players could go and explore, not exactly keen on going beyond that due to risk of combat and issue she was unstable and useless if she could not control her own magic. But before that there was only the one fact she had already spoken of about deaths of three lock in thee.

"Only strange thing I've encounter is the third death locks you into the game and sends you as close to where you had died in the real world... Sometimes I think some people got stuck outside the normal area... But that's just a crazy idea... As for Lore there is not exactly books or anything most can go and read on that, it is mostly learning from landers and others. Someone I used to know in this world... Was a huge Elf lore buff... he kept books he wrote on the matter back at his manor and told me a lot about elves... some about other races but not his focus so."

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@Sepulchre af Umbral