56 replies to this topic

[ZeroTigress]

Okay, I'm tired of trying to get role-players to come out of hiding in both RO and RO2. I am taking things into my own hands. I am starting a role-play thread and anyone who wants to join can come here instead of waiting for me to do something.  

Scenario:

The year is 20XX. Virtual reality peripherals have been out for just a couple of years, but already many MMORPG developers have jumped on the opportunity to further immerse their players into their worlds. Ragnarok Online was no exception; in fact, it made players much more interested to see what the RO world would look like from their own eyes. So Gravity developed Headgear, their VR peripheral created especially for use with RO.

Click here to comment on the RP or ask questions!

Rules of Engagement:

• Start your first post with your introduction to the scenario. (Please include a sprite render of your character. You can use a character simulator like Nozomi or Rune-Niflheim to generate your sprite. Drawings are fine as long as they're a max size of 500px tall and they're full-body for proper referencing.)
• Every role-player can only be a player in the story. No one with GM powers other than Oda and Campitor are allowed.
• First post can continue where the story is going or begin elsewhere and then transition into the main story.
• You can choose to interact with other role-players or mention their presence nearby.
• Do not stray from the designated scenario.
• If 2 versions of the same event occurs, the one that is written first is the canon version.
• You may multi-post if the thread has not been touched in 7 days.

Current Role-Players:
ZeroTigress [Assassin Cross (F)]
inuko23 [Lord Knight (F)]
Toxn [Assassin Cross (M)] (proxy RP by ZeroTigress)
ShinobiEX3 [Lord Knight (M)]
Aizenath [Royal Guard (M)]
Tkwan [Archbishop (M)]
Talvis [Mechanic (M)]
HopeSama [Warlock (F)]

RP Guide
Episode 1: Launch Day
Episode 2: Investigation
Episode 3: Woe
Episode 4: Trapped

-------------------

ZeroTigress had finally bought herself a GRAVITY Headgear, the VR peripheral required to play any and all of Gravity Co. Ltd.'s games. As usual, with every new piece of technology that gets released, she always gives it a year or two for the bugs to get worked out before getting it herself. (Also, she wanted to wait for it to go on sale for the initial cost of $400 was simply ridiculous in her eyes.)

ZeroTigress plugs in the Headgear's USB cord into her tower and logs into her RO account. She then goes over to lay on her bed as the instructions said. She turns the helmet over in her hands, admiring the black surface decorated with blood red trimmings.

"Okay, here we go," she says to herself.

She finally puts the Headgear on and lies back on her pillow, waiting for the program to boot up.

The next thing she knew, she was near the west gate of Prontera. Like, literally next to the actual gate. She looks down at her hands, which had become anime-like. She scans her surroundings, seeing anime-style 2D players and NPCs wandering around a 3D world. It was a strange sensation; she wasn't used to seeing something like this.

"Zero!"

ZeroTigress turned to see a female Lord Knight with long white hair approach her atop an armored Peco Peco. It was her sister, inuko23.

"Hi, Inuko," ZeroTigress greeted back.

Edited by ZeroTigress, 13 July 2014 - 09:01 PM.

[ritsukachan]

:|

[Oda]

image broken!

[ZeroTigress]

:|

It's not a fan-fic, goodness gracious.
 

image broken!

Image fixed!

 

==================

Inuko23 clutches her sister's arm.

"FINALLY! A familiar face!" she cries. "I didn't know what to do!"

"Why didn't you tell me you got a GRAVITY Headgear, too?" responds ZeroTigress. "... And how can you afford it?"

"Oh look, CM Oda's doin' an event!" Inuko23 says as she points towards the Prontera fountain, completely ignoring ZeroTigress' question. "Let's go!"

ZeroTigress soon found herself unceremoniously dragged towards the middle of Prontera where a sizable crowd was forming and still growing. Standing high atop the fountain, upon the statue of Odin and Sleipnir, was none other than the community manager Oda himself.

"Hello everyone!" he yells out. "Thank you all for helping us beta test the new GRAVITY Headgear system for the past 6 months or so. All beta testers should've received their special GRAVITY ball cap headgears from Code the Redeemer by now."

"No, I didn't!" a few from the crowd call out.

"Oh, we'll get that taken care of next mainte--"

Oda didn't get a chance to finish as he was suddenly pushed off the statue by another (formerly) prominent CM. Heimdallr has made his appearance, much to the disdain of Oda who had landed face-first into the waters of the fountain.

"Welcome to Ragnarok Online's official launch of the GRAVITY Headgear system!" Heimdallr shouted from atop the fountain's statue. "You'll notice that the sight, touch, and sound functions of Headgear currently working as intended, but the taste and smell functions haven't been enabled yet as the developers are still trying to add those elements into the game. In the meantime, I suggest that you take this time to familiarize yourself with your peripheral and report any and all bugs you find in the game. Thank you again for your cooperation!"

"... I was going to say that," grumbled Oda as he wrings the water out of his GM robe.

Soon, Heimdallr began summoning a gaggle of monsters, initiating the first monster invasion event under the new GRAVITY Headgear system. It wasn't long before ZeroTigress and Inuko23 respawned near the west gate Kafra.

"Ow, getting killed in here hurts," says ZeroTigress, rubbing her stomach. "Did they have to include that sensation in the system?"

"At least we still don't lose EXP upon death in towns," notes Inuko23.

"Do you think anyone from the iRO Raidcall is in here?" wonders ZeroTigress.

"Maybe," answered Inuko23 as she opens her Kafra storage via a projected menu. "Can't access the Raidcall program so I guess we have to play fullscreen while wearing Headgear."

"Don't you mean full brain?" jokes ZeroTigress.

Inuko23 closes her storage and leers at her sister. "Oh you."

The two of them go out the western gate, leaving the ongoing monster invasion behind them. Outside, they were greeted with Hornets and Thief Bugs. As they were both transcendent classes, ZeroTigress and Inuko23 held no fear of these monsters.

"Wow, these monsters are a LOT bigger up close," says Inuko23. Her Peco Peco squawks quietly.

"Not many people realize how the scale of the monsters compare to their characters," responds ZeroTigress. "There's a reason why they're referred to as monsters."

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, ZeroTigress spotted something undoubtedly familiar.

"SH17, run Inuko!" she exclaims frantically.

"What?" wonders Inuko23 before she finally saw it herself and screamed.

From behind a tree came the ghost of Eremes Guile.

[inuko23]

"GYAAAAHHHHH!" screamed Inuko23 as she grabbed ZeroTigress onto her Peco Peco.

 

"GO GO GO!" shouted ZeroTigress as she turned around. Eremes was running behind them several meters away.  

 

They had ventured far into the field when they encountered Eremes. The west gate into the safety of Prontera was a lot farther than they had thought it would be.

 

"Were the maps always this big?!" said Inuko23 as she looked ahead towards the gate in the distance.

 

Ahhhhhhh I just knew we would encounter a dead branch monster when we left Prontera. Why'd it have to be a biolab monster? D: If we keep going at this speed, we might be able to ma--

 

"DUCK!!!" 

 

Inuko23's thoughts were interrupted by her sister's shout as she turned around to see Ereme's katar barely missing them both as they dodged the attack.

 

"sdfjkslj@#! When did he catch up with us?!" shouted Inuko23 as she swerved her Peco Peco between the trees to try to lose him.

 

Pushing her Peco Peco to run faster, they were halfway to the gate when an arrow shot towards them and hit the tree to her left. 

 

"NO NO NO NO NOOOOO, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" shouted Inuko23 at what she saw in front of them. 

 

It was none other than Cecil Damon.

Edited by inuko23, 24 September 2013 - 01:33 PM.

[ZeroTigress]

"D4MN THESE DEAD BRANCHERS!" screamed ZeroTigress.

The two of them had nowhere to go. Cecil blocked the way to Prontera's west gate while Eremes loomed intensely behind them.

"Tell me you have an extra B Wing," pleads Inuko23, nervous sweat jumping off her face.

"I have only one," responds ZeroTigress.

"I forgot to buy more," Inuko23 starts to cry.

Without a word, ZeroTigress thrusts her only Butterfly Wing into her sister's hand.

"I'll distract the biolab monsters," she tells her, unsheathing her daggers. "When you get the chance, use the wing."

"But..." began Inuko23.

"It's okay," assures ZeroTigress with a smile. "It's only a game."

She quickly throws Venom Knives at Eremes and Cecil, causing the two ghosts to lock onto her. She then runs off, leaving Inuko23 time to use the Butterfly Wing.

ZeroTigress manages to make her way to the base of Mt. Mjolnir before Eremes cut her off from out of nowhere. She then does a Back Slide to avoid a back attack from Cecil, who was already loading another arrow. Trapped between the two of them, ZeroTigress could do nothing but await the death that was to come.

Well, she thought. At the very least, I'd rather go down fighting.

She grips her daggers tightly as the ghosts both came at her at once.

[kinkyou012]

Eremes Guile charges up his weapon and slashes a wave of shadowy energy at ZeroTigress. She dodges the incoming attack and threw Venom Knife at him, and quickly followed it to attack him simultaneously, only to be interrupted by Cecil's Sharp Shooting. Back Sliding out of the way, Eremes appeared right behind her and dealt a hard blow.

 

Zero quickly recovered and dashed again. Cecil readied another shot while Eremes dove in toward his target at lightning speed. Zero waited for the right moment, then jumped past Eremes as he striked and quickly dashed to Cecil and unleash her signature skill, Sonic Blow.

 

Each blow successfully hit Cecil, but it didn't weakened her. Just as she was readily fire her arrow at point blank Zero jumps into the air, only to see Eremes above her and unleash a wave of energy, quickly descending her down. Cecil shot her devastating arrow the moment Zero came in line and pierced through hert, sending her flying in agony.

 

As Zero struggled to get back on her feet, the two monsters was already ready on the move once more. She can clearly see her demise ahead of her.

 

"I guess this is it." Zero said, "Man, the pain factor is intense."

 

Both monsters readied their weapons.

 

I'll see you on the other side, inuko23.

[ZeroTigress]

ZeroTigress opens her eyes to find herself floating in a world of complete and utter blackness. Her body was the only object of color and light in this dark abyss.

"What the..." ZeroTigress exclaims in confusion. "This didn't happen the last time I died..."

She manages to find her footing on unseen ground and begins to look around for signs of an exit. She keeps her daggers drawn in case of an unexpected fight.

"You awoke quicker than I expected."

ZeroTigress spins around and finds herself in the presence of Eremes Guile! She holds up her daggers defensively, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her head in anticipation of another losing battle.

"I've heard much about you, ZeroTigress," says Eremes.

"Wait a second..." responds ZeroTigress. "You're not an NPC. And how do you know my name? Who are you?"

"I can't really say since everything in the game is being monitored," explains Eremes. "Even in this secret GM room."

"So what, this is another kind of GM prison?" wonders ZeroTigress.

"You can say that," answers Eremes. "It's a special one made just for the Headgear version of RO. One that not even CMs are privy to."

"You're higher than CMs and GMs?" asks ZeroTigress, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

"I've already told you, I can't say who I really am outside of the game," reiterates Eremes. "But I can tell you that I am someone you're very familiar with."

ZeroTigress relaxes a bit, but still holds on to her daggers tightly. Although this individual seems to hold GM powers, she doesn't feel that he would abuse them in this unfair situation. It does strike her as a bit odd that this person would be able to use Eremes Guile's sprite as a player sprite.

"I don't have much time," says Eremes. "They'll find us very quickly so I'll be frank. I've hidden something within your sprite. It's not meant to be of any use to you, but it is to me. If you can figure out what it is, I think you'll appreciate it very much."

"A programming script?" ZeroTigress assumes instantly.

"Very perceptive," articulates Eremes. "I've picked the right vessel after all."

ZeroTigress shifts uneasily.

"Don't worry, it won't do anything to your character," assures Eremes. "It's harmless to you in its current state."

"So what am I supposed to do as your pack mule?" ZeroTigress frowns, not amused at all to be used in this way.

"Nothing," says Eremes. "I'll look for you when the time comes."

He raises his right hand and summons a transparent digital menu in front of him.

"That'll be all for now," says Eremes, managing a smile. "We'll meet again, ZeroTigress."

Suddenly, ZeroTigress begins to fall backwards, sucked into the unseen ground without warning. She watches as Eremes' face zooms out of view before her sight is blinded by a bright white light.

The next thing she knew, she has respawned back at Prontera's west gate where Inuko23 was waiting for her.

[CheddarJack]

Gonna give this a shot to get back in the writing groove. 

 

Inuko23 turned and saw ZeroTigress respawn near her. She rushed over to her. 

 

"That took a lot longer than i expected. Did you give them a hard time?" Inuko23 ased with a smerk on her face. 

ZeroTIgress still thinking of what just transpired just kind of stared blankly at her. 

"Hello?? Anyone home?" Inuko23 waving her hand in front of her sisters face. ZeroTigress then shook her head and focused on the question.

"Oh, yea of course i did. I went down fighting as hard as i could" she replied trying to force a smile to not concern her sister. But what Eremes was telling her still was ringing in her head. How she was a vessel for this script inside her character. His statement "It's harmless to you in its current state" still rings in her ear. What if i get stronger and it starts to effect me somehow, or worse the people around me, she thought to herself while scratching her head.

Inkuo23 was still a bit confused by her sister, but she decided to let it go because it must have been hard on her to fight off those dead branched monsters. She then spoke up to her sister.

"How about we go into town and sit in one of the taverns. We can check out how all the food and drinks look."

ZeroTigress looked at her sister a bit confused, "But none of the taste engines are working yet so what would be the point in buying anything?"

"I said look," Inkuo23 said with a wink. "Aren't you curious how all the meat, and vegetable that we eat and use on a daily game basis to get our HP back would look in Virtual Reality?"

ZeroTigress smiled back, she knew her sister felt something was wrong and didnt want to bring it up. So she decided to join her sister for a little fun at the local tavern.

 

**(man i feel rusty at writing things)**

[ZeroTigress]

Why no one want to introduce themselves into the story? D:

Asked Toxn if he wanted to be in it and got permission. (Since he doesn't know how to RP, I'll be writing him in.)

--------------------------------------------------------

ZeroTigress and Inuko23 both headed into the Prontera tavern in the southeast section of town. Not surprisingly, the amount of NPCs in there outnumber the players since it wasn't a well-known spot in Prontera.

"Do you think the bartender serves alcohol now?" wonders Inuko23.

"Pssh, Gravity probably forgot this tavern was even here," scoffs ZeroTigress. "Besides, we both know where the alcohol is REALLY served."

Inuko23 and ZeroTigress went over to where SoloHan and Bachewcca were and began talking to them. The next thing they knew, they were at the Jawaii tavern.

"You'd think they'd just let us sign the thing already instead of making us drunk off our butt beforehand," grumbles ZeroTigress as she massages the side of her head from a minor headache.

"But that'd make too much sense!" exclaims Inuko23 jokingly.

The Assassin Cross and Lord Knight approach the counter where the bartender was and were both surprised to see a player already at the counter.



"And here I'd thought I was going to get all the alcohol to myself."

"Sharing is caring, Toxn," smirks ZeroTigress, taking a seat next to him.

"First day of RO's official VR launch and you guys are spending it at the Jawaii tavern?" notes Toxn.

"You're here, too, aren't you?" counters Inuko23 as she sat next to her sister.

"True," admits Toxn, taking a sip of his grey drink.

"What'd you get?" asks ZeroTigress.

"This is apparently what the Gunslinger looks like," answers Toxn, putting the simple glass down after he was done.

"But I thought they didn't implement the taste and smell functions of Headgear yet," says Inuko23.

"The effects of the drinks should still be functional with the other senses," ZeroTigress notes.

"It sure is," confirms Toxn, his eyes widening from the wild effects of the Gunslinger as he gripped his glass.

"What are you going to get, Zero?" Inuko23 wonders.

"Definitely not the bartender's recommendation," ZeroTigress tries to shake unpleasant memories of the last time she ordered one. "I guess I'll try the Cobo."

The bartender NPC whips up a cobalt blue drink and places the beautifully engraved glass in front of the female Assassin Cross. Inuko23 orders her drink and receives a crooked glass filled with purple liquor.

"Why'd you get the Boogieman?" grimaces ZeroTigress as her sister slides the drink closer.

"I never really tried it in the past," pouts the female Lord Knight. She takes a sip and smiles. "Hey, it's really good!"

"Well, the bartender did say that most people don't like it and those that do love it," says ZeroTigress. "I guess you're one of the lucky few."

"Anyone want to go for the Bomb?" grins Toxn.

"Are you trying to kill us?" ZeroTigress raises an eyebrow.

"Well, there's no other way to leave this tavern unless you wanna marry me," responds the male Assassin Cross.

"Bomb it is!" exclaims ZeroTigress quickly. "We'll take 3."

The bartender mixes up three tumblers of brown liquor and places one in front of each person.

"It's bigger than I thought..." grimaces Inuko23.

"This should be in a shot glass," thought ZeroTigress, eyeing the 8-ounce glass of intimidating liquid.

"No turning back now," says Toxn, having second thoughts after seeing what the drink looks like.

All three of them grab their tumblers and in a matter of seconds they quickly gulp the contents down.

The next thing they knew, they were all respawning at Prontera's west gate.

"Mental note," mumbled ZeroTigress as she struggles to keep herself up and latches onto a nearby pole. "No more taverns while wearing Headgear."

Edited by ZeroTigress, 20 March 2014 - 01:24 PM.

[inuko23]

"They weren't kidding about it being a bomb" said Toxn as he slowly picked himself off the ground. 

 

ZeroTigress helped him up and the both of them propped themselves up, holding onto the pole. 

 

"Where's Inuko23?" said ZeroTigress as she looked around. 

 

"Is that her?" squinted Toxn groggily as he saw the blurry shape of a lord knight standing next to a peco peco. 

 

As they let go of the pole and wobbled towards her, they could hear her mumbling something to herself.

 

"Wha-Wait....When did I have three peco pecos?" said Inuko23 as she tried grabbing the reins while seeing multiples of her mount and failing each time. 

 

With ZeroTigress and Toxn guiding her hands, she was finally able to grab on and somewhat climb onto her Peco Peco. 

 

"Ah....thanks guys...." said Inuko23 as she tried to balance herself on the saddle. 

"So where to next?" said Toxn.

 

The three of them drunkenly stared at each other for a while before ZeroTigress piped up.

 

"Let's go kill some crabs. I feel hungry"

 

"..." Toxn and Inuko23 stared at her blinking until their stomachs decided for them with a loud growl.

 

"To Byalan Dungeon it is!" shouted the both of them as they all headed towards Izlude for a drunken adventure. 

[ZeroTigress]

Somehow, the three of them manage to make their way to Izlude while narrowly avoiding yet another Dead Branch break session outside Prontera's south gate. The effects of the alcohol luckily wore off in time for them to figure out which direction was the ship to Byalan Island.

As they board the ship headed for the island, ZeroTigress suddenly turns around and aims her eyes at the bushes atop the small cliff next to the stairs.

"What's up?" wonders Toxn, looking over to her.

After a few silent minutes, the female Assassin Cross turns back and joins Inuko23 on the ship along with Toxn.

"Thought I saw something that shouldn't be there," she notes with a shrug.

As the three of them are warped by the NPC, a mysterious dark figure watches from behind the tree near the bushes.

~~~

Inuko23, ZeroTigress, and Toxn make their way to the undersea tunnels of Byalan Island where they began hunting down Vadons for their nippers.

"So how many do you need to cook?" asks Inuko23, nonchalantly hacking the nippers off a speared Vadon.

"Hmm, I think 100 should be good enough," answers ZeroTigress, ripping the nippers off another Vadon she killed. "I haven't had a chance to cook Steamed Crab Nippers on my cooking character yet."

"Only 100?" reiterates Toxn. "That doesn't sound like a lot."

Spotting a group of Vadons huddling together, the male Assassin Cross leaps right into its midst and masterfully unleashes Meteor Assault upon the hapless crustaceans, scattering nippers all over the ground.

"Don't go kill-stealing now," frowns ZeroTigress.

"We're the only ones here," Toxn shrugs innocently. "Who are we going to KS from?"

True, the three of them were the only players around on the second basement floor of the dungeon. In the earlier years of Ragnarok Online, Byalan Island was sparsely populated with low level players trying to level up. Now, like much of RO's world, it lays empty. Not even botters want to bother with the area.

"Just 23 more to go," notes ZeroTigress, checking her inventory after Inuko23 gave her what she speared.

Toxn finds another group of Vadons and rushes over with katars in tow. Unfortunately, as the ground of the undersea tunnel is wet with copious amounts of sea water, he slips and falls face first into the shallows next to the Vadons.

"Really, Toxn?" ZeroTigress sighs and shakes her head humorously.

"Okay, so maybe the wet floor slipped my mind that second," groans Toxn, pushing himself off the ground to sit on his butt. "Gimme a break, it's not we had to worry about this when we're playing without Headgear."

"Well, at least you didn't dive into the deeper areas of the tunnels," chuckles the female Assassin Cross.

Clipping his katars back on his belt, Toxn takes off his hat to wring it out. Suddenly, he hears something and the next thing he knew, he was deep in the non-shallow waters of the tunnel. He could barely make out ZeroTigress calling out his name before he instinctively held his breath. He wasn't sure if Gravity made the water effects of the game more realistic with Headgear or not, but he wasn't going to take any chances. He couldn't see what was dragging him down, only that they have his arms hooked from behind and he was quickly losing light so he couldn't make out any features of the creature's arms around him.

5H17! was the only thought on his mind. He didn't know what it was like to die virtually to drowning and he didn't want to find out now. He tries to turn his head and manages to make out something in the darkness. Hair?

Just then, he saw ZeroTigress swimming quickly towards him, her daggers glowing purple from having Enchant Poison casted on them. Grabbing his shirt, she quickly pulls him toward her while stabbing whatever it was behind him. That did the trick, as the creature releases him, allowing ZeroTigress to yank him towards the surface.

The two Assassin Crosses break the water's surface moments later and Inuko23 uses her spear to pull them to shore. They quickly crawl out and lay on the rocky surface for a few minutes to catch their breaths.

"What the Hel happened?" the female Lord Knight exclaims in a panic.

"I dunno," coughs ZeroTigress, pushing herself off the ground. "Toxn wasn't that close to the deep area. I don't know how he fell in."

"O... Ob... Obeaune..." gasps Toxn, lying on his back as he gulps in air. "It was... an Obeaune..."

"Toxn, that doesn't make sense," says Inuko23, kneeling down next to him. "We're on the second level. Obeaunes are on the third level. No one else is here so she couldn't have been Dead Branched. And monsters can't use the warp portals between floors."

"I'm telling you..." sighs Toxn, finally catching his breath. "It was an Obeaune. I know it is."

ZeroTigress and Inuko23 look at one another.

"Let's get outta here," suggests ZeroTigress.

The two women load Toxn onto Inuko23's Peco Peco and they head out of the dungeon and back to Izlude.

------------------------------------------------

Holy crap, that ended up being longer than I expected. D:

So who wants to be that shadowy figure? Go write yourself into the story!

[ShinobiEX3]

"Hmm.. So close." Coming out of the water, I see the three people run out heading to the exit.

 

"It seems the Player kill system could be implemented in this game. That it could If i didnt have to use this silly thing".

 

Dropping the brown branch on the floor.

 

Taking off my boots and the scarf, I wring off the water that was drenched in them.

 

"This new world mechanics is pretty nice. I think im going to like playing this game alot more than before. Ah the right, Maybe i should follow them for another attempt. Heh Heh"

 

Placing the boots back on and Wrapping the scarf over my face once more. Looking on the foot steps they made I start to track them.

 

^.^ "This will be fun. That it will. Khu khu khu !  Achooo Achooo Achoooo!

 

"Stupid water. Who implements sneezing in this game argh."

Edited by ShinobiEX3, 26 March 2014 - 09:48 PM.

[ZeroTigress]

A new challenger has arrived! Welcome!

The following is based on an interesting conversation in the iRO RaidCall. Dedicated to Toxn! XD

-------------------------------------------------------------

ZeroTigress lays the last dish of Steamed Crab Nippers on the table before her.

"That's the... tenth one..." she says nervously.

Toxn, ZeroTigress, and Inuko23 had traveled to the inn at Payon to rest from their odd ordeal in Byalan Island. Sitting on the floor of the inn's dining room, ZeroTigress had switched to her pure forge Blacksmith to cook the nippers they collected and had just finished preparing the last serving of cooked nippers.

"What's so bad about that?" wonders Toxn, leaning back onto the wall behind him.

"I told you, this is my first time cooking Steamed Crab Nippers," reiterates ZeroTigress. "I'm not usually this lucky with cooking, especially with a recipe I haven't done yet."

"Maybe you're just really lucky today," says Inuko23.

"Or maybe it's a sign something worse is coming our way," ZeroTigress says forebodingly.

"I doubt the Obeaune is a bad sign," sighs Toxn, putting his hands behind his head. "It just caught us off-guard, that's all."

ZeroTigress stands up to bring up the game's system menu in order to switch back to her Assassin Cross character. In minutes, her body becomes engulfed in a swirling blue light and then disapates to reveal her in her main body.

"I feel like playing Real Emotion every time you do that," Inuko23 smiles as her sister sits back down.

"Ugh, no Final Fantasy x-2, please," groans ZeroTigress. Sitting back down, she pushes 2 servings of the nippers forward. "So, who wants some +1 Vitality?"

"Kind of want to wait until they enable taste and smell before trying them out," comments Toxn.

"Yeah, was thinking that, too," adds Inuko23.

"No problem," says ZeroTigress, taking all 10 servings and putting them into her inventory. "I thought the same as well."

The three of them sit silently and stare at the table for some time. They weren't quite sure what to make of their Byalan Island trip, but no one had any idea what could've attributed to such an anomaly.

Then suddenly, ZeroTigress speaks up.

"Temporal degeneration!" she exclaims with eyes wide with realization.

"What?" Toxn responds, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Temporal degeneration," ZeroTigress repeats. "It's a natural occurance in the real world. Imagine if Byalan Island actually exists in our world. All that ocean water dripping through those underground tunnels would've softened the earth enough for the tunnels to leak into each other. Maybe that Obeaune got into the second level through one of those cracks."

Now it was Inuko23's turn to be confused. "Huh?"

"Think about it, it also explains why that pool that Toxn fell into was so deep," ZeroTigress continues. "That kind of phenomena happens in real life, where cave pools can erode away with time."

"Wait, wait, wait right there," Toxn shakes his head in disbelief. "You're saying that a natural phenomenon is occuring in RO? That's not possible, this is a game environment. Everything is controlled by the program's algorithms and I highly doubt Gravity has the brains to implement such ingenuity."

"I don't think this is Gravity's doing," responds the female Assassin Cross. "It's something else."

"A hacker," Toxn says what's on both their minds. He takes his hat off and brushes back his blue hair. "That also explains why the Obeaune was able to overpower me so easily. If a hacker is able to alter the game to this extent, that's not good."

The three of them sit in silence to contemplate this.

"So how much of the game has been changed by this hacker?" wonders Inuko23. "Should we continue playing?"

"I don't think it's that significant," suggests Toxn. "The hacker's probably just testing the waters, so to speak. Little changes here and there that no one would really notice. It's up to you if you want to keep playing. I know I will."

"So will I," ZeroTigress asserts firmly. "I want to investigate this farther."

"Well, it's not like we'll have a SAO situation on our hands, right?" adds Inuko23. "I guess I'll keep playing, too."

What if it's the Eremes player I met? wonders ZeroTigress, curling her hands into fists. Should I tell them?

Yet for some reason, she felt that telling them about Eremes would put Toxn and her sister in danger. She decides to withhold that information until she could learn more about the situation. There could be more than meets the eye.

Suddenly, the three of them hear a noise behind them and were surprised to see an Incubus walk into the room.

"Oh my, is there a little meeting going on here?" asks the monster.

"What dafu--," ZeroTigress couldn't finish her sentence as the Incubus quickly dashes for her and grabs her from behind, picking her clear off the floor.

"Ooh, you're softer than I thought," Incubus says sensually.

Disgusted, ZeroTigress twists her way out of Incubus' grip and throws a Venom Knife square into the monster's face. The knife plants itself deep into Incubus' forehead, but the monster shows no sign of damage. In fact, it didn't seem fazed at all.

"Ooh, venomous," coos Incubus. "I like that in a woman."

Toxn and Inuko23 jump up and the three adventurers raise their weapons at the monster.

"Why isn't it damaged by Zero's knife?" asks the female Lord Knight nervously with spear drawn.

Toxn lowers his katars and sighs. "That's because this Incubus isn't a normal monster. It's a pet."

"Indeed I am!" squeals Incubus, removing the knife from his forehead to show no wound at all. "I ran away from my owner when she stopped feeding me."

"When did they implement special AIs into pets?" asks ZeroTigress, her daggers still at the ready. "And shouldn't runaway pets be deleted from the system?"

"He could be a glitch," Toxn crosses his arms. "We just need to report him, that's all."

"Aww, don't report me," Incubus pouts. "I'll be a good boy." He winks at Toxn, who looks back repulsed.

Before they knew what happened, the monster is suddenly right behind Toxn, who is surprised by the speed of the pet monster.

"I'm more than willing to swing both ways, if you know what I mean," Incubus whispers into Toxn's ear as he held the male Assassin Cross close.

Now it was Toxn's turn to dig a Venom Knife into Incubus' head after twisting out of the monster's hold.

"Ooh, you're both venomous!" cheers Incubus, clapping his hands together as the knife stuck out of his head. "Double the fun!"

He looks over to where Inuko23 was standing with her spear drawn.

"Eh, too much armor," the monster brushes her off. "Not worth the work to take off."

"I don't know whether to be happy or disappointed," says the female Lord Knight, raising an eyebrow.

-------------------------------------------------------------

So many twists and turns in this RP. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Edited by ZeroTigress, 26 March 2014 - 10:31 PM.

[ZeroTigress]

Only 2 Lord Knights and 2 Assassin Crosses in this RP? :< We need a healer class, stat!

---------------------------------------------------------

Inuko23 wanders through the Payon Forest carefully upon her Peco Peco. The large orange bird squawks quietly, sensing other presences nearby. Behind the male Peco Peco was the runaway Incubus, sauntering far away.

"You two realize that I'm a demon-type, right?" Incubus seemingly speaks to nothing but air. "I can see right through your Cloaking."

Inuko23 doesn't respond, knowing full well he wasn't talking to her at all.

"It's okay, Kaen, he won't bother us," she assures her Peco Peco.

After a few more moments, Incubus suddenly rushes in and grabs hold with both arms of something that couldn't be seen.

"Peek-a-boo," he whispers sexually, reaching downward.

Toxn instantly dispels his Cloaking and takes a swipe at the Incubus with his katar, causing the pet to jump back.

"I love it when something I like plays hard to get," coos Incubus, winking at the male Assassin Cross.

A disgusted look overcomes Toxn's face as he holds both of his katars out.

"And don't think I forgot about you," Incubus turns in the other direction to look at nothing.

Before he could make a move, a Venom Knife comes flying out of nowhere and hits him squarely in the forehead. In the blink of an eye, ZeroTigress dispelled her Cloaking and stands there with one arm outstretched.

"And you play even harder to get," Incubus grins widely, taking out the knife without a fuss. "You two are much more fun than my former owner."

"Why are you following us?" demands the female Assassin Cross, taking out her daggers. "We're not feeding you at all. Go away!"

"But I'm just oh so lonely," moans Incubus, hugging himself. "I need nice warm bodies nearby. And your bodies are very nice. Very nice."

"By the gods, you make me sick to my stomach," grimaces ZeroTigress.

"Ooh, I know JUST the right remedy for that," Incubus claps his hands together and smiles. "Wanna know what it is?"

"NO!" both Assassin Crosses yell out as they quickly throw more Venom Knives at Incubus.

Just then, Inuko23's Peco Peco stops in its path and begins to squawk anxiously.

"Whoa, Kaen! Whoa!" the female Lord Knight cries out as she tries to calm down her Peco Peco. "What's gotten into you, boy?"

A loud crack sounds throughout the forest, followed by a series of crashes. In moments, a gargantuan Face Worm appears near the small party, towering over the tops of the trees above.

"Oh, that's not nice," says Incubus, bringing a finger to his lips. "Not nice at all."

The pet instantly disappears, leaving the three players alone to face the beast.

"Well, that takes care of that at least," says Toxn. "Hope that'll be the last we'll see of that weird pet."

ZeroTigress looks over at Toxn and saw a weird expression on his face. She couldn't understand why but, for a split second, Toxn looked like a duck.

"Watch out!" Inuko23 yells as the Face Worm slithers through the forest, knocking over several trees in the process.

Both Assassin Crosses barely avoided being crushed by a tree with a rather thick trunk.

"I thought Face Worm only appears in the Payon Forest instance," ZeroTigress yells out. "What is it doing on the regular map?"

"I don't know," responds Toxn. "Maybe it has something to do with that temporal degeneration thing you were talking about before. With the hacker."

"This is a rather noticeable change for the hacker to do," ZeroTigress replies. "Don't you think?"

"What should we do?" asks Inuko23. "We can't just let it roam around the forest. What if newbies are leveling here?"

"That thing's Level 140," says Toxn. "There's no way we can take it down as Rebirth classes."

"Screw that, I'm going in," declares ZeroTigress. She grabs some Red Gemstones from her inventory and rushes towards the beast.

"Zero, don't be stupid!" Toxn yells after her. "That's not going to do anything!"

His words fell on deaf ears as ZeroTigress runs up behind the Face Worm and casts Venom Splasher on it, causing a Red Gemstone to disappear from her hand. She jumps back far from the monster as it begins to glow purple. In seconds, it explodes and sends reddish clouds of dust through the forest. ZeroTigress covers her face with her arms as the cloud blows through. Once the dust settled, she uncovers her face and looks to where the Face Worm was.

Edited by ZeroTigress, 02 April 2014 - 12:51 AM.

[Aizenath]

ZeroTigress rubs her eyes, where the Face Worm was now there is a royal guard and his gryphon. The royal guard looks around and yells: NOT AGAIN!!!! I TOLD YOU NOT TO HAVE THAT LAST DRINK BUT YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME!!!! The gryphon screeches back at the royal guard and they keep yelling and screeching at each other for a while.

ZeroTigress looks at Toxn and Inuko23 to make sure she is not the only one that can see the royal guard arguing with his gryphon, Toxn and Inuko23 nod slightly but don't know what to say.

As ZeroTigress steps forward to talk to the royal guard, Aizenath suddenly notices them.

He leans forward, looking ZeroTigress straight in the eye and whispers something to the gryphon,  what do you think G, friends or foes? , the gryphon takes a battle stance while the royal guard slowly reaches for his spear, and while keeping an eye on the three strangers, he starts speaking: hi strangers, would you mind explaining to me what just happened? I was having a drink with my friend here and all of the sudden we see a huge purple explosion, a big a** snake magically appears in front of us, we black out for a second and then we show up here, in front of you? as he said this last words in an accusatory tone, they can see his suspicion turning into something else and suddenly, barely containing his anger and clenching his jaw he says: Vanishing...     

Edited by Aizenath, 03 April 2014 - 02:41 AM.

[ZeroTigress]

Aizenath, upload your sprite to imgur or something. Your image is broken. :\

That aside, welcome to the RP!

-------------------------------------------------------

ZeroTigress, Toxn, and Inuko23 could do nothing but stare in complete and utter confusion.

"Dafuq?" exclaims ZeroTigress.

"That's gotta be the weirdest glitch I've ever seen," notes Toxn, raising an eyebrow.

"Kidnapped for some nefarious plot, am I??" Aizenath screeches with spear drawn. "Have at thee, foes!!"

In an instant, an acre of reddish purple dust appears before the Royal Guard and his gryphon as ZeroTigress casted Venom Dust. Both the swordsman and mount immediately stopped in their tracks, looking on cautiously.

"Hold it right there," she demands firmly, her arms crossed in indignation. "We had nothing to do with you mysteriously teleporting here. We were trying to get rid of a wild Face Worm when you popped in out of nowhere."

Aizenath and ZeroTigress both glare at each other for a few moments before the Royal Guard spoke at last.

"Well, I suppose you could be telling the truth," he says, lowering his spear. "If you weren't, I'd be halfway dead by now."

"And there's the fact that Chaos server is on PVM mode," Toxn brings up. "Players can't kill each other outside of PVP rooms."

"You speak the truth, Assassin Cross," Aizenath admits coolly. "I guess I won't have to shish kebab any of you. For now."

With that said and done, Aizenath steers his gryphon around and flies off into the distance.

"That was weird," says Inuko23 once the Royal Guard was out of sight.

"I think I've had enough of odd glitches to last a lifetime," sighs Toxn, clipping his katars to his belt. "I'm logging out for now. See you guys tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we'll be seeing you, Toxn," ZeroTigress bids goodbye.

The three of them bring up the game's menu and in moments, their bodies were surrounded by blue light before fading out of the game's environment.

~~~

Deep within the Glast Heim castle, three dark figures gather in a broken room with ill intentions.

"Having fun messing with the Dead Branch monsters?" wonders one toying around with a knife.

"Very," cackles the other, adjusting his glasses. "So far the players using DBs are just cracking the branches and leaving, never knowing what the monsters they summon do. I've hacked the monsters to do various things and messed around with their stats. It's quite fun to see what happens."

"Don't be so reckless or someone's going to notice," warns the third, crossing his gargantuan arms. "We won't be able to destroy RO if someone catches on to us."

"You worry too much," says the one with glasses. "We're all using monster sprites as our in-game bodies. If anyone catches us, no one will believe them if they say a certain monster is behaving like a player."

"What about the Eremes player?" the knife user brings up. "He's obviously a hacker like us, but his objectives seem to be different from ours."

"That's what I'm talking about," says the big one. "We need to find out what the Eremes player is up to. He might wreck our efforts to bring down RO for good."

"I'll see to it he doesn't interfere," the other figure tosses his knife into the battered table before them.

"Speaking of which, how has your knife experiments been coming along?" wondered the spectacled one.

"Smoothly," responds the knife user smugly. "We may not be able to kill other players here, but we can still hurt them. So far my victims begged for mercy after the second knife."

"You're one sick bastard," chuckles the one with glasses. "Tormentor."

The third hacker scoffs, grabbing his scythe and leaving the room.

"He just doesn't know when to have a little fun," says the knife user, twirling another knife in his hand.

-------------------------------------------------------

Here we go, the main villains of the RP: evil hackers! You could probably guess what monster sprites they're using, but you'll have to wait to see for sure what monsters they've chosen as their in-game avatars.

[ZeroTigress]

The next day, ZeroTigress logs in to find herself back in the Payon Forest where she last logged out. Toxn and Inuko23 were nowhere to be seen, but the friendlist window indicates that they were both online. She sends a whisper to her sister and receives a response that they were both in the Jawaii tavern again. ZeroTigress is unsure what to make of it, but heads over to Payon anyhow to use the Kafra warp to Prontera.

In no time at all, the female Assassin Cross was reunited with Inuko23 and Toxn, both of whom were sitting at the counter with a familiar face.

"We meet again," ZeroTigress greets the male Royal Guard.

"Yes, sorry about what happened the other day," Aizenath greets back with a drink in hand. "Name's Aizenath and this is my gryphon G."

"Uh huh," ZeroTigress responds uncertainly, taking a seat next to Toxn. She then turns her attention to the male Assassin Cross and her sister. "So, why are we back here again?"

"Didn't you read the notice?" asks Toxn. "They finally enabled taste and smell features in the game."

"Huh, I was wondering why Headgear took a while to boot up today," notes ZeroTigress. "I didn't expect the features to be implemented this quickly."

"They apparently needed a little more time to finalize some stuff," explains Toxn. "Seems good so far."

The three players order their drinks and the bartender serves them up in mere minutes.

"Ooh, they picked a nice taste for the Cobo," says ZeroTigress, drinking up the cobalt blue drink.

"Boogieman's flavor is even better than the effect," Inuko23 declares happily.

Toxn pushes away his half-drunken glass of grey. "I think I'm done with the Gunslinger for good."

ZeroTigress and Inuko23 laugh in response and finish their drinks.

"I brought Butterfly Wings so we don't have to drink ourselves to death this time around," spoke up Inuko23.

"Ooh, can I maybe perhaps possibly have one?" asks Aizenath pleadingly. "I was in a rush to test the drinks that I forgot to get some myself."

"Sure," says Inuko23, handing him a Butterfly Wing.

"Thank you," responds Aizenath. He holds the wing in his hand and an absent-minded look overcomes his face. "Uh, how do we use these with Headgear?"

"Apparently we have to wave them in the air in order to activate the spell," answers ZeroTigress, reading the item's description.

"Ah, of course," says Aizenath. He proceeds to wave his wing in the air and in moments his body and gryphon were both surrounded by a bright blue light before fading away into nothing.

ZeroTigress, Inuko23, and Toxn all do the same with their wings and they were back in Prontera in no time at all.

"So, where to next?" wonders Inuko23.

"Well, I want to do this first," declares ZeroTigress, bringing up the chat box to type in some commands.

Immediately, Inuko23 and Toxn receive party invites, which they accept. Now they were all able to see each other's HP and SP bars.

"You named the party 'Heroes of Midgard'? Really?" Toxn says dispassionately, looking at ZeroTigress.

"What?" exclaims the female Assassin Cross in response. "Don't tell me you aren't the least bit curious about what happened yesterday?"

"I am, but 'Heroes of Midgard' seems a little silly, don't you think?" says Toxn.

"I think it fits just fine," ZeroTigress crosses her arms.

"Whatever," sighs Toxn, waving his hand. "Let's get a move on."

"Wait!"

The party turns to see Aizenath frantically approaching them on his gryphon.

"Please let me join your party!" vociferates the male Royal Guard. "I wanted to make up for accusing you strangers of abducting me."

"But you already apologized to us," notes Toxn, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, but I don't feel that's enough to make up for all the trouble I caused," says Aizenath. "Besides, I can use recovery skills, which would be a huge asset to your team."

"A healer would be nice," says Inuko23.

"Crusader classes are far from being dependable supporters," says ZeroTigress. "If we wanted a healer, we'd get a priest instead. At worst, I'd go for a Soul Linker before I'd ever pick a Crusader class as support."

"I promise, you won't regret it!" Aizenath taps his left shoulder with his right fist in a salutary way. "You can count on me and my spear!"

His gryphon squawks.

"And G," adds the Royal Guard.

ZeroTigress approaches him and looks him straight in the eye with an intimidating glare. "Do you have what it takes to save the world? To do what is necessary to make things right? CAN YOU HANDLE THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS???"

Aizenath and his gryphon look back with shocked expressions.

"... Yes?" he responds in confusion.

"Welcome to the team," ZeroTigress says calmly as she sends him a party invite.

"So where to now?" asks Inuko23.

"Hmm," says ZeroTigress, falling into thought. "Mt. Mjolnir. There's something I want to check out there."

"Mt. Mjolnir it is," says Toxn.

The party of now 4 prepare themselves with provisions before heading out Prontera's western gate towards the mountains to the north. Unbeknownst to them, a pair of eyes was watching them from afar. ShinobiEX3 grins as he puts another pile of Dead Branches into his inventory and follows behind them.

-------------------------------------------------------

Before you say anything about the HP and SP bars being in the party window, remember this RP is supposed to take place in the future. Putting aside any pessimism about Gravity, I want to think that some features would get implemented into RO eventually. So there. :3

[ZeroTigress]

ZeroTigress, Toxn, Inuko23, and Aizenath all slowly and steadily made their way up the perilous Mt. Mjolnir. Now with the world of RO so much bigger and more vast via Headgear, the mountain took much more effort to climb than before. After a few minutes of walking and climbing, someone finally spoke up.

"So, what are we climbing Mt. Mjolnir for?" wonders Toxn, wiping beads of sweat off his forehead with his arm.

"To get to the top of the highest peak," answers ZeroTigress, who was walking ahead of everyone.

"Why?"

"To see all of Rune-Midgarts."

"And...?"

ZeroTigress stops in her tracks to turn around and face her fellow Assassin Cross. "Decide where we go to begin our actual investigation."

Toxn raises an eyebrow in response.

"First rule of exploration: find the highest point in order to get the lay of the land," ZeroTigress says matter-of-factly as she spins around and continues onward. "From there, we can get an idea of the world is like and try to spot anything peculiar."

"Won't we need a telescope for that?" asks Toxn, crossing his arms.

ZeroTigress says nothing as she continues her clamber up the mountain. Toxn simply rolls his eyes and follows after her. As he walks, he looks around himself to experience Mt. Mjolnir in all its virtual reality glory. In doing so, he accidentally walks right into ZeroTigress who had stopped suddenly.

"Uh, a little warning would be nice," he pouts.

When he was met with eerie silence, Toxn immediately becomes concerned.

"Why did you stop?" he asks.

"Toxn..." begins ZeroTigress, still facing forward. "... What level are you?"

"What are you talking about?" Toxn responds. "You know I'm already maxed out at 99."

"... Check your level," ZeroTigress urges hesitantly.

"Okay, but I dunno what you're--" Toxn trails off as he brings up his information window. "What the..."

"What are you guys doing?" wonders Inuko23.

"Inu, check your level, too," responds her sister.

Inuko23 brings up her information and her eyes widen upon seeing what was on there. "Huh?? How am I Level 134???"

"You guys are silly," exclaims Aizenath. "Non-3rd Classes can't surpass 99."

"It's true, Aizenath," says Toxn. "I'm Level 150 now."

"That can't be right," counters Aizenath. "GRAVITY never allowed non-3rd Classes to reach the new level caps. And I haven't seen any announcements about it anywhere."

"Zero, what's your level?" asks Inuko23.

"Oh, I'm..."

ZeroTigress doesn't say another word as she suddenly dashes past her sister and Toxn to grab something in the bushes. In seconds, she pulls out a rather distraught blond Lord Knight wearing a Gangster Scarf.

"Hey, watch it!" yells out the swordsman as ZeroTigress held him by the chest armor.

"What the..." exclaims Inuko23 in surprise. "How'd you know he was there??"

"If you wanted to stay hidden, you should've stayed downwind from us," growls the female Assassin Cross, holding him more roughly. "I can smell hints of seawater coming from you."

"That's quite the nose you got there," comments Aizenath, looking rather impressed.

"Like a tiger," mutters Toxn.

ZeroTigress quickly leers at the male Assassin Cross.

"What'd I say?" he asks innocently duck-faced.

ZeroTigress turns her attention back to the hapless Lord Knight, her eyes darkening.

"How long have you been following us?" she demands irritatingly. "That seawater smell must mean you were near Byalan Island."

"Um, a while?" the swordsman grins nervously.

"Did you summon the Obeaune that attacked Toxn?" growls the female Assassin Cross.

"Dead branching??" exclaims the Lord Knight in shock. "I would never do such a thing!"

Just then, a clacking sound was heard. The Lord Knight and ZeroTigress both look down to see a Dead Branch at the swordsman's feet. It seems to have fallen from his armor.

"Heh," the Lord Knight forces a chuckle as beads of sweat rolled down the side of his head.

ZeroTigress didn't seem to find the situation amusing and narrows her eyes as she tightens her grip on the swordsman.

"Who... are... you...?" she sneers at him.

"Shi-shi-ShinobiEX3!" the male Lord Knight brings up his hands to block his face. "Don't hurt me, Zero!"

"That name..." says ZeroTigress, still keeping her grip on the swordsman. "I remember you from the forums."

"Yeah, I went to your Secret Odin event, remember??" adds ShinobiEX3. "C'mon, I'm sorry for breaking Dead Branches on you guys! I was just having a little fun! At least I didn't get any of you killed, right?"

Silence falls upon the entire group as ZeroTigress contemplates her next move. Then suddenly, she shoves ShinobiEX3 into the large boulder behind him and pulls out a dagger.

"Wait, don't kill me!" exclaims ShinobiEX3.

"Toxn happens to be a friend of mine," begins the female Assassin Cross as she grips Grimtooth tightly. "And anyone who attacks a friend of mine... is instantly my enemy."

"Zero, stop."

Toxn steps forward and grabs her right arm, which held the dagger. ZeroTigress turns to glare at the male Assassin Cross.

"You don't have to do that," he tells her. "Let him go."

For a moment, Toxn saw something odd in her eyes. Then she suddenly relaxes and lets go of ShinobiEX3, who slumps to the ground. She sends one glare in the direction of the Lord Knight and turns to continue up the mountain.

Aizenath whispers to Inuko23. "Is she always that scary?"

"Only when it comes to friends and family," Inuko23 whispers back.

"What are my chances of becoming friends with her?" wonders Aizenath.

"5%," responds Inuko23.

Aizenath's face saddens upon hearing that.

As the rest of the party prepares to leave, ShinobiEX3 gets up from the ground and dusts himself off. "Well, now that that's over, I guess I'll be--"

CRACK!

Everyone in the immediate vicinity stops dead in their tracks as the sound resounded throughout the area. ShinobiEX3's heart skipped a beat as he looks down at his foot at the now broken Dead Branch he had unwittingly stepped on.

"Oh..." he groans.

A sudden flash of light blinds the party and ShinobiEX3 as a monster is summoned. When the light finally dissipates, a gargantuan pink werewolf stood menacingly before the blonde Lord Knight.

"WHAT THE HELL??" he yells out in surprise as the werewolf raises its monstrous fists up in the air.

ShinobiEX3 dodge rolls out of the way as the werewolf slams the ground with its arms, sending shockwaves through the earth.

"That's the old version of Atroce!" exclaims Aizenath as he readies his spear and gryphon. "This shouldn't be possible!"

He goes to attack the werewolf, which turns to snarl loudly at the Royal Guard and his mount.

"That's some breath!" coughs Aizenath as he blocks an attack with his shield.

Before he could use his spear, the werewolf backhands both him and G into the trees behind them. Startled, Kaen begins to panic frantically as Inuko23 tries to calm him down. The Peco Peco accidentally knocks her off, causing the female Lord Knight to fall down onto the ground. As she tries to grab her wayward spear, the pink werewolf towers over her with fists high up in the air for another slam attack.

"Inuko!" ZeroTigress yells out as the tries to get to her sister.

Inuko23 screams as the werewolf's fists came down towards her.

[Tkwan]

 

 

Suddenly out of nowhere a pink light surrounds Inuko23. She opens her eyes and realizes she hasn't been crushed by Atroce's massive fists. Quickly realizing she's been surrounded in a safety wall she grabs her spear and stands up while Atroce attempts to reign blows down on her that just seem to phase through her. Once on her feet, she notices angels and a sword affect appear over Atroce's head, and capitalizes on it with a quick twisting spear jab right under Atroce's left fifth rib. He reel's backward clearly shocked by the immense pain. ZeroTigress, who had reached the area, quickly jumps on Atroce's back while he is off balance, takes her daggers out, and in one swift motion, stabs Atroce in both eyes and slices his throat as she jumps away. Atroce falls backwards and attempts to let out a gurgled howl before suffocating. With the sudden surprise of the Atroce gone, the heroes' attention turns towards the bushes where they saw flashes of light. They begin cautiously approaching the bushes while scanning the area with their eyes.

 

Suddenly an Arch Bishop removes a cloak with a clear image of a frilldora on the inside of it from off of his back and appears before them. He quickly bows his head apologetically and says "Sorry for interfering, but you looked as if you were in trouble. I was just on my way to Mt. Mjolnir to get a bit of sightseeing in with this new headgear and I heard what I thought to be the sound of a branch break and saw a light flash a little distance away and rushed over to see what was happening."

 

"Well we appreciate the hel-" ZeroTigress began before being interrupted by Tkwan.

 

"Wait wait wait a second, is that you guys?" Tkwan said.

 

ZeroTigress and Inuko23 looked shocked for a moment before Toxn spoke up and stated "Tkwan?"

 

"Yeah its me" Tkwan responded. "I definitely didn't recognize you guys at first with the way this new headgear made things look. It's good to see you guys, what brings you up here?"

 

 

Edited by Tkwan, 21 April 2014 - 02:15 PM.

[ZeroTigress]

"Well, we were on our way to reach the peak of Mt. Mjolnir when I found this guy," ZeroTigress growls out the last two words as she glares back at ShinobiEX3, who cringes in response.

"ShinobiEX3 is the one who summoned that weird pink Atroce," clarifies Inuko23.

"Uh huh..." responds Tkwan.

Meanwhile, Aizenath and his gryphon G had managed to recover from their injuries and rejoins the group.

"Ow, that hurt," he pouts as he rubs his face with his hand.

"So, what should we do with this guy?" wonders Toxn has he roughly pushes ShinobiEX3 forward.

Before anyone could say anything, ZeroTigress rushes forward and stabs the blond Lord Knight in the stomach.

"Zero!" exclaims Tkwan in surprise.

"AAAUGH!" screams ShinobiEX3, falling over and clutching his stomach as the immense pain tore through him.

"How's your HP?" the female Assassin Cross demands nonchalantly, still gripping Grimtooth in her hand.

ShinobiEX3 groans and coughs a few times as the pain gradually subsides. "It... didn't change..." He gasps. "No system report... of damage, either."

"Interesting," notes Toxn, bringing a hand to his chin in thought. "The server's in PVM mode so we can't really kill each other. But we can still hurt each other without issue."

"Sounds like GRAVITY to overlook things like this," responds Tkwan, frowning. "The pain system shouldn't function if you're not doing damage to another player."

"Wouldn't surprise me if the hacker use that to their advantage," adds ZeroTigress, still keeping her eyes on the Lord Knight writhing on the ground.

"Hacker?" repeats Tkwan, raising an eyebrow.

ZeroTigress sends a party invite to the Archbishop, who immediately accepts. "We'll fill you in on the way. Aizenath, keep guard over Mr. Troublemaker here."

"Aye aye, party leader!" the Royal Guard affirms loudly. He goes over to where ShinobiEX3 was and pokes him with his spear. "On your feet, peon."

~~~

After some time, the party finally reaches the highest peak of Mt. Mjolnir. The group gazes over the vast landscape of Midgard in awe of the extra details that were added for the virtual reality experience of Headgear. The sweet scene of the giant blossoms and flora of the environment filled the air.

"A-choo!" sneezes ShinobiEX3, rubbing his nose with a finger.

Ignoring the random interruption, Tkwan walks over to ZeroTigress, who was busy scanning the horizon.

"So, what is it are you looking for?" he wonders.

"Anything out of the ordinary," responds the female Assassin Cross. "Misplaced maps, unusual monsters, stuff like that."

"Spy anything with your eagle eyes?" continues Tkwan.

ZeroTigress sighs and drops her head. "Nope."

Tkwan chuckles and pats her on the shoulder. "Well, no point in spending time to look for trouble. It seems to follow you guys just fine."

At the sound of that, ZeroTigress turns to glare at ShinobiEX3, who quickly yelps and looks away nervously.

"Anyways," begins ZeroTigress, turning her attention back to Tkwan. "When did you change your hair? And is that a Southern Cross you're wearing?"

"I got tired of my old hair so I changed it into this one," responds the Archbishop, rustling his new highlighted-style hair. "And yep, it's a Southern Cross. We just got it on our server."

"Surprised we get anything from jRO," says ZeroTigress.

"So what do you guys plan to do if we run into this hacker you guys are looking for?" wonders Tkwan. "If he even exists."

Toxn glances over at ZeroTigress before looking at Tkwan. "GRAVITY might have messed up a lot of things in the past, but what we've encountered since Headgear's launch goes beyond what even GRAVITY is capable of."

"Such as...?"

"An Obeaune that's stronger than a trans class; a glitched Incubus pet that has a thing for Toxn and my sister; a Face Worm that can teleport a random player from a town map; that weird pink Atroce you saw earlier," Inuko23 answers as she counts them with her fingers. "Oh, and now all non-3rd Classes can reach the new level cap."

Tkwan was silent for a few minutes. "... Okay, that's pretty unusual, even for GRAVITY. And what's that about an Incu--"

"ANYWAYS," interrupts ZeroTigress, glaring at the female Lord Knight. "These abnormalities seem too odd to have been caused by GRAVITY's shoddy programming skills. So that's why we've concluded that a hacker is behind these."

"Hackers tried to take down RO when it first launched," notes Aizenath. "And now we have a hacker trying to take down RO again, after the VR launch."

"What if there's also more than one hacker this time around?" Tkwan brings up.

"I'm already nervous about just one hacker," responds ZeroTigress. "If there's more than one..."

The whole group falls silent. Multiple hackers bringing down RO would be the end to everything that brought them together.

"A-A-A-CHOO!" ShinobiEX3 sneezes again.

"Let's log out and regroup in the iRO Community RaidCall," suggests Tkwan. "If there are hackers at work here, I'd feel more secure discussing this outside of the game."

"Good idea," agrees Toxn. "Guess we'll call it a day for now."

"But what about him?" asks Aizenath, pointing to ShinobiEX3 with his spear.

ZeroTigress simply walks over and glares at the male Lord Knight with darkened eyes with arms crossed. "We'll let him go, for now." She then leans closer, causing ShinobiEX3 to back up in fear. "But if you follow us again to spam DBs on us, I won't be so 'friendly' with my daggers next time."

ShinobiEX3 gulps as everyone in ZeroTigress' party bring up their system menus to log out of the game.

[ZeroTigress]

ZeroTigress logs in to find that she was all alone on the peak of Mt. Mjolnir. Looking at the party window, she notices that Toxn's name was missing.

Oh yeah, it's War of Emperium day, she thought. He must be with his guild.

Inuko23 had told her that she wouldn't be on today as she was going out with friends, so ZeroTigress was by herself for the time being until Tkwan and Aizenath log in. She didn't mind too much; she had gotten used to the solitude over the years. She heads over to the bridge connecting Mt. Mjolnir's highest peak to its lower one when she suddenly hears a rustling noise nearby. Spinning around, she takes out her Grimtooths and hold them offensively.

"Don't stab me again!" cries out ShinobiEX3, holding up his hands in submission.

"You!" growls ZeroTigress, still holding her daggers. "What are you still doing here??"

"Just hear me out, okay!" exclaims the blond Lord Knight. "Look, I have no weapons!"

ZeroTigress narrows her eyes, but holds on tight to her daggers offensively. "I'm listening..."

"Okay," begins ShinobiEX3, lowering his hands a little. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about the hacker the other day, so..."

"So what?" wonders the female Assassin Cross.

"So, I wanna join your party," affirms ShinobiEX3. "I don't want to see RO die. I can help!"

"And what makes you think we'll be willing to accept you after everything you've done to us?" ZeroTigress snaps. "You nearly hurt my friend and I'm not cool with that one bit."

"I promise, I--"

ShinobiEX3 couldn't finish his sentence as a loud buzzing suddenly fills the air. He sees ZeroTigress' eyes widen in fear and watched as she immediately turns around and bolts for the bridge behind her. As a feeling of dread fills him, ShinobiEX3 slowly turns around to find himself face to face with the queen of bees, Mistress.

"Oh, we're on THAT map?" he exclaims quietly.

He begins to run towards the bridge as Mistress summoned her swarm of Giant Hornets.

Edited by ZeroTigress, 07 May 2014 - 10:05 AM.

[Talvis]

Well, I'm gonna give this a try.  I'm sorry if it's a bit long.

 

Talvis had just turned on his new helmet for the first time and was slowly getting use to it.  Once everything was booted up he looked around and wondered "Where the heck am I?"  He looked around and saw what looked like some sort of makeshift camp and to one side saw a dark forest and on the other he saw snow covered mountains.  Towards the middle he saw a bright blue light and that's when he remembered; "crap, I'm saved at the new world camp."

 

He wandered around for a bit trying to decide what the best way to get back would be when he saw a random Archbishop and kindly asked, "do you have a warp to the mainland?"

 

The Archbishop replied, "I have a few places, anything in particular?"

 

"Any town will do" Talvis replied, "I just don't want to have to walk a long ways."

 

The Archbishop made a gesture and a bright blue, familiar looking, light appeared in front of him.  "Here goes nothing" Talvis said to himself while walking into the portal.  He was quickly surrounded by a blue light and once it cleared he fund himself in a large city.  It didn't take him long to realize what city it was when he heard the deafening sound of the clock tower's bell and he knew he was in Aldebaran.

 

After looking around for a bit he quickly saved at the nearest Kafra then decided that he wanted to explore the area.  It looked so interesting in the normal game, so it must be awesome close up.

 

He proceeded to walk South attacking a few random monsters with his Hurricane Fury axe, which looked quite interesting up close. 

 

He eventually found his way into the Mjolnir Mountains exploring the scenery.  However, he kept having a feeling that he was being watched, but he could never see anyone.  He soon passed an area that looked like a big fight had taken place.  "This looks like a pretty big battle spot for any monster usually found up here, eh, maybe someone was having fun with a dead branch."

 

He started walking towards a bridge when he heard what sounded like a loud buzzing and perhaps someone caught up fighting whatever it was.  It wasn't long before he saw what it was, Mistress!  And she looked like she was attacking a Lord Knight and an Assassin cross.

 

As he slowly approached he saw the Lord Knight charging Mistress.  Once he got close to her, though, Mistress hit him with a Jupitel Thunder that knocked him hard against a rock.

 

After seeing this, Talvis quickly grabbed his axe, but while he was looking towards the injured Lord Knight he heard the female Assassin Cross shout, "LOOK OUT!  Talvis quickly looked back towards Mistress only to see her Giant Hornets flying towards him.  Talvis responded by spinning around and trying an axe tornado which took out a few of the hornets.

 

Meanwhile, the female Assassin Cross lunged at Mistress with her daggers but before hitting the monster, it vanished.

 

Talvis was regaining his composure after spinning around so much when the female Assassin Cross started approaching him and that's when he recognized her, "it's you, ZeroTigriss."  "Axe Tornado is a very dizzying attack," Talvis joked.

 

"Oh, you're Talvis," ZeroTigress replied, "I didn't recognize you at first.  Zero pointed towards the Lord Knight, "in case you're wondering, he's ShinobiEX3 and it's a long story why he's here." 

 

Just as ZeroTigress was about to say something else, her eyes got large as she looked with panic towards something behind Talvis.  Talvis quickly turned around only to see High Wizard Kathryn.  As soon as they saw her they felt a strong static field build up and the knew she was casting Lord of Vermillion

---------------------------------------------------------------

Edited by Talvis, 12 May 2014 - 06:34 PM.

[ZeroTigress]

Welcome to the RP, Talvis!

--------------------------------------------

Talvis holds up his Hurricane Fury offensively, until a thought enters his head.

Wait a second. I'm metal and flesh going up against electricity. A bead of sweat rolls down his head. This can't end well.

Just then, a blur of green and brown dashes past him as ZeroTigress goes headfirst into the battle.

"I'M GETTING REALLY TIRED OF YOU BIOLABS MONSTERS!" she roared angrily as comes at the monster with her Grimtooth daggers.

Unfortunately, High Wizard Kathryne finishes casting Lord of Vermilion, sending bolts of thunder raining down upon Talvis, ZeroTigress, and ShinobiEX3. Even with a third of her HP gone, ZeroTigress still manages to keep fighting despite the jolting pain all over her body. She unleashes Soul Destroyer upon the monster, damaging it significantly thanks to her new level.

"Right behind!" shouts Talvis, sending his Axe Boomerang attack flying towards Kathryne.

ZeroTigress Back Slides in time for the massive axe to plant itself into Kathryne's midsection. The ghostly monster seemed unfazed, lifting her hand to the sky to summon a blue column of light. When the light dissipates, Sniper Cecil stood beside Kathryne.

"Of course she would," sighs the female Assassin Cross.

Cecil sends a Focused Arrow Strike flying at Talvis, the arrow hitting the uncovered right side of his chest. He cries out as pain seared his body.

"Talvis!" ZeroTigress calls out as she rushes over to him. Before she could reach the Mechanic, an arrow sends her flying into a nearby tree and pins her midsection into it.

"AUGHH!" she groans painfully as Cecil sends another Arrow Repel at her, piercing through her right shoulder into the wood behind.

"Dang, this really hurts!" screamed Talvis as he tries to pull the arrow out from his chest. "Why'd Gravity make it so realistic??"

The two of them watch as both Kathryne and Cecil approach them, with Kathryne fully prepared to cast Meteor Storm upon them. Suddenly, a pink light engulfs the players as Tkwan comes rushing in with Aizenath right behind.

"The cavalry has arrived!" shouts Aizenath, unleashing Cannon Spear upon the biolab monsters atop his gryphon mount, G.

As Aizenath distracts the monsters, ZeroTigress manages to pull out both arrows embedded in her (yelling out with each rip) just as Tkwan starts casting recovery spells on her.

"I could've gotten those," he pouts as her HP filled back up.

Once her HP was full again, Tkwan casts some buffs on her before she runs over to help out Aizenath. The Archbishop then turns his attention to the fallen Mechanic.

"Hey, Tkwan," groans Talvis. "It's me, Talvis."

"Talvis?" exclaims Tkwan as he quickly pulls out the arrow, much to Talvis' displeasure. "Didn't know you got Headgear, too."

"Unnngh, yeah..." groans Talvis. Tkwan heals him up and casts buffs on him. "Thanks."

Aizenath and ZeroTigress had managed to take out Cecil so only Kathryne remained. With Talvis back in action, things started looking up a bit. ZeroTigress quickly sends the Mechanic a party invite, which he accepts instantly.

"Unfortunately for us, Kathryne just changed her element to Ghost," warns Aizenath, gripping his spear.

"I can still use Enchant Poison," suggests ZeroTigress, holding up her daggers. "It's only 50% damage, but it's better than nothing."

"If only one of us has a Ghostring card..." notes Talvis.

Before the three of them know what's up, a certain blonde Lord Knight comes rushing in under Frenzy state and finishes off Kathryne with several slashes of his sword. Even Tkwan was surprised by the suddenness of the monster's death at the hands of a rebirth character.

"Dafuq?" wonders ZeroTigress, raising an eyebrow.

"You're telling me," agrees Talvis.

Turning around to face the party, ShinobiEX3 stands there still in Frenzy status. A chat box bubble pops up saying "relogging" before he disappears in a column of blue light. A few seconds later, ShinobiEX3 reappears with his Frenzy status gone.

"That escalated quickly," notes Aizenath, his gryphon G squawking in agreement.

[Talvis]

As the party finished recovering from the series of attacks ZeroTigress commented, "This just keep getting more and more interesting."  ZeroTigress looked towards ShinobiEX3, "Thanks for killing Kathryne, but that doesn't mean I trust you!"  Zero gave him a piercing stare.

 

"Should we keep on exploring the mountains?"  Tkwan asked.

 

Talvis looked around over the land and noticed Glast Heim.  "Glast Heim seems to keep a lot of secrets, maybe we'll find something there."

 

"It wouldn't hurt," ZeroTigress replied, "we're not really getting any clues here, just lots of pain."

 

Aizenath and ShinobiEX3 lead the way down the mountain path towards Glast Heim.  ZeroTigress started following when she thought she senses someone watching them, but when she turned around she saw nothing.  "Does anyone else feel like we're being followed?" ZeroTigress asked.

 

"I've have the feeling that someone is following us," Talvis mentioned, "but I haven't seen anyone or anything."

 

The group made their way towards the gates of the massive ancient fortress having to fight off random Petites and other monsters.  Once they got near the entrance to Glast Heim  all the monsters in the area just seemed to disappear. 

 

"This seems kind of weird," Tkwan said.  But before he could say anything else there was an explosion in front of them and out of the explosion the Face Worm appeared and started coming towards them.

 

Aizenath readied his spear while his gryphon screeched, "this seems familiar."  "Last time I saw this guy it was very..."  But before he could finish his sentence he blacked out along with everyone else in the group.  As ZeroTigress began to black out she noticed Eremes Guile looking down from one of Glast Heim's towers.

 

"What the heck just happened?" ShinobiEX3 grunted as he sat up.  "Where the heck are we?"

 

The rest of the party slowly got up and started looking around.  Soon, they heard the familiar howl of a Dullahan.  "So this is Niflheim," Aizenath said while tending to his gryphon.