Private Vintergard Vinter? I hardly know her (yet)!

[Aroda]

Aroda waves her hand, dismissing the comments from Hanno about his eyes looking weird.

"Oh no, that's not what I meant. I just met someone else before that could see magic and such, and she could only see magic. Like, blind as hell. So I was wondering if that was just how being able to see magic worked. I guess yours isn't the same."

She sums up her thoughts on it as such, with a small shrug. While they continue walking, she seems to look at him slightly puzzled as he talks about 'carrying all this stuff in your inventory', as if she'd never noticed any strain or downside in doing so.

"Is it tough for you to have a lot of stuff in your inventory, or something? I've never noticed anything. And actually, I don't get tired! Not in like, a normal way, anyways."

Again, she pulls out another little magitech doodad - this time, it's just, a car battery, but magic. It has a few ports through which it glows dimly.

"So I don't get tired, and I don't need sleep, but I still have to 'recharge'. It's Kinda weird, but I pretty much just have to sit down with a source of magical energy. So when I'm around one, I fill up this battery to use it for whenever I need to 'recharge'."

And just like that, the battery poofs away, back into the depths of her inventory.

"The cons...are that it's kinda weird. Also if I exert myself, I don't get fatigued or sweat, or anything...but I do start to feel hot and uh, let off steam. Pros, I don't ever feel tired! Which is super nice."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Oh..." Hanno blinked, pondering about it. "To only see magic... I can't even think how it would be to see like that." He muttered, staying pensive for a moment before Aroda began explaining more about her perks and quirks. His mouth formed a small circle, listening attentively to her words while she went on giving details of the nature of her race.

"I mean, I don't usually use my UI features, aside from communication ones. Unless it is strictly necessary." He revealed with a small shrug, tilting his head to look at her.

"Honestly? The cons you said sound like pros to me. Unless these steams hurt people, then it may be a bother to be exhausted and not being able to be helped because no one can touch you without getting a third-degree burn." Hanno grimaced a bit, but tried to keep a partial smile on his lips.

Their walk continued on a stone road, still somewhat intact, far from the events of the dragonfall. The path, however, started to show a few worn out and weary features, with partially broken stones and other pieces that lay around.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"Well, steam is really hot. You know how hot water has to get to make steam? I don't remember the number, but it was pretty high."

Aroda gives an expert lecture, flexing her master-level knowledge of chemistry, before she shrugs lazily.

"I don't even actually know if it's steam or...what. It would make sense, I do still have to drink water, and it's gotta go towards something. But yeah...it just feels really, really strange to heat up like that.

She places a hand over her chest as she grimaces a bit, recalling the sensation.

"Like you know when you play a game on your phone for too long and it gets so hot, it's kinda uncomfortable to hold? I've felt like that, but like...in my chest. While I was breathing out steam. You know how weird that feels? Ech. I'd say I definitely prefer sweat...but, 'never getting tired' is really hard to pass up.."

Having gone on with this topic for a bit now, she throws a cautious look to her travel partner as she cuts into a totally different lane of conversation.

"Er, what about the Fairys? ...Faerin? Them. Is there anything weird about being one of them?"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno hummed about Aroda's detailed explanation, leaving more room for Hanno to imagine just how uncomfortable this sort of deal could be. "Yeah... That... Doesn't sounds nice at all." He frowned a bit, looking at the woman that grimaced, having a worried expression on his face but eventually fading it from his face. "In this case, let's make sure you won't need to overheat. And if you do we can try to figure out a way to cool it down. I do have aura powers, maybe I can manage something." Hanno wondered.

When she questioned about his race, Hanno nearly staggered, but kept marching with an awkward laugh. "I will admit, I like my race. But we do have weird stuff." He said, making mana wings and turning his scarf ethereal, fluttering both of them while he jumped to show a brief glide. "Like this!" He smiled playfully.

"But... It isn't all good. It really depends on who is the faerin, but I can also find strange doors that open to pocket planes, but I can only bring people in and stay permanently if I find the original door or key for it." He said, then crossed his arms. "I also... Well... Regenerate severed limbs, thanks to our race's goddess... But that also forces me to eat raw magical meat." Hanno said, trailing his eyes to look at Aroda, and immediately waving his hand,

"I try to overcome it by mostly imbuing divine magic to normal meat and eating it though-" He sighed.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"Severed limbs?"

Aroda repeats pretty much right away, eyes widening as she looks at the Faerin. She hadn't really considered such an extent to bodily harm in this game. She had heard that the violence was pretty graphic though...

"Does losing limbs, like, happen often? And is it, normally hard to get them back? There's not, some magic or something that can fix it?"

Her string of questions does carry some concern in its tone, but also, a fair share of genuine curiosity, too.

"And...can only Faerin do this, regenerating thing? If injuries like that happen often, I bet that's really useful. I wonder..."

Another ponderous pause.

"I wonder if magia can just be fixed when something like that happens? Like, if I have the right tools, could I just make a new arm?"

She asks, practically thinking out loud at this point, as she examines her arm, flexing her hand idly.

"Not, uh, not that I'd wanna experience that to try it out. I actually don't even know much about magia...insides."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

The concerned expression from the Magia made Hanno breath a laugh, pondering for a moment and tapping his feet. "I mean. It is as common as it would be in a combat to death with blades, deadly fangs and magical explosions. Which means it isn't entirely uncommon if you aren't careful." Hanno said, looking at Aroda and then trying to ease her worries.

"I've seen people trying to put it back with magic, alchemy or putting a prothesis" Hanno explained, tilting his head. "As for Magia, I've heard a story that someone completely dissembled and assembled a whole Magia safely. It must be quite a feat though, so you can probably be fixed or make a whole new arm, yeah." A confident grin then crossed his lips.

"You are a ranged attacker though, you will have me and other tanks keeping you safe all the time. The ones who most worry about that are tanks and supporters." As it usually was. Granted, the woman was sure capable of supporting as well, considering how many gadgets she had on her arsenal.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"Having tanks is nice and all, sure, but I travel around on my own a lot. Like, it's most of what I've been doing since I started playing. That and making magitech. I usually just avoid dangerous stuff, but who knows when I'll wander into some random Hell zone and get jumped by the devil himself?"

Aroda says as much pretty casually, clearly not scared about the prospect, but acknowledging a small amount of worry that she could always randomly get attacked.

"More importantly, though. What? You can completely take magia apart and put them back together? Who? Who did that? How? Where do I find them? I need more details, that sounds totally insane! That could mean so many things...if people know how magia work well enough to do that, couldn't they just make new ones, or repair any broken one? If I learned enough about how magia work...maybe I could like, go into my own magia parts and make upgrades? I could put guns in my arms, and my fingers! And a grappling hook launcher, or jet boots...or a rocket punch..."

Despite her keen interest in knowing more, she doesn't slow down talking for most of her rant, robo brain already racing with ideas she'd not considered, since she figured her own body wasn't something she could upgrade like any other tech...until now.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"A lone wolf, huh? I wouldn't say it is ideal, but I get what you mean. I travel by myself a lot too." Hanno said. Granted it was mostly because of his personal missions, where bringing others would be a selfish act, if anything.

He glanced at Aroda and her unflinched words, smiling in admiration. "You are quite brave, buddy. I think at some point you will be able to avoid nearly any danger. But if you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask." Hanno said.

Hanno then tapped his chin. "Like, I've overheard it from some MIT people after the fight with a giant wasp was finished. Apparently there was a Magia guy who was stuck under some debrils, and a Magia girl with magnetism disttached his pieces one by one and placed everything together somewhere else... Apparently it was less dangerous than risking all the debrils to fall and crush him and the rescuer to death." Hanno pursed his lips at the idea, wondering how terrified the guy was.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"Hrmm..."

Aroda spends a bit, still thinking on this whole, Magia being taken apart thing. It was definitely something she'd have to remember...and try to check out later. Her last visit was...fruitful enough. She had though about making more visits already, anyways, whenever she had something to try...or just needed to borrow some parts.

"I guess, it sounds like I'm definitely gonna be visiting the MIT place again, at some point. They'll probably be cool with me showing up and asking questions...and doing science. It's like, their whole thing, right?"

With it decided that she'd be leaving this whole discovery for later, whenever she next stopped by the MIT, she shrugs and focuses back on the road ahead.

"Either way, we'll just keep heading on for right now, yeah? I wanna hear about all this magia stuff, but I also wanna find cool magitech stuff in those ruins. How much longer do you think till we get there?"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Yeah, they will be fine. Just make sure to not become their guinea pig as soon as you ask about dismentling Magias." Hanno chuckled with a playful smirk, looking forward and shielding his eyes while looking at the very few buildings that could be seen from afar.

"To get to the main area of Vintergard? It will take a while... But small villages from its surroundings or some keeps, towers or temples? In about an hour we should get to one... In fact... I'm seeing one that is on the path we are taking right now, so let's hurry!" He said, encouraging Aroda to speed up while he started getting his legs to move faster, albeit slightly louder.

Outpost Ruins

As the duo neared what seemed to be the remains of an outpost, Hanno slowed down and started taking a quieter approach to it, casting a glance at Aroda and gesturing quietly for her to stay wary.

He readied his shield, taking steps closer to the walls that were broken and crumbling, with signs of magic burns on it, on top of brute force destruction that occurred for whatever reason. Two smaller buildings seemed to be in the worst structural situation possible, albeit the singular, bigger and main one seemed to be in better conditions... If you didn't consider huge holes on the walls as 'better'.

"... I'd say we need to be careful. This kind of place isn't only filled with magitech enemies, but bandits aren't unusual around here either-" He whispered to the woman.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"A guinea pig...yeah, I'm good. If anybody's taking my virtual body apart, it's gonna be me. Or at least not any weirdos that log in to a game so they can go to work at MIT."

Aroda shakes her head, dismissing the idea of any MIT nerds getting to her robot parts. It may be true that her impression of MIT was one that she had based on only a few people...but they were still pretty weird people.

At last though, she puts them out of her mind as something to visit again later, as the two of them now pick up the pace and start to make some real progress toward adventure.

At the Outpost Ruins

​

And it took a while, but here they were, finally nearing their destination. She kept pretty near to her compact defender, holding one of her fancy magic gun close to herself, too. The magia was more focused on her surroundings than ever, trying to balance taking in the sights, and watching out for potential threats.

At Hanno's words, her eyes widen a bit as she looks to him in disbelief.

"Wait, bandits? In a place like this? Who do they even...banditize, if nobody's out here anymore? And how do they just chill here where all the murderbots are?"

She whispers back hastily.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Crazy, right?" Hanno said with a vague frown. "The bandits here try to loot and salvage the artifacts around these wastelands, and attack adventurers that have the courage to get in here, like... well, like us." Hanno chuckled, but remained wary about the surroundings and kept his shield up, unblinking as he kept moving deeper into the outpost.

Trying to be quiet, Hanno approached to one of the building's door. There were signs of repairment.

A frown crossed his face, and he gestured to the door.

"Seems like it isn't all that abandoned." He guessed, resting a hand on the door and waiting Aroda to brace herself.

After a brief and silent countdown with his fingers, Hanno pushed the door open and immediately threw himself into the front line, giving cover for Aroda to attack any potential enemy.

However... nothing attacked them.

Instead, the place seemed to be some sort of raided improvised laboratory.

Pieces, gadgets and junk were scattered around, with some alchemicals and flasks still releasing some steam, being proof of all that chaotic stae being recent.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"Crazy's one way of putting it...guess I'll be watching out for more than killer robots."

Aroda answers softly, with a light huff to cap it off. Bandits...she hadn't run into any yet, so she'd just have to keep hoping that didn't change. Shooting at people sounded less than pleasant, really...maybe she'd just resort to trying to taze them or something. Zapping people couldn't be so bad, right?

...Regardless of such wayward thoughts, Aroda did her beast stealth operative impression as she followed behind Hanno, big ol' gun at the ready, and robo eyes still scanning what she could of the environment. And she follows that up with her best impression of a swat officer, just like in the movies, as she raises her gun once Hanno barges through a door, ready for any potential targets!

Then lets out a small sigh of relief, because there are none. Instead, she gets to start making her way in, casually moving past Hanno as she looks around at the neat scenery...

"Ooh, this is pretty cool. It's uh...quaint? Yeah...that's the word..."

She mutters her affirmation to...herself, while she forgets speaking in favor of taking a closer look at what materials were still left in here! The magia stops to check out those flasks and such, poring over them for a bit and clearly interested...but, she wasn't very familiar with alchemy, so her thoughts could be summed up to...

"Yep, yep. It's cool."

With a smile, she moves to start picking through whatever else she could find here - random broken parts, random unbroken parts, small gadgets...

"I wonder...whose stuff this is? Seems like someone was just here, I think...right?"

She asks at Hanno, though her eyes stay on the prize - that is, every piece of magitech she can find.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Yeah, guess it is the perks of a place that wants to get you killed in any way possible." Hanno frowned, picking up a piece of metal and studying it for a moment. His Investigation Mode revealed it belonged to one of the many automatons that patrolled Vintergard, which was expected.

His eyes then turned to look around, with his Investigation Mode, tied to his Guard Arts, showing more intriguing information. "... Yeah. Someone's' is a better word actually. There has been a fight in here... a very one sided one." Hanno's expressions suddenly turned serious.

"These here are pieces of Sentries, by the way. I fought some of them before, their lases hurt real hard." He grimaced, offering the pieces to Aroda. "Maybe you can figure out a way to make your weapons hurt even more with this?" He wasn't quite sure how things worked, but yeah.

Before he could continue, however, a barrel laying on the corner of the room suddenly shook, making Hanno quickly shift in a defensive stance in front of Aroda. His ears perked up, noticing the barrel shaking once more, as if something was moving inside of it.

Nothing else happened, and Hanno glanced at Aroda for a moment, moving near the barrel and holding it so it would stand still.

He casted another glance at Aroda, reaching for the lid and when he opened, it revealed a cat beastfolk in it, with hands and feet tied, and mouth shut with a cloth. The beastfolk looked up at the two of them with a worried expression at first, that slowly shifted to confusion.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"Who knows what I can get done with this stuff. Weapons, or tools, or just...experiments...having free parts, I could do a lot more, this is gonna be great!"

She smiles as she keeps gathering up what she can find - bits of broken robot, slightly-less-broken bits of robot, even what's basically reduced to metal scraps. She's sure she'll find a use for all of it, so into the inventory all of it goes.

Aroda's looking over another bit of fancy metal when the barrel gets shook. She glances over nonchalantly, but Hanno's more serious reaction gets her back into action mode, too - hands on her weapon, though not trained on the barrel. She's seen a few exploding barrels in her time. Shooting those for no reason would probably be a bad idea...if it actually turned out to be one.

...Then Hanno actually removes the lid. She waits in trepidation for some revelation to come...then moves a little closer, craning to see into the barrel from a bit farther away from it than Hanno is.

"Wait, wh-...is that...a, person? Why's there a person...stuffed in a barrel here...? What...uh..."

She says in a voice that makes it obvious she wants to be surprised, but she's more just...bewildered.

"...Are they...okay, at least?"

Her rifle mostly lowered, she approaches to stand behind Hanno and look down at the barrel, her own confusion readily apparent in her expression and tone.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"No idea... If it was a Magia, I could take a few guesses, but it is a beastfolk." Hanno frowned, looking down at the beastfolk. "Hey, don't worry, buddy, we will get you out..." He said, putting his shield away for a moment and reaching his hands and arms into the barrel to lift and pull the beastfolk out.

A muffled yelp escaped from the poor cat person, but Hanno soon settled them down.

"We aren't here to hurt you, I promise." He reassured, looking at a few bruises they had and frowning his lips.

"Hey, Aro, you are good at healing, right? Think you can do anything about these?" He gestured, before getting rid of the cloth that covered the beastfolk's mouth and began untying them.

As soon as their mouth was freed, they coughed and spat. "God... Why this had to happen..." The beastfolk scowled, glancing at the two and wincing when the ropes were being meddled with. "B-Be careful with that, it is too tight. Those bandits are as ruthless as everyone says..."

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

Aroda continues to simply observe this scene, one hand on her hip, and her head tilted to the side enough that her torso was leaning with it, wondering what was with this setup...she really wasn't expecting to find a person at all, let alone a person being...the first thing they found. Though, she supposed it was important whether it was a person, or an NPC...but that'd be weird to ask right now.

She snaps back to attention when she's spoken to again - healing, right? Well, she definitely had something for that...

"Oh yeah, sure, I've got this..."

And as she moves up and pulls it out from her inventory, her words slow to a halt as she looks between it and the recently un-barreled cat. Her healing device was...what looked like an opaque, plastic, spray bottle - the kind you'd find in any average household. Having suddenly realized that she's essentially pointing a spray bottle at a cat, she hesitates a moment, finding it pretty funny, but not being sure if it's okay to laugh about it. Is this...racist? Well, they don't have spray bottles here anyways, probably, so an NPC wouldn't make the connection, and a player wouldn't care, right? Right...

By the time she puzzles through this, the pause is only slightly long enough to have been awkward. She brings up her spare hand to cover her mouth, and small grin, as she clears her throat.

"A-anyways, just hold still and this should work. ...But uh...bandits, really? What happened? Do they...usually go around stuffing people in barrels?"

She asks with some curiosity as she takes to using that spray bottle on any visible injury. Rather than dispensing any liquid or chemical, it looks like it's just spraying out healing magic with each squeeze.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"Sorry about that, it wasn't me who tied you up, buddy." Hanno shrugged with a chuckle, finishing to get rid of the ropes and letting out a quiet sigh and a shake of disapproval at the situation. Whoever did that probably wasn't intending to ever let go of this guy.

"Bandits do a lot of bad stuff, I suppose kidnapping is part of it too." He said, glancing at Aroda and letting her do her job at healing the beastfolk, pursing his lips and shifting his glance between her near giggles and the spray bottle, trying his best to not laugh as well.

Quickly, he tried to push the silent joke away and focused on the more serious deal.

"Granted putting people in barrels is a new one to me." Hanno frowned, then glanced back at the beastfolk, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, a name too would go well, if you could tell us." Hanno requested with a small smile.

At first, the beastfolk flinched at the spray touching their skin, and having their hands and feet freed, they rubbed the bruises caused by the ropes before giving a brief, grateful nod to Hanno. "Thanks..." Then, they looked at Aroda. "I guess they do, but throwing me in a barrel was the least of the problems." They said, looking around and having their ears dropping seeing the state of their small workshop.

"My name is Felix." The beastfolk said. "A group of bandits suddenly invaded my small spot. I thought it was far away enough to not be detected by them... But..." A sigh escaped before Felix looked up at the two of them. "Turned out I was wrong... And now I lost my research, my gadgets... And all my clues to find my sister."

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"Woah...that's kinda, a lot to take in."

Aroda says, eyes widened a little, in between spritzes of healing magic on any remaining bruises, like where the ropes dug in. Between the slight amusement of the cat plus spray bottle combo, and watching the way the ears drooped, Aroda was distracted enough that her commentary had been pretty minor...until she clears her throat again to adjust back to seriousness.

"Well, okay, Felix. I'm Aroda, nice to meet you and all. So, this sounds pretty serious...could you start from the beginning, maybe? Like, what exactly were you doing here? What got taken? Maybe we can, y'know, help out."

She finishes with a light shrug - her attitude seemed mostly, relaxed, despite the severity of the situation, but she had a solid hunch by now that this was an NPC. Which in turn, made this whole setup seem like the pre-staged beginning to some kinda hidden quest. The content of it was serious, but it was all just a game...supposedly.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"... Yeah..." Hanno nodded in agreement with Aroda, tilting his head and looking at the beastfolk. They seemed rather troubled about what was going on, and Hanno couldn't help but feel bad for them, something that made him feel a bit awkward about how to proceed, but thankfully it seemed that Aroda was a bit more of a straightforward type.

"Mine is Futaba, Hanno Futaba." He introduced himself, resting a hand on his chest and looking at the beastfolk with a confident expression. "I hope we aren't being too nosy for offering the help, but if you could tell us how to find the bandits that got you, it would also be very helpful." After all, having clues for whoever they would need to go for was essential.

Felix frowned slightly at how relaxed the reactions were, but at the same time, they couldn't blame strangers for not feeling too much sympathy. "... They stole my inventions, my studies... And also a key. A key for a small supportive ship that fell along with the actual giant ship." They said, letting out a sigh and rubbing the spots that the bruises used to be, now healed by Aroda's efforts.

"I've been here trying to research a bit more about these robots, and I've been looking for my sister too. Ever since I found out about the Dragonfall, I've been trying to find her. It has been dangerous, very dangerous. But after a lot of searching, I've found a magitech key along with a personal accessory she always used." They said, slipping their hand under their shirt and pulling out a small necklace with a purple ore on its tip. "... After a lot of research, and studying destroyed sentries, I figured out this magitech key that has been stolen by the bandits, are for supportive ships from the main ship." They said, sighing.

"I thought if I could find one of these ships, I could find more clues to find my sister, but... Now... It will be tough." They shook their head, looking at the two. "As for the bandits... They tied be there so they could catch me later when they had more men. I'm sure they will come back at any moment. They've been gone for a whole day now."

@Aroda