Winfrey

Gragg gives a cocky smile, "Don't be falling over, now!"

Punctuating the end of his taunt is a much swifter jab than either of his two attacks prior. Remembering the surprising power behind even a casual thrust of that mass of wood, I immediately extend both hands and brace for impact.

-90

I grunt, the force pushing me back an inch, but the next attack is already inbound, a backhanded swipe at my right arm. Feeling the urgency to respond, I grab my bicep and hold firm against the approaching club.

-110

The hit forces me to stagger aside, my arm throbbing with pain. Fortunately, I've experienced far worse from people actually trying to hurt and kill me, but I must admit to rarely having felt this vulnerable to attack. My gear in VA is pretty top tier for defender classes, and my stats are jacked to the limit.

It's humbling, in a way.

The difference may be artificial and arbitrary, since this is a new character in a different VRMMO...but it's nice to be reminded of my mortality every now and again. Arrogance breeds weakness.

And weakness...

-130

Gets you killed.

I can't take another hit.

"I...yield," I cough, dropping to one knee before the final strike to my head finishes its downward journey.

"Haha, good, very good," Gragg's laugh is refreshing, "I think you learned a good lesson today, yes?"

Struggling to my feet, I nod, "Yes."

 

 

A Hidden objective? That's a thing?

I'll have to ask Ale-Silver about it when they get back.

Come on, Winfrey, don't wanna dox the man by accident.

Reaching into an inner pocket of his jacket, Gragg pulls out a small, wax capped bottle with a viscous red liquid, "First off, you'll be wanting to chug this down before you collapse."

I take it with my slightly less injured hand and pick at the seal with my fingernails, then pull out the stopper with my teeth and swallow the bitter, slimy contents. I shiver as it slowly slides down my throat and stick out my tongue after the horrifying, blackcurrant cough syrup aftertaste kicks in.

A few seconds later, however, I notice my HP start to tick upwards even if the pain I'm in barely alleviates.

"Afraid I can't afford anything better, so you'll just have to bear with the aching, but on the bright side you won't be getting marks on your skin, fair maiden," Gragg explains.

My response is a decidedly un-maiden-like grunt of annoyance. Like I actually care about that.

Placing his club's handle between his legs, Gragg raises his palm as a sort of magical mist leaves his body and condenses into a few small gems, which he shoves into my hand.

"Do you require an explanation on how to use these?" He asks, sounding suddenly exhausted.

"Please."

"Simply put, enter a meditative state in a moment of quiet, then focus on a Skill Gem and incant <Inherit Skill>. One at a time, mind, or you'll not like the consequences," Gragg explains, shaking a finger at me.

"Consequences?" I don't like the sound of that.

The shabby man nods, "Even for a more mature soul, the strain of modification on your mind, body, and soul especially, is too much when overdone. It's like pushing a large object into a small opening, instead of two appropriately sized objects in sequence."

I swear he's doing it deliberately. But I get the gist of it. Odd that Silver didn't explain all this before, but I guess maybe he just hadn't gotten to it yet. Unless he forgot. Hm, benefit of the doubt.

Hefting up his club, Gragg gives me one last bit of advice, "Remember today, and don't make the same mistake I did."

He gives a mock wave with his stump arm before continuing his walk past me.

"Maybe there's something to this game after all," I muse.

---

 

Justin's Juryriggers, Meteo City

Fully laden with lumber, I return to the city with my new assistant and get her to read through the Manual in exchange for her harvest of logs. Unfortunately she didn't have enough for the Simple Blue Charm recipe, but I made a deal with her to make up the difference using my own money in exchange for her assistance in crafting the hundred needed to fill the Donation Crate.

"I'm so boooorrred..." Jade complains for what seems like the thirtieth time, "This is boring. You're boring."

I roll my eyes, "Apologies for my lacking conversational ability, I shall reflect upon this floor in future and compensate solely for your pleasure, Lady Fairy."

My sarcasm earns me a log to the back of the head. For a mercy, her Strength is far lower than my Resilience and Armour, so I barely take any damage from the projectile, but the loss of concentration forces the failure of the charm I'm crafting.

Grumbling, I take the 'donated' log and start over with another from my bag, "Bear with it, we're almost done. Have you decided what kind of bow you want yet?"

"Don't rush me! Oh, I made another."

A Simple Blue Charm sails over my shoulder and onto the pile, bringing the total to 99. As if on cue, my own crafting attempt is a success as well.

Scooping the charms up in my arms, I get up and dump them into the prepared receptacle, "We're done. Decision, please."

"Shortbow, then!" Jade yells, flustered.

"Order received. One Beginner's Sad Oak Shortbow coming up," I respond blithely, hammering the Crate's lid shut and storing it.

Buying the appropriate schematic off of Austal, I send Jade off to the market with a handful of Stone Coppers to get the extra materials it calls for while I head over to City Hall to hand in my two Donation Crates.

With these handed in, I should have enough Reputation to start working with City Hall - my first order of business being the acquisition of a temporary permit for business. Essentially, it would allow me to take the place of one of the Travelling Merchants for a fixed period of time and operate a City Hall endorsed stall. There's a limited number of permits available every week, so competition can get real bloody between Merchant players. Although, not during business hours since the City Guards take a very dim view of players messing with vendors.

Impromptu trades are all well and good, but if you're looking to do any sort of trading long-term, you need a permit to avoid being the target of their ire instead.

It's not quite time yet, however. With The Failed Mage's Regret locked off until just before RotA, and the local players only just starting to think about tackling more reasonable content, it's best that I wait for market demand to rise on equipment and appraisals.

---

 

Sherry

I feel like I'm on tenterhooks. This game is pretty and all, but the crafting and gathering suck donkey balls and trying to start a conversation our 'Tour Guide' is like, completely pointless. But when he puts my new weapon in my hand? That feel?

Priceless.

Gun in one hand, shot glass in the other and I'm a happy girl, you get me?

Staring at little balls of light for hours on end, ain't my jam. I mean, I like having money to spend on the above, which is why I took all these tools, but now I'm starting to wonder why I bothered. Tour Guide keeps saying 'oh it'll get better in a few weeks', 'stick with it'. Bleh.

No idea what Win sees in this guy.

Buuut so long as she's happy, I'm happy. She's been real down about leaving Paris, and honestly I hate to see her go, so I dunno, spending the extra accelerated time in VR with her doesn't sound like a bad time.

"Earth to Jade. You ready to go meet up with Windy?" Tour Guide snaps his fingers in front of my face. Rude.

"Yeah, yeah. I can get arrows at the market right?"

He nods, "At this level the difference between crafted and bought is pretty negligible. Easier to just buy a couple hundred than find a Carpenter to do it for you. It's different as you progress of course, but using anything better is overkill. The money you'd spend shooting one would be way more than the two or three it'd take with the storebought crap."

As much as he talks like he's reciting from a travel brochure, he does have a weirdly good grasp on the game. Reminds me of my Ethics Professor - drones on and on but you still somehow feel like you learned something even when you tune him out.

"What's your major, actually?" I ask, curious.

"Art History and Sculpture," He responds after a moment. Unexpected.

"Huh. So, art's your thing?"

"That's...kind of a complicated subject. Let's just say my tastes have evolved since I signed onto the course," He dodges the subject.

See, this? This is what I've been dealing with. Win, help me, I crave human conversation. He's more wooden than my bow.

Bobbing through the crowd of players, 'Newborn' as Tour Guide keeps calling them, I pick up a quiver and enough arrows to turn me into a porcupine several dozen times over. I think I could see a piece of his soul leave his body when he handed over the money to pay for it all.

I'd sympathise, but I've had to keep you company, so suck it the fuck up.

From there, he leads the way to a blacksmith's boutique called Stone Arsenal. I see Win sat on an anvil, looking a little worse for wear than before. Worried, I push Tour Guide aside and run over.

"Win! Are you alright? You look pretty out of it," My words trip over themselves to get out my mouth, "I've got a new bow but getting all the wood and shit done suuuuucked."

Win gives me a small smile, "I'm fine. Just got a reminder that we're not playing VA."

Huh? "Whaddya mean?"

She waves at Tour Guide, "You know anything about Quest Evolution and Hidden Objectives?"

The look on his face is almost as fantastic as getting my hands on a weapon, "Explain."

After a moment he seems to remember his manners, "...Please."

"I was taking a look around the market when I bumped into a guy called Gragg. Long story short, he challenged me to dodge his bitch ass attacks and I decided 'fuck you', and caught one," She shrugs.

Yep. That's my girl.

"Then you...got the quest to evolve?" Tour Guide taps a finger on his chin.

Win nods her head, clenching and unclenching her hand, "Said he'd reward me if I could block four more attacks. Turns out, four attacks would have killed me, so I gave up after three. The 'fourth' attack objective changed in the reward screen to 'Hidden: Understand your limits'."

Tour Guide rubs his chin ponderously, "That's a new one on me. Evolutions and Hidden objectives are pretty rare early on, but the more complicated a Quest is, the higher the chance of something changing significantly, so it's not unheard of. What did you get for it?"

Win holds up four fingers, "Four Skill Gems and a shitty fuckin' potion to make up for some of the damage I took. I can still taste it. I'm going to be tasting it in my dreams tonight, too."

He whistles appreciatively, "That's very generous. Makes me wonder if it's repeatable, but I'd say if it is, it'll probably have a cooldown period before someone can try it again. Mentor NPCs like Gragg will catch on pretty quickly if a few thousand Fighters suddenly show up asking him to beat them senseless. They're not stupid."

I'm a little lost here, "The fucks a Skill Gem?"

"Consumable item that teaches you the Skill inside if you're eligible," Tour Guide rattles off without missing a beat, "You can buy them off of certain NPCs - Mentors mostly - we'll go find the Scout Mentor some other time, there's not much that's useful for archers you can learn from him and it's really something you should do yourself. Speaking of, what Skills did Gragg give you?"

Win lists them off, putting down a finger for each, "Rush - a movement buff, Swift Strike - an attack speed buff for one attack, Bolster - a damage reduction buff for the next hit I take, and Battle Focus - a Willpower and Perception buff on a stupid long cooldown."

I feel my brow crease, "That's it? All buffs no attacks or anything?"

Tour Guide jumps in, "She doesn't need them. One-off buffs for multiple situations are of far greater use for a Tank. I already have Rush and Swift Strike, for example, but Bolster and Battle Focus are far too expensive for me to bother with right now, so I haven't bothered with them. Getting them randomly from Gragg's Dodge! Quest is the only semi-reasonable option, but I'm just as likely to pull something useless like Tactician."

"What's that do?"

He snorts, "Imagination buff. Almost completely worthless before Level 10. You ask me, Magic Swordsman types are generally better off starting out as a Hedge Mage so they can get the best of smacking things with pointy objects and levelling their Imagination for spells. The difference in weapon usage for the starter classes is mainly aesthetic bias."

Winfrey nods along, then points at the large sword at his hip, "What are you looking to do, then? Melee damage dealer?"

Tour Guide shakes his head, "Yes and no. I'm a Skirmish Tank, primarily."

"The fucks a Skirmish Tank?" I butt in.

"You know what an Off-tank is, yes? Someone who assists the Main Tank and tackles sub-bosses in multi-encounters, right? Well, sometimes you'll get adds that come in and try to flank the group but the big beefy dudes and damage dealers are busy trying to beat the bosses down before the enrage timer hits. That's where a Skirmish Tank comes in - our job is to intercept, lock down and kill those flankers with minimal assistance from the rest of the group," He lectures, "Personally speaking, I'm good at duelling and shutting down melee enemies, but less so against ranged enemies I can't close the distance on reliably. For those kinds of enemies, a caster or ranger type like Jade would take the role."

I frown, "...Isn't that just an Off-tank though?"

"Similar concept, different execution. An Off-tank is a distraction, a Skirmish Tank is a problem solver," He looks off to the side, "We're getting distracted ourselves, as a matter of fact. Daylight's burning, I can talk while I work."

Grumbling under his breath, Tour Guide raps his knuckles on those closed shop's door, "Henna? Are you in?"

There's no response for a good minute or so, when a thumping set of footsteps echoes from upstairs, the door opening to reveal a dour-faced woman with bags under her eyes, "It's my day off. What do you want, apprentice?"

Tour Guide is nonplussed, "I need to get some metal, the schematic for the Beginner's Bronze Shield, and permission to use the forge. I also have the rest of the money I owe you for your help with the Donation Crates."

The woman named Henna shuts her eyes, then rubs them with a...really muscled arm, wow...

"...Only because it's you. Don't make a habit of it."

He sniffs, "Have you been drinking? You look like shit."

Yikes. No tact, this one. Not a drippy drop.

I can practically feel the temperature plummet, when Winfrey - bless her heart - clears her throat, "Perhaps a conversation for in private?"

Henna and Tour Guide share a look, "Alright."

The shop owner goes back inside without a word, and he claps his hands together, "Right, let's get you dungeon ready."