Private Eastern Brisshal Toll

[Brutus Dahlgren]

BOOM.

Brutus let off a crack of his canon as he shot down another goblin. The creature howled in agony as it was sent sky high. There would be no rest for the just, Brutus had found. Goblins continued to spread to eastern Brisshal from the west, seemingly seeking to expand their claim on the forest, or perhaps to escape the overcrowded population density of monsters in the west. Either way, they made for excellent target practice.

He'd gotten real cocky in these woods as of late. He'd cut his teeth on one or two truly powerful enemies, and the rest seemed like cakewalk in comparison.

"HIYA"

A Goblin cried out jumping from a branch brandishing a dagger. Brutus turned and swung his canon wide, smashing into the creature's skull and smashing it against a tree. It let out a sickening crunch, and the creature went limp. A month ago, the giant would have cringed at the notion, now? He relished in the feeling of victory. He stuffed another canon ball into his gun and scanned the treeline. It seemed like for the moment he was free of attackers, though he wasn't quite sure how long that would last. Still, he took the moment to catch his breath and drink some water.

You could never know what was about to come out of the treeline.

 

[Elizabeth Lixshine]

Elizabeth made her trek towards Finweald. The flyers, the postings, the notices were everywhere in every town. She was new to the game, so she expected a sort of major event to happen, but something like this and hosted by the faction she was affiliated with, it told her she needed to go and make her mark. She may likely be one of the countless players that participate in this event, but it meant that she would be one of those countless.

Using her polearm as a walking stick, she climbing over a hill and looked into the horizon then a map. She needed to realign her direction again. It's on her she chose to walk through remote areas instead of the set paths, however she wanted to ensure that when she got there, she was just a little bit stronger. So, perhaps the occasional wolf and the ugly goblin was not too bad a grind. As she marked her path, she hears a loud boom.

Explosives by the sound of it. Maybe someone got into a fight with a pyromaniac or something. She could see the black smoke where she stood, so the she simply had to walk forward and past the tree line. Elizabeth walks cautiously, ensuring that whatever she was going to see, was not hostile to her directly.

Then she stepped on a twig. The wooden branch cracks right under her boot, a loud snap. Elizabeth was ready, it was hard to ignore the big cannon the guy beyond the trees was wielding. Hopefully, he did not instinctively shoot and let her walk towards him.

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

SNAP.

Brutus turned on a dime, canon ready to fire once he'd acquired a target. He sighted down the barrel and found not a goblin, but a woman instead. He paused, long enough to let his brain catch up to where his body was, and then quickly scanned the surrounding. No danger, just a woman.

A...really tall woman actually.

He dropped his gun down to a more relaxed carry and let out a deep breath, chuckling slightly to himself as he shot the woman a smile.

"You're a little tall for a goblin eh?"

Of course she wasn't a goblin. She was a beastfolk, probably another player if he was a betting man. "Sorry bout the scare, just uh..." he motioned to the mangled goblin corpses. "Got done dealing with some pests, still in battle mode."

He would drop his canon to his side and take a couple steps towards her, closing the gap. Wiping the sweat from his hand he offered her a handshake and a warm smile, surprised that when he looked her in the eye she was right on level with him, a first in his entire time spent on the game. "Brutus Dahgren at your service ms...?"

@Elizabeth Lixshine

 

[Elizabeth Lixshine]

A joke, how funny. As if he was not ready to fire that cannon just a moment ago. As she stepped further into the sunlight, she thrusts the spear into the ground and leans against it. He seems like a gentlemanly fellow, so a nicer persona would be the way to go for him.

"Water under the bridge now big guy," Elizabeth waved it off like she was not going to be turned into smithereens with just the click of a button. Grabbing his hand, she gives him the handshake and returns a smile. She was, taller than him. Elizabeth never expected the height difference, maybe it was the ears on top of her head.

"Elizabeth Lixshine, a pleasure Brutus," A rather, barbaric name, for someone so well kept. However, she had little time to chit chat, there was a quest of importance. Scanning the pile of goblin remains, an idea clicked for her.

"You seem strong, it so happens that this is being promoted at the moment," Elizabeth pulls out a flyer from her inventory, one of the many papers that adorned guild boards across the continent. A call to arms to explore and find out the cause of a problem that seems to stump the heads of the factions.

"If you are keen, I happen to be making my way there right now," Elizabeth lets the man keep the flyer. Assuming he doesn't follow her right away, at least there would be something to remind him that there's a calling and he might be able to answer when he liked.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"A faction quest?" He furrowed his brow. "All four factions no less?" That was...curious. It wasnt as if they were at odds as far as he could tell, but it was peculiar to see something they were all working on together.



That meant something big, something dangerous.



The finer details were lost on him, but the Ralley point was west of here in Astorea. "Sure I guess Im down, you mind if we make a stop first? Gotta get my affairs in order." He'd motion down a trail. "My place is a humble little shack out in the woods, but I need to leave a note for my teammate and grab some supplies for such a long journey."



This could be a chance for him to see what these factions had going on for them, see how they operated, and to make a name for both himself and team GunDame.



@Elizabeth Lixshine

 

[Elizabeth Lixshine]

A stop? Elizabeth was not exactly sure if the circumstances allowed it. The urgency meant the possibility of losing one potential member in case the expedition sets off before Brutus could meet at the rally point.

However, an Explorer needs to be prepared. So she can't stop him from doing what he needed to do if it meant he had to do it. Elizabeth rubs her chin and furrows her brow, before giving him a nod.

"We can drop by your place then," Elizabeth approves before gesturing towards the trail. "However if need be I will break away from you if the circumstances lead us straying from each other. My priority is with joining up and since I have delivered the news, I'm sure you can make your way there yourself."

Elizabeth made sure to be clear, she did not want her companion of the moment to feel like she had abandoned him. Perhaps she could use the woodman's resources for her own travel to the rendezvous location if they manage to make it there without spliting up.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"It's not incredibly far from here, in fact I daresay it might be on the way." He motioned down the trail for her to follow him as he began his way down. "It's a little west of Honeyhome, hardly a pit stop along the way at all."

As he walked, he furrowed his brow. These longer walks in the woods were some of his least favorite parts of traveling. Something about prolonged quiet bothered him. In the real world, he travelled all over the nation with his trope, but they had audiobooks, I spy, podcasts, or music to fill the silence.

"So..." he drawled, breaking a longer silence. "How long have you been playing Terrasphere?"

The question was innocuous, something that was perhaps the bottom shelf of basic conversation starters for anyone playing the game, but it often opened the door for elaboration. Sometimes people explained how they found the game, sometimes they offered a story to go along with it, anything to fill the basic forest ambience. Anything to cut through the silence.

@Elizabeth Lixshine

 

[Elizabeth Lixshine]

Elizabeth nods as she followed the behemoth man. If it was along the way, then she can follow him to his stop and simply wait for him. A trek through the woods. How long has it been since she went back home and visited the woodlands back of her house. As a kid she was generally warned to never stray too far and she adhered to such warnings, but now that she was older and more versed in the dangers of the woods, especially the animal variety, perhaps she can explore deeper than she could as a kid.

The only sounds were the crunch of leaves and the moving of loamy soil. Not even animals were making a sound, which was worried Elizabeth a little. The ambience was a bit too quiet for her liking. Even a short hike through the forest would be met with the sounds of distant birds or the cries of insects. However there was always the possibility even a game can't account for the natural ambience in every area of the game.

Then Brutus spoke, and she pondered. How long has it been? Elizabeth stepped on a tree branch before an answer came to mind.

"I guess, since like... my birthday last year... I have never really gotten invested in it as much as I have now... So my experience is still rather new in the end," Elizabeth answered as she reminisced the day itself. Based on experience, she believed Brutus was hoping for some kind of back and forth.

"Then, how about you? Your power level seems to indicate a seniority in your playtime."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"I joined a few days into the game resurfacing." Brutus admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "I kinda got hooked so I've been no lifing it a lot recently. My real life occupation allows me a lot of free time and downtime when we travel, so I pop on the Headset and play hero."

Crunch crunch crunch.

The game could have at least bothered to render in like...bird noise or something. Anything to fill the air.

"I've probably logged...at least a couple hundred hours into the game but I wouldn't think I have any sort of Seniority unless you were asking about Brishal. This place is my second home, and I practically have a list of every Lander in Honeyhome on lock in the noggin." He thunked a knuckle against his temple a little harder then he meant to, but there was no way he was going to let on that it hurt at all. "I could probably run for mayor if the town had a democratic process about it."

@Elizabeth Lixshine

 

[Elizabeth Lixshine]

"No... Lifing?" Elizabeth is not a gamer to begin with. Whatever this 'No Lifing' is flew right over her head. At least she could understand that whatever this man worked in, it allowed for the time to play this game perhaps a bit more religiously than a full time veterinarian. As she continued to listen, Brutus did go into a tangent that Elizabeth was not able to understand. Must have been a gaming thing. The lingo was really going over her head.

"S-so... Are there any monsters in this area?" Something to stray him away from talking about running for mayor or sounding like a grandpa talking about his grandchildren all the time would do much better than the lack of ambient animal sounds in the woods. Elizabeth was sure there was ambient animal sounds however, so was something intentionally silencing it?

@Brutus Dahlgren