Party Time

After conducting some researching on Mo Town and its location with the help of player guides, Tannis concluded that it would be unwise for her to make the trek alone. Mo Town was deep within a valley. There would be all sorts of wild beasts and dangerous people in the valley; as a new player, she doubted she could handle such threats alone.

So that's why she was hanging around the local inn in Orbera, playing darts at the bar while she waited for other players to answer her global ping to join her party. In making her ping, her only stipulation had been that the other players be of similar rank to her. She hated nothing more than joining a game, only to have the experience ruined by veteran players blazing through everything.

When she had started playing darts, she struggled to even hit the other ring of the dart board, but after a while, she was landing her darts within the inner ring regularly, sometimes even striking bullseye a few times. ArdOn featured a leveling system were skills could be improved just by using them often. She preferred the system over other types that had players doll out points to boost attributes as they leveled. The former system just seemed more organic to her, better suited for a highly immersive VR game.  The experience she acquired from throwing darts could be applied to improving her accuracy with real ranged weapons too.

Now what?

Practically broke, one miss Madeline Clark was quickly running out of options. While the price of the inn was low enough that she could afford a couple more weeks here, she also knew that without a source of income, she would be soon out on the streets begging for coin. And the prospect of that was all too real offline, so why seek to bring about the same fate in a video game?

Thankfully, the answer came to her in the form of a worldwide ping. A player by the name of Tannis Krait wished to go adventuring, and seeing as Ardermina allowed players even in parties to receive individual loot, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make some dough. Rolling out of bed, she equipped the single piece that had depleted a healthy chunk of her bank account. The crustacean-inspired armor was quite the eye-catching piece, but she figured that was good if she wanted to portray her seriousness for the endeavor.

With a heavy travelling cloak about her shoulders to conceal a bit of the bright-red metal, Madeline hurried down the steps to the noisy tavern part of the inn (this was comparatively; Uwndres in general seemed a fairly quiet and dull place to be, at least where Orbera was concerned), casting her eyes about until she located 'Tannis Krait' by the dartboard. The only reason her username was broadcast was because of the lingering ping, but she'd taken it.

"Are you Tannis?"

The question came just as a dart made its mark in the inner red circle of the board. Bullseye.

"Nice throw, by the way."

Tannis turned to see that she had been addressed by a snow haired woman with some of the broadest shoulders she had ever seen on a female. Upon closer inspection, she realized the silhouette was actually heavy armor.

"I am, and thank you."

With her last throw, she had spent the last of her darts in that cycle, and so all the darts on the board dissipated as her temporary inventory was replenished.

"Looks like you're packing something nasty under that cloak of yours."

"Nearly the whole of my starting gold, yes."

She couldn't help but allow a small, bitter smile. It had the best stats money could buy, and she had only chanced upon the merchant on her first excursion out of town. She simply couldn't help herself when she saw how upgrade-able and customize-able the high-leveled NPC's wares were. It was pricey, but Madeline was still convinced that it was worth it.

"I hear you're looking for some party members?"

"I am...what's your name?"

The other woman's confession set off some warning bells in Tannis's head. Basically wiping your starting gold for a piece of gear? That was an incredibly risky move unless she had a good revenue stream to recoup the costs, but as another new player like Tannis, it was doubtful. Tannis didn't notice any similar bulges over the rest of her body under the cloak.

"Were you even able to afford the whole set?"

"Madeline Clark."

Having stuck out her hand to go with her formal introduction, it was with Tannis' comment that she retracted it quickly to rub the back of her head.

"Haha, I bought all I needed. Plus, this is sort of my weight limit for now, but I'm trying to train up by wearing this stuff everywhere. Hasn't failed me yet."

... Only because Madeline had only encountered low-level monsters on her trip outside of the village, ones that didn't stand a change to her higher-level armor. A quick check into her time in-game should allow Tannis to determine that Madeline was just as fresh as she was to Ardermina. But she wasn't going to directly state that.

Tannis summoned a dart from her inventory and flicked it at the board. Another bullseye.

"We're still only in the starting area though, where I imagine everything is viable. But it only gets harder from here...that's the time we'll face the consequences for silly builds. Anyway, you're stocked on pots too?"

Of course, Madeline didn't agree with Tannis' assessment at all, but she wasn't about to say that. She let her gaze roam to the dart board, allowing her features to slip into their usual, passive expression. After introductions, she couldn't really care less about making small talk.

"Got a few health pots."

She was all about necessity now that she'd splurged on her starting armor, and a good thing, too. Slowly, she slid her gaze sideways to look at her potential partner.

"Doubt I'll need them on the road."

When Madeline had extended an armored hand from under her cloak, Tannis had been able to study it before the snow-haired woman retracted it before they could shake. (Rude.) Salmon colored, with a boney protrusions that reminded her of a crustacean. She had no Idea how Madeline utilized her armor in combat, but she couldn't help but imagine her running around clobbering enemies with the giant fists.

"Bold words from someone who has no idea where they're going. Miranda, the shopkeeper of the apothecary, gave me a quest to gather ingredients for some potions. The first part of the quest involves meeting a shaman in Mo-Town. Beyond that, I don't know what's going happen; I'm assuming the shaman will fill us in about what ingredients we need to look for."

"So...will you join me? Miranda has some pretty nifty stuff, so I'm sure you'll be compensated well for helping."

"I'm not worried about anything around Mo Town, so yeah. I'll join."

Even if she wasn't going to get gold, free stuff was still free stuff, and would help her get ahead. Hey, she might even be able to sell a particularly rare potion or item from the famous rare monster drops in a tight spot. In short, the only way to keep living in this game was truly to just keep moving.

"When do we head out?"

"Now."

It had taken an hour for just one person to answer her ping; she didn't feel like waiting any longer. Hopefully Crusty was really as good with those arms as she thought.

Tannis equipped her weapons and outer wear from her inventory, and turned to leave the bar, walking slow enough so that Madeline could follow.

And without further ado, they were off. Madeline replaced her hood and ducked her head, following Tannis with only a few paces to spare. Once they were outside, however, it only took her a few moments to stride alongside her newfound partner properly, and it was then that she allowed herself a small smile. Her first friend in the game that she didn't know offline... She'd admit that it lent a likeable shroud of mystery to the dark-haired woman, the ebony to her ivory. Quite the pair they'd make in the coming days, she was sure.

Though the drizzle had lightened a tad, it was still extraordinarily damp and miserable in the little town they would soon put to their backs. The small cobblestone-laden path was clearly marked as the way to Mo Town, as the relations between it and Orbera were quite friendly. It certainly wasn't uncommon to find a Mo-Merchant every once in a while on market days (which were rather few, weather permitting). For some reason, Madeline found herself relaxing as soon as they approached the mist-swathed trees, feeling as though this was the way the land wished to be; wild and untamed. Even if the forest held many things that would try to kill you (with varying degrees of horribleness), it still seemed more welcoming than hostile.

Tannis felt like they had gotten off to a rough start in their initial meeting. She hadn't meant to be rude in her appraisal of Madeline's kit. But in the past she had run across people that had done something similar that ended in disaster.

"So, how are you liking the game so far?"

"I don't dislike it."

Though her eyes were generally on her feet to avoid twisting an ankle on the bumpy road, Madeline had time enough to spare a glance Tannis' way.

"Been awhile since I've played games. I was holding a controller last time I tried this stuff."

She played with her backsword on her hip as they continued on the forest path, unsheathing the blade a few inches before letting it slide back into the sheath on its own with a small clink of the basket hilt.

"What's a controller?" Tannis asked, feigning an expression of ignorance under her wide-brimmed hat.

"Very funny. You don't give off the air of a squeaker though. How old are you?"

Even the way she had to place her weight upon the path was so realistic that Madeline found her head spinning at the shift of her center of balance, and the way a feminine form changed her gait. As a result, she had tended to trip every so often, but never enough to take her off her feet at the start of the game. She'd been walking and fighting in her avatar for long enough now that her balance had greatly improve, however, to a point where there was nothing amiss to notice. Thankfully.

"Nineteen; old enough to know what you're talking about."

Controllers were still the dominate control input for most games, but there were nothing like the relatively simple ones she used as a little kid. Instead of buttons, there were electrical nodes that players used to translate the the electrical impulses of their thoughts into commands for the game. These modern controllers sat between traditional inputs and full blown VR interfaces.

Madeline wasn't as subtle with her clumsiness as she thought, and Tannis' began to smirk as she watched the other female struggle.

"So this is your first VR game? How old are you?"

Nineteen. Well, that was a bit younger than she'd thought, but a lot of things about this game were pretty deceiving. While still on the fence about the experience, Madeline could certainly appreciate the genius that went into the work that allowed her to appreciate the virtual world around her.

"Yeah, I didn't much like the fully immersive stuff. I'm 22, though."

While as Michael, IRL, she had only been a bit older than Tannis, the gaming consoles of (her) youth still got a great amount of use when (she) didn't feel like starting on that paper just then, or risking the disorienting VR Helmet experience. Well, pronouns were getting a little confusing.

"Ah, not quite as old as I was thinking. Here's a tip; turn up the AI assist on your movements. You lose some flexibility with how you move, but movement comes easier while you get the hang of your avatar."

Just about everyone used some level of AI movement assist from everything as simple as standing to advanced actions like swordplay. It made the transition of control of players real bodies to their avatars go much more smoothly, especially if they were using a different body type. Some truly skilled players learned to play without any AI assist, able to control their avatar fully to perform amazing stunts. However, that required a level of concentration and immersion that few could manage or tolerate.