VR adventures

[JadeKnight]

Starry Night was created to be the first VR mmo by the major gaming company Logo Studio. It was created as an rpg blending swordplay with gun play. Some of the features it boasted were having an entire world for players to explore with ever-changing instances to fight in, player buildable housing, player run shops, and many other features. Despite attempts to make sure the game was bug-free, bugs always seemed to pop up.

That was where James Varoon came in. He had been one of the original programmers of the game, although it had only been to create the instance changing system. Although he didn't get assigned as a GM, he was one of a handful who spent his time within the game trying to chase down and correct any new bugs that decided to rear their ugly head. As such, he became apart of the player community, with a few tweaks of course.

He had chosen for himself to create an elf, just one of the six races presented to play. The other five included the standard human, fairy, dwarf, a cat race, and elemental, either fire or water. Though player housing wasn't available until level 30 and a large amount of gold, James had an apartment in the main capital for the elves. It was set up as a place for him to work on sending in any reports. He had also created a sword for himself to use that would level up with him and would be slightly more powerful than other sword weapons at the same level. The sword also had a enchantment on it which would drain a small portion of the target's life, something very hard to get.

James had named his elf Nightblade for no real reason at all. It was just something that came to him.

It had been a week since the game had been open to the public and Nightblade was only lvl 8 from three days of grinding. He had decided to take a break from doing anything, so the elf was relaxing in the shade of a large tree in the middle of the elf newbie area. He let his mind wander watching the regular players run around killing helpless rabbits and deer for meat. He was currently trying to figure why the transport system between the capital cities was screwing up, sometimes stranding players in the high end zones at random.

He sighed for a moment, hands behind his head.

"It doesn't make sense. What am I missing?"

OOC: Please feel free to pm me about joining in, though I don't want a large group going with things.

 

[Poprockz]

Ava Newton walked into the newbie area looking utterly confused and lost. She had chosen a fairy model and started with a short-sleeved red dress; the skirt was designed to look like it was made of rose petals, and the top showed off a bit of her cleavage from her C sized breasts.

A green vine rested on her hips, holstering each of her two pistols on either side. Her short brown hair was in a pixie cut, and she had a rose hairpin with green tassels. Her red lipstick was contrasted by her pale skin, and small glistening wings could be seen sprouting from her back.

The outfit she wore was called "Scarlet Dreams," and had been won by her cousin in a gaming tournament for 3rd place. Even though it was also adapted for male characters, it didn't fit the theme he was going for with his dwarf. He was going to sell it, but he heard that she received the game for her birthday and thus gave it to her as a gift. She thought it looked cool, but hadn't read the item description, so she didn't know much about its attributes.

She looked around at all the low-level elves. Approaching a small group, she blurted out, "Hey, I know this totally sounds like a scam, but I promise you it's not. I was doing the tutorial train ride and somehow I ended up here, when I was supposed to just loop back to the beginner area for fairies. If you could lend me just a little bit of money so I can go back, I would promise to pay you back." Her chocolate colored eyes searched their faces hopefully.

They looked back at her skeptically. One of them spoke up, "Sorry, but it's not our problem. If you really want to go back to the fairy starting area, either remake your character and start the game over, or send in a letter to the tech people. If not, then just deal with it and start out in this area. It's a newbie area anyway- you'll be fine."

"But I didn't even get to finish the tutorial..." she mumbled, looking down at her red mary jane shoes as they walked away to resume hunting. She sighed and moved over to the large tree, sitting with her back leaning against the trunk on the opposite side to the relaxing elf. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, trying to figure out what her next steps would be.

 

[JadeKnight]

The arrival of the fairy in the elf newbie area was definately something for him to focus on. After all, the newbie areas were supposed to be locked so that only those races could use them. This could only mean that the problem was getting a little worse very quickly. He was the only one of the problem, but it looked like he would have to try and move quicker.

He waited till the newcomer calmed down before sitting up. He sat up from the tree as he sent her a group invite and a private message along with it.

"I heard what happened and think I can help. I am actually one of the programmers with the game and have been trying to figure out the warping problem. I wasn't expecting it to mutate like this. Would care for a little help?"

He strecthed a little before standing up and moving to find her. It didn't take him but a moment to find the fairy, since she stuck out so much. He stood a couple of feet from her as he raised an eyebrow at her outfit. He hadn't seen that one before, but it was very alluring on her. He gave a little smile as he waited on her response.

 

[Poprockz]

She jumped as she heard the message notification, as she wasn't expecting anyone to reach out to her. Her eyes scanned the message and she smiled hopefully, accepting the invite. It made sense that there would be programmers and such in the game sometimes, so maybe he could help her get back to the beginning area.

Brushing off the back of her dress, she stood and looked around. Since he was so close, it didn't take her long to meet his eyes. Judging from the way he was expecting her gaze, she assumed that he was the guy. She approached him and stuck out her hand, "My username is Twinkletoes. I'm not sure if people give out their real names in these games, but I'd tell you if you really wanted to know. It's really nice to have someone helping. Lord knows I wasn't going to get any help from these guys." She gestured to the newbies with her thumb, an exasperated expression on her face.

"So do you think you'll be able to get me back to the starting area? I can show you which train I was on."

 

[JadeKnight]

He took her hand for a moment, giving a firm handshake. The game was touted as the first fully immersive simulation, to the point where the player would be able to feel almost everything as if it was real. It surprised him at the feel of her 'skin' against his, which he was still getting used to as well. He let go of her hand and nodded.

"That will be no problem. If you don't mind, I would like to tag along. I won't be able to do any of the quests, but I can't help out if you like."

He took a moment to open his inventory, pulling out a small item. It was called 'Scanner' and labeled as a unique item. It looked like a small rainbow ring that she would be able to wear. It added +1 to her stats and was described as a data gathering object.

"You can call me NIghtblade. If you don't mind, take this and where it. It will allow me to gather data that can help me out later. Can you desribe what exactly happened to you?"

 

[Poprockz]

"Nightblade, eh? That makes it sound like you're an adventurer that fights on behalf of the game itself. You know? Like Starry Night's Nightblade?" she chuckled and shrugged. "Maybe that was a bit of a reach." She took the ring and equipped it to her left hand, pleased at its appearance.

She started to walk with him toward the train station as she talked.

"Yes, I can tell you all about it. You know how everybody starts out with a special tutorial train ticket? Well, I was on the train for that since it seemed interesting. It was showing me how to select travel speed, and also how to select the location that I wanted to go to. Of course since this was the tutorial train, it was supposed to just loop back. I don't know how it got mixed up. I mean, I didn't think that train was even able to go anywhere else."

Her face cringed, "All I remember being out of place was that the train went through a really creepy tunnel. It was in there for a full minute. I was the only one on the train at the time, but I could hear creepy whispers mixed with weird tech sounds. At first I thought it was the game trying to foreshadow a world of danger or something. Next thing I know, I'm out of the tunnel and pull up in the station as if it was the elf tutorial train the whole time. I also got a notification that I received something new in my inventory, but I can't find anything new in there."

She opened up her inventory for him and sure enough, there was a new item notification. Nothing immediate seemed out of the ordinary, at least to Ava. "It'll be good to have someone with me in case something creepy happens again."

 

[JadeKnight]

He gave a little chuckle at her comment on him fighting on behalf of the game.

"That could be one way of looking at it, but I'm just another player along with the rest of the population."

He pursed his lips as he walked along beside her, listening to her description of what had happened. The whole incident was different from what other players he had read about going through. As they arrived at the train, he took a little glance at her inventory for a moment.

"I wouldn't worry about it. The new item was most likely the new player chest everyone gets when they get out of the tutorial. It just contains some starting level equipment to cover you till level 5. It's basic eqipment that gets outclassed by the stuff you pick up during the newbie quests."

Finding a seat on the train, he leans back.

"As far as what happened to you, that's new to me. Most of the time it's been low level players getting dropped off in the locked higher level areas. I really what to squish this bug quickly, hopefully it doesn't lead to something worse."

 

[Poprockz]

"Hmm. I suppose it could be. That'd be generous considering that the train ride was the only part of the tutorial I had the opportunity to complete. Even then I'm not sure if it registered that since I ended up somewhere else. Maybe I'm mistaken. My theory was that it might have auto-equipped into an empty slot, but the only empty slots I had were jewelry and tatoos." She sat next to him, but didn't relax. "If this were a movie, you would have totally jinxed yourself right now."

"It can't be too bad in the high-level areas anyway, though. I mean, I bet the monsters are all big and pretty stupid, right? If they kill you, you just respawn at a save point and try again or try travelling in a different direction. It's not like any of them are smart enough or even have the desire to imprison or torture players.

The train lurched and a horn blew as it took off, a gentle engine noise in the background. She swung her legs back and forth in her chair, looking at him curiously. The rose hairpiece's tassels swung back and forth.

"Hey, I've been wondering. You know how this is supposed to be like real life? Like I could totally feel you touching me earlier-" she paused and coughed awkwardly. "Ahem, that maybe wasn't the best choice of words, but you know what I mean. What I'm asking is whether we also feel pain as well as general touch? Does it hurt when we respawn?" Her brown eyes drifted to his elf ears as she listened to his reply.

 

[JadeKnight]

He gave a little laugh at her observation of the situation of getting dumped in the high level areas.

"That is true, the monsters really haven't been programmed with any sort of true AI. I think most players have a problem with it due to the high aggro they get when dumped there. Your armor also takes a pretty good hit in damage, so you'll have to get stuck with the repair bill."

He smiled for a moment at her observation about how real his hand felt in hers. He gave a little shrug for a moment.

"Well, I'm not sure exactly how familiar you are with the concept behind the VR system that was made with Starry Nights. Being the latest in cutting edge technology, the company wanted to go a little beyond everyone else. The hand controls are sort of there to put the player's mind at ease and give them something to hold. The real trick is the visor."

He reaches up and taps gently on the right side of her forehead.

"The machine does a bit of mind melding with the brain to fully engaged the five senses to the fullest extent. I couldn't tell you exactly how that gets accomplished, you'll have to ask the company about that."

He chuckled for moment.

"I doubt they would even tell if asked. If you really think about it, we are in a deamworld that doubles as a video game. Neat, huh?"

It wasn't long before they were pulling up to the fairy section of the city, where the portal to the newbie area was located.

 

[Poprockz]

"Oh man, I never even thought about that." She looked down at her dress fondly. "This armor called Scarlet Dreams was a gift from my cousin. I don't really know much about it, so I'm not sure how expensive it would be to repair."

"I'm pretty new at all of this, to be honest. I've never really played any games like this with so many people inside, so the added element of actual VR blows my mind. It's not clunky, either. I really can't believe that we can even smell and taste in this game- that's just amazing." Her fingers reached up and brushed the spot his finger had been a moment before. "Yeah, this whole thing is super neat." She grinned, "Who would ever want to leave?"

The train paused in the station to let people off before entering the portal. Not surprisingly, no one but them wanted to go to the fairy newbie area just yet. As it closed the doors and passed through the portal, that was when things started getting interesting.

The outside of the train went completely white for a moment, and it was as if they were gliding in a realm of nothingness. That didn't last for long, though, as the area slowly loaded. The train lurched violently and continued to be a rough ride.

The lurch of the train had bumped her out of her seat and onto the floor. She tried to stand up again only to stumble back down. She grabbed onto the first thing that she could reach to steady herself, which happened to be one of his legs. Twinkletoes clung to his leg tightly, her arms wrapping around it, and her soft breasts pushing up against him near his knee. The vibration of the train made them jiggle a little.

Once the train had stopped moving, she looked up at him with wide eyes. "What in the world was that? That was much more bumpy than my other ride." She released his leg and stood up shakily, leaning on the wall of the train while looking out a window. "In the middle of a forest? How...?" She couldn't see very far for all the trees around them, but her eyes focused on something.

"I think there's an NPC out there with a quest marker. He looks hurt; I hope we didn't hit him with the train."

 

[JadeKnight]

When the trin began to lurch a little and vibrate, he just continued to sit calmly in the seat. He chuckled a little when she clucthed to his legs, smiling down at her.

"No need to worry about that. That part is part of the programming. A little bit of a wake call in case anyone closed their eyes for a moment. Just relax."

He helped her up carefully before standing up himself. He nodded for a moment when she mentioned their surroundings.

"This is the fairy starting area, Throckmoore. It covers levels 1 to 10. No, I am sure he is fine. He's just a NPC after all. Why don't you go and get your first quest. I'll be right behind you."

As they stepped off of the train, it gave a loud whistle for a moment before going in reverse before disappearing. The NPC waiting on her was a young fairy male, dressed in a bright blue outfit, hovering in the air as he waited for her to approach and get a level 2 quest.

 

[Poprockz]

"That train is rougher than it ought to be." She muttered under her breath as he helped her up, her face was flushed with embarrassment at her overreaction. She turned away from him so that her shame wasn't obviously apparent.

"Heh, yeah. I suppose so. It's tough for me to treat them differently since they seem so real, you know?" She hopped out of the train and strode over to the quest-giver. His wings fluttered as he hovered, and she was enraptured by them. She wondered if she would be able to fly or hover with her wings. What would that feel like in VR?

She approached him and studied him curiously as she spoke, "Hello, my name is Twinkletoes. Do you need any kind of help or assistance?"

 

[JadeKnight]

The fairy smiled when she approached, asking if he needed help.

"Yes miss. My mother had sent me out here to get some honey for her homemade pies. I had collected three jars worth of it, but the basket they were in got stolen. I think the bear that took my basket went to the cave at the northern part of the forest. Would you be so kind to retrieve it so I can head home?"

After he spoke, a scroll opened up in front of her. There were three rewards she could choose from when she completed the quest, a pair of pistols, a staff, or a shortsword. The items were level 3 and just slightly better than what she had, but only common. Two buttons were beneath the row of weapons, Accept and Decline.

Nightblade waited nearby, leaning against a tree as he studied the map. The area was designed for fairies, so there was actually three stacked levels of the forest. Since he couldn't fly, he would be confined to the ground level while he was going to follow her around here.

 

[Poprockz]

She cleared her throat and said in a jokingly gallant voice: "Ah yes, never you fear, my bubbly bright-blue friend, tis I! The glorious, double-pistolled lady Twinkletoes with her deadly companion: Nightblade-swordsman and tech wizard! Together, we will save all the damsels, crush all evil, and find all the bugs!" She struck a pose and pretended to blow out smoke from the barrels of her pistols.

Straightening up, she chuckled and holstered her pistols, speaking to the fairy casually again, "Anyway, I accept your quest to bring back the basket." Her eyes found the pistols and she nodded, selecting them and then pushing the accept button.

She turned to Nightblade and walked over to him. "Hey, since I didn't really get to do much of the tutorial, I wasn't really shown how to use these or what the rules are. I don't even know what my stats are, what my equipment does, or even how to fly. Could you help me out with that?" She held out her pistols to him, offering them.

 

[JadeKnight]

When she accepted the quest, a nice little yellow round dot appeared near the front of a small cave simply named Bear Cave. He chuckled, finding someone had decided to be lazy in their naming of places. He closed the map when she walked over to him, looking up.

"I figured it would be kinda obvious on how to use guns. Just point and shoot. Well, it's a little more complicated than that. Equip your guns and lift them up. You should see a shrinking and expanding reticle appear in front of you. Try and hit the tigger when the circle is at it smallest. There, go after a couple of those foxes."

He pointed to a couple of red level 2 foxes that were patrolling further away from them, protecting a small den.

"Flying is something to ask another fairy. I haven't had a chance to play around with that mechanic yet. As far as your stats and other menus, it's quite simple."

He placed his pointer fingers in the air together in front of him before pulling them apart. A small menu opened up with various catergories to choose from, character stats, map, skills, equipment, map, and the log off button. He tapped on a small x that was in the upper right corner, closing the menu.

 

[Poprockz]

She shrugged and shot at the foxes. She missed a couple times, but eventually was able to kill one of them. "I did it!" She exclaimed gleefully as he saw little notifications of gained XP. She wished he would explain things in a little more detail since she was pretty clueless about what the stats meant and how they affected gameplay, but she figured she'd learn it all in time. After all, he wasn't there to hold her hand. He was there to find bugs. Perhaps she could try being a little more independent since he probably wasn't going to hang around her for long anyway. She wondered if she would bump into any other newbies on this quest; maybe she could make some friends.

Finishing off the other foxes that were aggro-d, she turned back to the fairy. "Hey there, I'm a little new here. Do you have any flying tips for me?" The little blue fairy was adorable, so she couldn't help smiling at him warmly.

 

[JadeKnight]

Watching her take down the foxes, Nightblade could tell she was getting a little bit of a handle on things. His own experience bar went up a little, but only a little. He chuckled for a moment when she tried to engage the NPC in a conversation for help. The fairy just smiled back at her.

"Have you found my basket yet? My mother is expecting me home soon. I really need the basket.

Nightblade shook his head for a moment as he moved to her and laid a hand lightly on her shoulder for a moment.

"You won't get much help from him. I don't know of a possible place though. Each of the newbie areas has a safe zone of sorts, with all the various trainers. There's one for each class, as well as specific skill training. Here, I'll show you."

He opened the map in front of her, pointing to a large area in the center of the forest area. It was a small, but well made outpost called BellSprout. Tilting the image of the map, it was shown to be two levels at least.

"There will be plenty of quests there to level you up, plus plenty more scattered around the area like the one you just got. So where would you want to go first, this quest or the outpost?"

 

[Poprockz]

She Thought for a moment. "Well, it looks like BellSprout is on the way, so I might as well stop there on the way back after I've got the basket. I'd like to have as much information as I can to make up for the lost tutorial. I don't play these games often, you know. So I'm still getting a handle on things."

She ruffled the little fairy's hair and walked off in the direction of the cave. Every now and then while they walked, she would try to practice buzzing her wings. It was weird trying to move a part of her body that didn't exist in the real world, but eventually she was able to at least lift a foot or two off the ground every now and then. The feeling of being lifted into the air was awesome, and she couldn't wait until she could truly fly.

When she had chosen her race, that was why she ultimately chose a fairy. The elementals sounded cool too, but she liked the idea of being able to fly out of enemies' grasps.

They walked in silence for a while. She wanted to ask him a whole bunch of questions about himself and his job, but decided not to bother him. Twinkletoes didn't want him to tire of her company just because of her own curiosity. Instead, she opened her inventory and started reading her stats, and her item descriptions.

 

[JadeKnight]

He smiled as he walked along with her, chuckling a little as she slowly learned how to fly with her wings. The fairy race was his second choice, but he had decided on the elf race since he didn't want anything too fancy to deal with just yet.

He saw other players running around in the distance and above them, although he stayed focused on her. He did find it a little odd that she didn't talk more, considering how curious she had been on the train. He hoped she might open up a bit more when they got to the cave.

After dispatching a couple of the trash mobs that were low level foxes, they soon arrived at the cave. However, they weren't able to head inside so easily. A trio of level 1 bear cubs were trying to protect the cave from a pair of grey level 3 wolves. He drew his sword for a moment, glancing at her.

"Think you can handle this on your own, want a little help?"

 

[Poprockz]

She whipped out her pistols and took in the scene. "Let me try on my own first, and if you see me getting in over my head, then be sure to help a girl out." She winked reassuringly. Quietly creeping forth, she hid behind a tree and leaned to the side, aiming for the more injured of the two wolves. If she could take the higher level animals down first, the low-level ones wouldn't be as much of a problem.

Taking her time to aim, she shot the first wolf in the shoulder with both pistols, taking a good chunk of its HP. It looked back at her and growled, lunging in her direction. She was able to buzz up a couple feet to mostly avoid its lunge, but she hadn't timed well enough, as the wolf jumped up and grabbed her ankle, biting down hard.

"Son of a-" she was slammed down to the ground and the wolf attempted to bite at her torso and neck. A -6HP notification had popped up on her screen. However, she was able to use the close-range to shoot as many bullets as she could into the wolf's chest. It collapsed as she was rewarded with more XP. The cubs seemed to be getting a better handle on things since there was only a single wolf now, so she paused to catch her breath.

 

[JadeKnight]

He gave a nod and smile when she suggested trying herself before helping. Resheathing his sword, he stepped back just out of aggro range.

He saw she was learning pretty quickly, which was a good thing. He gave a little wince when he saw her get bit, taking a little bit of her health. It wasn't much, but still a decent amount for her level.

"Not bad, not bad. Only a little bit more to go for your level up."

The cubs were able to hold out just a little longer with one wolf gone, but one was still on the verge of dying. With a howl, the cubs were stunned for a few moments. This gave the wolf time to get a couple more bites in on the weakest cub, killing it. It turned it's attention to the other cub, which was down to half it's health gone.

 

[Poprockz]

Her leg looked bloody, but she could still walk on it functionally, which was a little odd to her. The wolf bite had stung a little, but nothing like what she expected. She imagined that the pain modifiers were turned down so that a certain pain threshold couldn't be exceeded.

Getting up, she noticed that the cubs were indeed succumbing to the wolf. She had to decide whether to aggro the wolf or one of the cubs, giving the potential of them all turning on her. She decided to go for the wolf again. As long as she stayed far enough back, the cubs should stay by the entrance and she could recoup later.

Both of her pistols trained on the wolf and she took her shot. They landed on the wolf's back, taking about a third of its health. It turned to her and bounded forward, teeth bared. She tried buzzing up again, but got bitten a second time. Her hands had found a low tree branch, though, so she found her leg being tugged on as she clung to the branch.

"I could use your help, please!" she yelped as the wolf shook its head back and forth, trying to shake her grip loose. Another -6 Hp popped up on her screen.

 

[JadeKnight]

He redrew his sword as the wolf turned and bounded towards her. The cub decided to go after the wolf as well, bounding after it. He gave a little chuckle at the scene, but smiled when she called for his help.

"No problem."

Focusing on the wolf, who was now getting bit by the cub, he waited for a moment. A blue curved bar appeared in front of him, marked with three boxes ranging from light blue to dark blue. The bar began to darken with green as he focused. He waited till the second box was filled before 'hitting' the mark. He charged forward towards the bear and wolf, striking both at once.

-20hp appeared above the cub and it fell over dead. -17hp above over the wolf, but it wasn't quite dead. It let go of her before focusing on him and tried to lunge. He swung at the wolf, killing it in mid-air. He took a breathe for a moment as he put his sword away.

"Not bad. Here, you could use a health potion."

He opened his inventory before tossing a small health potion to her, smiling.

 

[Poprockz]

She watched him as she hung from the tree branch like a leaf in the breeze, blood dripping from her leg. He sure knew what he was doing, what with that powered-up swing. What level was he, she wondered.

When both the beasts lay dead, she dropped from the branch, landing on her feet. She caught the health potion and grinned, "Thanks, boss." Her fingers gracefully uncorked the vial and she brought it to her lips, drinking deeply. It tasted sweet like mango juice.

"Oh my gosh, that is super delicious!" she remarked, a bit surprised but very pleased. The vial disappeared when empty, allowing her to fix her gaze on the cave itself.

"If that was any indication of how this quest is going to go, then I'd appreciate it if you would come with me into the cave. That sword move was really cool, by the way. What does it charge up for?"

She started walking with him back to the entrance of the cave.

 

[JadeKnight]

He laughed for a moment watching her enjoy the health potion. He was enjoying being around her more and more.

"The bar was just a charge meter for one of my skills, Charged blade. It levels up as I do. I think you'll probably get something similiar for you guns."

He fell into step beside her as she continued towards the cave, keeping his sword out. As they passed into the cave, the lighting began to lower a bit. They soon found themselves in a rather large cavern. Laying up a ledge near the back of the cave was the large black bear that had stolen the basket, a level 3 like the wolves. The basket of food was off to the side, shimmering.

There was a small group of three cubs between them and mother bear, growling and playing with each other. Like outside, they were only level 1.