(( OOC: Not that anyone reads my RL-character stuff, but I'm changing around the back story (like, completely, but not so it would effect things much IC), because it's resembling a chick flick, and because I can't remember where I was going with it either. Just ignore anything that doesn't fit plzkthx. ))
“I’m going out tonight, you coming?” Dmitri’s roommate stood in his doorway with nothing that resembled patience. Without waiting more than a moment for a reply, he sighed with a quick ‘fine’, before heading off to the door. Dmitri remained where he had been, on his bed, looking through the course catalogue for school. He’d decided to drop out of his program, but he had no idea what to pursue, and looking through this book didn’t seem like it was going to help.
Dmitri laid back on his bed. Maybe he should have gone out. At least then he wouldn’t be thinking about something that made him so damn frustrated. Rolling onto his side, Dmitri tried to find something that he could do in his spare time. He hadn’t really had much spare time before. However, the more he thought, the more he began to recall... something. He looked at his computer, and it struck him. Of course! That game! Maybe he could pick that back up again.
Then again, there had been a reason he’d been leaving it alone. After he’d come back from the game and gone on a group quest, it had quit unexpectedly. Sure it wasn’t so bad, but the shock of seeing yourself get hit by a train, then blacking out was a strange thing indeed. He hadn’t contacted Fayre since then either, which he felt poorly about. Well... maybe it was just time to see if she was online. They could talk.
Without thinking much more about it, the boy got up off his bed and sat down in front of the computer. He was ready to go once again. As he logged on to the game, he noticed a notification of an e-mail pop up on the bottom right corner of his screen. ‘I’ll read it later,’ there was nothing more he wanted than to just... forget this place around him and just be completely enveloped in the game right now. It was probably just a piece of spam anyway.
Damek opened his eyes once more to the busy streets of Mac Anu. Well, busy was sort of an arbitrary term. He was, after all, on an American server, and the hours said that people were probably either sleeping or at school or work. Still, the place was quite busy for early morning. And as he looked around, Damek found the levels of the players to be higher than usual for this server. Of course, it would only be the hardcore players on so early in the day. “Hello,” Damek jumped to look behind him, earning himself a light giggle from the girl who’d spoken to him. As she regained her composure, he did so himself, trying to make a vow to be more of a... well, character in this game. “I need someone to go questing with,” she continued, not missing a beat. “Would you care to join me?”
“Oh, well,” he started, unsure of how to continue. The character in front of him looked friendly enough. In fact, she looked as if she was legitimately played by a girl. The costume she wore was quite conservative, however that also came with the territory of her class, a wavemaster. No wonder she didn’t want to go alone. Damek knew from talking with his old friend Fayre how difficult it could be to quest alone with such low physical defense. “Why not?” it would be useful to have a healer around that was for sure. There really was no downside. She probably had more experience than he did, being level 8, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable level gap like some of the other players would have been, ranging in level from ten to fourteen.
Damek extended his hand. He knew that his username was hovering above his head, and hers was also, but that was one real-world convention that he just couldn’t get past. “Damek,” she smiled and grabbed his hand enthusiastically.
“I’m Harue!” she seemed more than a little excited to be on this adventure, and as she started to scroll through the word lists, Damek could feel his mood starting to rise. This morning was setting the rest of the day up to be, well, not bad. Over all, he was beginning to get a good feeling about this.
That was, until, he saw the field.
“Uh…” something about this place just looked foreboding. The field was obviously a darkness type, as they were surrounded by a bright purple sky, though the stars and moon seemed to mean it was meant to be nightfall. The ground was dry and cracked, and the deep, thin gaps were illuminated eerily by the moon. A white glow surrounded them, and each one seemed as if it would just be large enough for his foot to fall into.
“Come on!” Harue smiled, her cloak fanning out behind her as she rushed off. “I know where to go!” Damek frowned and began to run after her. That was odd. She hadn’t used an item or anything, and yet it wasn’t long before he saw the icon of the dungeon creep into his map view. He wasn’t going to compain, a dungeon adventure was generally more fun when you found the place, but something about the situation still made him uneasy. It was then he decided to look at the level stats of the field to find that it was a level 12.
Damek stopped in his tracks, and Harue only got a couple steps without him by her side before she turned around. “Why are we here?”
“Why else do people come out for quests?” the infliction in her voice was nothing short of ‘why do you need to ask?’, but Damek continued.
“I mean, why are we on a level twelve field?”
The girl giggled, like the answer was still the most obvious in the world. “There’s a wavemaster’s staff here I want. Well, I heard that it’s the reward for completing the dungeon. Anyway, I’m supposed to be dueling a friend of mine online later this week, and I haven’t been able to get it yet,” she paused, and Damek reluctantly listened. “I’ve tried three times by myself, but I really can’t do it alone. I can get to about the second basement, but that’s it! So I thought maybe if I had someone with me, a blademaster or something…” she eyed him as she said this, not needing to finish her speech, for the reason he was here was now apparent.
Damek was still at a loss for words. “But why’d you choose me?” the girl, still smiling, grabbed his arm and looked him in the eye.
“Because it’s more fun if it’s a challenge.”
Harue tugged his arm as she ran off, and Damek stumbled into the dirt, his foot caught in one of the small chasms in the ground. He sighed, trying to get himself free. “Hey! Wait!”
BATTLE MODE ON
Damek’s eyes widened as the words crossed the screen. “Really! H-Harue! WAIT!” he yelled for the other as he finally freed his foot from the earth. The monster before him was but a giant shadow, silhouetted against the moon. With a gulp, he ran at it, not thinking for a moment of running away. “Crack Beat!” thankfully, Damek’s blade cut into the monster, though he didn’t seem to be doing too much damage. On the last hit, however, he managed a “Death” hit, and he felt now, at least, that maybe this thing was possible to beat. Then, suddenly, a huge ball of lightning converged on the target, sapping the rest of its health.
BATTLE MODE OFF
“See? Wasn’t that fun?” Damek turned around to see Harue at the top of the hill. “I just wanted to see if you could fight, I saw it comin’” Damek frowned again. So she’d abandoned him on purpose. Maybe this was going to be more tiring than he thought. “But you’ve got some pretty nice equipment, so that’s good. This shouldn’t be a problem. Come on!”
The blademaster ran up alongside Harue, continuing to frown. “You know that I don’t get that effect every time I attack, right? It’s damn lucky that it happened when it did… There – I – You…” Damek grabbed his head for a moment as they walked, trying to make sense of what he wanted to say. When he looked back at her to continue though, she still smiled at him, happy as a clam. “Forget it.”
The dungeon was quickly approaching on the horizon now. It looked like the real proof of his skill was only moments away. Then again, the girl had said that she’d made it to the second floor before. That was promising at least, that perhaps they wouldn’t die right away. Or at least she wouldn’t.
There was still something very eerie about dying in game. Just the fact that it was called “dying” was just about too much for him to wrap his head around. Then again, there was always the matter of a save point. In the whole scheme of things it wouldn’t matter, but still. Death is unpleasant, and Damek felt it best for death to be avoided at all costs.
“So, like I said, I’ve gotten to the second basement before,” the girl smiled as the two stepped into the dungeon. A large head had been protruding out of the ground, and, as would be expected, a flesh dungeon was now before them. “I’m pretty sure I can remember how to get through here,” this girl, Harue, was beginning to remind Damek more and more of Fayre. Both were far too talkative. Still, the girl seemed to be having fun, and he wasn’t too discouraged as of yet. The first hall was easily bypassed, and lead to a small, V-shaped room. They’d come out of the bottom vertex of the V and had two choices. “This way!” for a moment, Damek could have sworn he’d sensed hesitation in her voice, but followed without question.
Apparently the hesitation had been for a reason. “Oh that’s ri-ight,” Damek looked from his questing partner out into the room ahead of him. A square room, with a portal in the centre, and... no doors. “Well, ‘Mek, let’s see what you can do!”
It was amazing that she’d decided to call him practically the same thing as Fayre would on a quest. For a moment, Damek mused that perhaps Fayre had another character, but these musings were short lived. In the spirit common of the careless, Harue had leapt into battle, despite having very little physical defense. Damek rushed forward, in an effort to stop the enemies from hitting her, still forgetting that he was a lower level than she.
Defense-wise, the two were probably in about the same boat, given the level gap. Still, it fazed neither, and three monsters appeared from the portal before them. Two witches, and a much larger beast stood before them. Damek saw one of the witches run to cast a spell out of the corner of his eye. No sooner had she attempted the spell than she was vanquished with a sharp ‘Elemental Critical’. Apparently Harue did know how to fight. This would be good.
Instead of focusing on the other witch, Damek decided to go after the larger beast. The thing looked like it had risen from Hell itself, a large dog-like creature with strange, long limbs. Without much more thought on that part, Damek attacked, trying desperately to make a dent in what would surely be a long battle.
Completely focused, Damek managed to dodge a couple of attacks, but it wasn’t long before the beast caught him. The blademaster was abruptly thrown against the wall of the room. He tried to pick himself up off the floor in a timely manner, but the stickiness of the fleshy walls kept him at a pretty slow speed.
He was worried, for obvious reasons. His slow speed at the moment was one of them, and the lumbering beast coming towards him was another. However, it was no sooner had he had time to be concerned about his speed, than it was remedied by a swirl of gold sparkles. Harue must have done something, and he was in no mood to try and figure out what it was. Desperately, Damek attempted to use one of his abilities, hoping to evoke “Death” once more on this enemy. “Crack Beat!” Though he could see that he’d made a dent in the beast’s health now, he was still out of his league. Somehow, as Damek ran around the monster, to the middle of the room, he felt that he was only making it angry.
Once he was back in the center, he found his partner once more, and she saddled up beside him as the monster turned around. “You’re still fighting this guy? I’ve gotten rid of both the witches!” as if it had been nearly this difficult, especially since her attack would have been much higher than his at this point. “Whatever, keep distractin’ him, alright?” Damek tried to object, but she’d already disappeared to somewhere else in the room. He heaved a bit of a sigh and then set to it. The main goal here was simply not to be killed.
He ran close in towards the monster, hoping that he could trust his teammate. He didn’t really have a choice at this point. The monster swiped at him with a massive forearm. Damek managed a dive, and hit the floor right as the giant limb swung over him. It appeared for a moment that the monster was confused as to why the hit hadn’t landed, and Damek just took it as an opportunity to strike. He made contact with the beast’s body a couple times before it tried to take a stab at him again. This time, its clumsy attack hit him off his feet, and he was once more on his back, trying to pull himself off of the sticky floor. This time, however, it didn’t look like he was going to get away.
Damek cringed, giving up trying to run to curl up into a ball, hoping beyond all hope that the thing would just miss. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow. It took a moment or two, but finally he felt it. A small tap to his side. Well... that didn’t seem very bad at all. He opened his eyes cautiously and his wavemistress partner waved back happily. “I... er, well. I guess it’s dead?” she nodded. Apparently she’d gotten a spell to it right before it had a chance to complete its attack.
Sure enough, as Damek sat up, he saw the monster deteriorate as they all did after battle. He peeled himself off of the floor with no shortage of disgusting noises. Not only was there a sticking, peeling sound, but an uncomfortable squishy sound, which was just him trying to get a hold on the ground. It really was astounding that something could be so sticky and slippery at the same time. Finally, Damek got to his feet and they continued on. Although, “on” did mean backtracking through the door they’d come through.
Now they were back on track, not that Damek was paying much attention. He was letting Harue lead, attempting to brush some of the sticky, mucus-like membrane off of his body. It wasn’t going very well so far, and as it stood he’d pretty much just managed to un-stick his hair from the side of his head. “You know, ya didn’t have to hit deck that many times.” Damek nodded, blushing slightly. It was all he could have thought to do, however it wasn’t a great choice in this dungeon. Had the thing not been so confused after his first dodge to the ground, he probably would have been toast, seeing as it had taken Harue that long to cast the spell.
They passed through a hallway room full of eggs and a blue treasure chest, and then they were at the stairs. “The first time I came, I went that way and fought the monster and died.” Damek listened as they passed through the SP-recovering hallway. “The second time I came this way, and found the stairs! No battle. I just forgot,” the blademaster punctuated that thought with a sigh, but she continued without noticing. “But this floor doesn’t have a way to go without a battle. That’s why I couldn’t get passed it.”
“Wait,” Damek cut Harue off, facing her with his hands raised to signal her to stop. “I was un... I th- I thought, you’d fought to get down this far,” her only response to his struggled words was a shake of her head. That meant that she wasn’t that strong. Well, not as much stronger than him as he could have hoped.
“You saw how long some of my better spells take to cast. I can’t just sit there casting while a monster beats on me. It’s not a great combo,” it was a good point, but there seemed to be something so futile about trying to win battles with something so much stronger. “Plus, we survived just now!”
“They get harder the further you go!” Damek looked genuinely worried, and the thought of how eerie it was to die came back to him. He didn’t want another one of those weird ‘Game Over’s. It was too strange. Everything going black, the resonating tone in your ears…
“What’s wrong with you?” Damek was about to retort when Harue nearly yelled at him. “It’s just a game!” he caught his tongue. She was right. What had happened to him, no matter how unpleasant, had just been a glitch, right? “God, I thought you’d be someone else who was playing the game. That’s why I didn’t bring one’a those buff guys along with me.” Harue smiled. “They’re no fun. All they want to do is level up, and doing a quest with such a low-level player is like a military mission. I just want to play and have fun, and if I can’t get this staff with you, I’ll come back and try again. It’s a challenge, it’s the fun of the game, and no matter how many times I get a ‘Game Over’, it doesn’t matter. I thought that’s how you were playing too.” Harue had obviously broken character at this point, but she was right. Damek... Dmitri was being far too genuine. ‘The World’ is a game, and he had to get that through his head.
It took only a moment before Damek turned back around, and hesitantly faced the door ahead of them. “Well then let’s get back to playing,” he heard a cheerful sound from behind him, and as he stepped forward into the next room, he could hear Harue following closely behind. The room was small, and a monster portal spun at the center. They were right on the edge of its release range, standing in the little inlet of the door. Once they stepped into the room, it would surely go off. Damek nodded to Harue to stay where she was, the last thing he needed was for her to be in the middle of such a small room, with nowhere to run.
This time, when the portal exploded, he could make out the monsters. Two huge trolls stood before him, and at that point he blanked. What was he possibly supposed to do? It was when a mighty club came down right next to him that he snapped out of it. There was nothing to do but to take them out one at a time. “Here goes... Crack Beat!” Damek charged at the one on the left, deciding to take it out first. The only problem was that the two monsters took up nearly the entire room. There was no way he was going to be able to draw the attack of either away.
Damek’s skill came and went without a hit of ‘Death’, which was unfortunate to say the least. He could have used it. He jumped to the side, avoiding the blow of one club, just to be nailed with the other. It was like they’d planned it. Judging by the first attempt at an attack, however, he decided that it was probably just dumb luck. He struck at the other one again, this time managing a few attacks before he had to dodge. There was no second blow, however, and this realization was confirmed by a shriek from behind him. The good news was that the pile of rocks that had fallen on the troll he’d been fighting seemed to have finished it off. The bad news? Harue was cornered. It looked like she’d already had to run from the cover of the doorway, and as Damek rushed to her aid, she narrowly missed a crippling hit from a club.
“Crack beat!” rather than healing himself, which probably would have been a good choice, Damek charged at the monster, hitting it from behind. The first two slices missed entirely, and the monster was turning around. However, Damek found himself lucky and saw the golden word appear at the monster’s head. ‘Death’ flashed across the screen, followed fairly closely by ‘Elemental Critical’. It had been a heroic rescue after all, even if the maiden had leant a hand at the last moment.
The monsters were disintegrating, and Damek just stared in disbelief. “We did it!!” the girl jumped onto his back with a smile, pointing her staff over his shoulder, urging him onwards. “What a rush! See what I mean? You didn’t think we could do it, but it was so awesome! First...” she continued with a full play-by-play of the fight, as they walked through the door. Much in the fashion of the last floor, the door led into a V-shaped room. Thinking he’d try his luck, since Harue was still rambling on, Damek went to the right, hoping to find some stairs.
When the room loaded, it was clear that he’d had no such luck, however, there was no battle to be found here either. Now there was only one choice of which way to go, and when they proceeded through those doors...
Harue jumped off of Damek’s back with a squeal. “The stairs!” she ran down, Damek following closely behind, listening to her cries of “we’re almost there” and “this is the best quest ever”. The blademaster couldn’t help but smile. This was pretty fun, and taking a risk back there had really been worth it, especially if they could reach the end of this dungeon. Harue ran through the doorway at the end of the hall carelessly, and after a moment without her popping back in, Damek panicked. He sprinted the last quarter length of the hallway, ripping out his sword as he entered the room, ready to fight.
A large golden monster loomed before him, but it wasn’t moving. There was a moment’s stand off before Damek realized that Harue was staring at the monster out of awe, not fear. Damek looked to the ground. There was a treasure chest. This was the room. The one they’d wanted to get to. Harue hugged him and Damek smiled, he’d almost forgotten how it felt to finish a dungeon adventure. So many seemed to end in disconnections or strange events... but it felt good for once to just have a normal, challenging adventure. Excitedly, Harue ripped open the treasure chest, producing the staff she’d been promised. She threw a couple items his way and beckoned him closer with a smile and a wave of her hand. All of a sudden, she pulled out a small ocarina and played a short tune.
Something about that brought them back to the surface, and the two quickly logged out of the field, landing back in Mac Anu.
The streets were a little less busy now. Either people were still at work or out powerlevelling. Apparently Harue was right. People did treat this game like a job. “That was really fun!” Harue exclaimed, and Damek nodded in agreement. It had been. “I have to go, but we should do this again sometime,” Harue quickly disappeared, and Damek felt slightly offended. That was, until he saw the pending acceptance of a new member address. Yes. They would have to do that again sometime, Damek thought as he sent his own member address off to her.
Damek walked around the town a moment, preparing to save and log out. It was then he noticed a little letter in the top corner of his screen. Apparently the notification on his computer was from an email, telling him he had old, unread messages in game. He opened up the menu to find a lone flashmail from a former party mate, Rowan. He smiled for a moment and quickly typed a response, assuring her that he was a-ok, though he'd had no news from Fayre. Once more he began to worry, but he figured that he'd see the pudgy wavemistress sometime soon and logged out for good.
((OOC: Wish list is, as always, levels and whatever else you can spare.
EDIT: Just me fixing up some details because of Rowan's flashmail in the clan quest.))
