VR adventures (closed for Cherrybomb)

[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?"

 

[Cherrybomb400]

Gardenia was annoyed. It was fairly common for new games to have glitches and bugs when they first come out, but this was ridiculous! No one could use the transportation system properly. Gardenia would stand on the platform and expect to go to a marketplace, but then landed in an arena of another city. Gardenia's character nearly died, twice!

After that she resolved traveling the old fashion way, which wasn't so bad. Traveling via walking between cities gave characters a chance to level up and find items. The problem was... traveling worked in real time. It took her three days to get to the Elven city. Though she was an elf as well, her character started across the map in another city. She was actually a scourer. Her character wore a simple black dress with a high slit on both sides, exposing her legs as she walked. Her white hair was wild and moved almost like it was submerged in water and flowing with the current. The character was a polar opposite of the player who was a tall and lanky brunette.

Sadie was a senior in highschool. Actually, she graduated early, and her mom surprised her with a new gaming system after graduation. Though Sadie was an excellent student, games where her passion and she event made a few of her own that were pretty popular on the indie boards. Her mom wasn't too thrilled about it. All she would say was that it reminded her of Sadie's father. Sadie remembered meeting him, once when she was in 1st grade. It was weird and uncomfortable. After that he seemed to have disappeared. When she was older she assumed he simply just wasn't interested in being in her life. When she was younger the thought of not having a dad bothered her... but now that she was older she learned to just push that feeling aside... Still, there was always this empty feeling she felt when she thought about him, the rare times she would allow herself to.

The great things about video games, both playing and creating them, was the distraction. As soon as she felt bad about something, she just needed to plug herself in and the troubles just melted away. Here she wasn't Sadie, she was Gardenia a strong female scourer who could take care of herself. It was also an easy way to meet people, which wasn't something Sadie found so easy to do in the real world. Online she could be strong and confident, but in the real world... it was just harder for her to put herself out there.

speaking of meeting people, she was supposed to meet a few online friends in the elf city. She wondered if they got caught up in the transportation system errors. There was no sign of them, so for now she decided to go find a place where she could upgrade her spells and weapons.

 

[JadeKnight]

He had fallen asleep for a little bit, a little bad habit James had picked up when trying to come up with solutions. Falling asleep in VR wasn't anything new for him, but normally it was only power naps. A wisp of a dream came to him as he slept, thinking of his daughter from several years before. His daughter Sadie had been born from a little romance he had been through in college.

The last time he had even seen her was when she was in 1st grade. He really didn't know how to relate to the girl then. However that didn't mean he had thought of her from time to time.

He yawned softly for a moment as he woke up, gathering himself from beneath the tree. He decided the best way to understand the transport problem was to tackle it head on.

"Well, time for work."

Heading back into the city, he noticed the place was a little less crowded than it had been earlier. He had picked up snippets of complaints as he walked about the bugs and glitches the players had been experiencing, trying to take mental notes. Though he didn't notice Gardenia as he walked past her, another player had ntoiced him and stopped him.

"Hey, weren't you the first person to solo the newbie dungoen? How did you manage that?"

He almost laughed at the question, but stopped short, just smiling.

"Yes, I am. My name is on the plaque at the end, Nightblade. It was mostly luck and a little bit of skill. I wouldn't recommand it for you though."

The player was a level 5 fairy knight, so he knew the guy wouldn't survive alone. Nightblade was about to continue on when a pair of elves ran into him, pushing him against Gardenia before running off as a fairy chased after the two yelling about being theives.

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"I'll give you 5."

"I price is 10."

"That's a rip off. 7, and not a piece more."

"Done."

Gardenia smirked proudly at herself. Sure her haggling skills might not be the best but still. Just as soon as she was about to take the item from the merchant, Gardenia was bumped into from behind, the force causing her to to topple over to the side and on the road. Gardenia whimpered as she silently cursed as the efforts the developers put into the VR world. That hurt! When she was in battle she hopped that getting stabbed didn't actually feel like she was getting stabbed.

"Ugh!" Gardenia sat up, the slits in her skirt was now completely exposing her legs as she sat up and directed her anger to whomever it was that knocked into her. "Why don't you watch-" she started to yell but as soon as her eyes caught sight onto the character that stood in front of her, she lost her words.

Someone dropped a lot of points into charisma!

"I... um... I mean... "she blushed as she tried to think of what to say that could paint her as anything but a bitch.

 

[JadeKnight]

It took him a moment to catch himself, to keep from falling down. He silently cursed whoever the two little thieves had been, most likely a couple of school kids. Brushing that aside, he turned to see who he had been bumped into.

It took him by surprise a bit to see the elf actually blushing from being knocked to the ground. The character programmers had done a great job in adding in the little details, since emoticons were reserved for global and other non-face to face chats. He gave a smile and held a hand towards Gardenia.

"Sorry about that. A couple of kids pushed me. Did you get hurt any?"

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"I'm fine." She smiled as she took his hand to help her up. "I just bruised my virtual pride." She joked.

Gardenia turned her head to the elf chasing the two other characters, calling them thieves. "Might want to check your inventory. They might have slipped something from you as they escaped." She suggested. Wouldn't be the first time. Happened to her, but she caught the lower level character and got her pieces back... with interest.

Gardenia finalized her transaction before she turned back to the tall elf that was before her. "I'm Gardenia." She smiled. "So did you stay up till midnight for when the game fully released too?" It seemed to be the same story that everyone had, at least those who seemed to be overly obsessed with the game. It seemed like an easy enough conversation starter.

 

[JadeKnight]

He laughed for a moment at her joke.

"Hate when that happens."

He held her hand for a few moments longer before releasing it as he glanced towards the direction of the thieves.

"I'm not too worry about them stealing anything. Besides, they can't steal anything on the run like that."

He continued to observe the other players while Gardenia finished her business before his attention opwas on her once more. He gave a little bow as part of his introduction.

"A please to to meet you. I'm Nightblade, but you can call me Night if you like."

He laughed for a moment at her question. He wondered if he should give a true answer, or just make one up. Well, it really wasn't that big of a deal on what he did, so there was no reason for him to lie.

"Actually, I've been around the game longer than that. I am one of the many programmers for Logo Studios. I just happen to like playing the game as well. I was just on my way to work on the teleportation system as it was."

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"Really?" Gardenia was surprised to have found one of the many programmers. She assumed that if the programmers were in game they didn't let on who they were. Of course this guy could be lying to impress her. Still, she had no reason not to believe him.

"I actually want to get into game designing myself!" She smiled brightly. "I've dabbled a bit with some programs but nothing like this though. I'm going to start college in the coming fall."

Gardenia/Sadie wondered how old he was. She assumed he could be anywhere between 25-40 maybe? It didn't really matter. If she made a new friend who could possibly get her foot in the industry that would be awesome! The thought to show him some of her work crossed her mind, but she was still a novice. Maybe after she took some courses and work on her skills a bit more.

"Would you mind if I tagged along? I understand if you would rather not have the distraction while you are working."

 

[JadeKnight]

He laughed for a moment and smiled at her enthusiasm. It didn't bother him to have her tag along, just as long as she didn't mess him up.

"It's always nice to meet someone interested in working with computers, especially the ladies."

He gave a grin and winked teasingly for a moment.

"I don't mind if you tag along. Are you sure you don't have anything else you want to do first? It might get a little boring for you, I'll pretty much just be teleporting between here and Kormier, the fairy city, a few times. Well, enough to replicate that bug a few times."

He opened a couple of menus before sending a group invite to accept. It would help him keep track of her, and keep them together at the same time.

"When you are ready."

 

[Cherrybomb400]

Gardenia grinned when he said she could join him. Her cheeks were a little flushed from when he winked at her. If Gardenia was looking in s mirror she probably would have been both marveling at how the game responds to players emotions, but then embarrassed that Night saw her blushing.

"Better to do? This is a chance to shadow a programmer from an elite gaming company! Even if it's something tedious as fixing a bug, never know what I might be able to pick up!"

She quickly accepted the group invite and while she was at it, she added him on her friends list, then instantly felt her anxiety kick in briefly. He might not be interested in some kid being his friend. But she wasn't a kid, she was 18! She didn't need to feel anxious about sending a friend request. Isn't one of the points of being online was to meet people?

After verifying she was ready, they were off and Gardenia had questions! "So how did you get into being a programmer? Did you play a lot of games? Is Starry Night the first game you worked on? How long have you been a programmer?" She stopped herself and laughed nervously. "Sorry, I'm just really excited to meet someone working in the field that I am interested in."

 

[JadeKnight]

He smiled at her excitement, finding it enjoyable. He didn't mind her questions at all.

"I've pretty much been a gamer since I was a kid. I worked as a programmer for about fifteen years now. The first games I worked on were Throne rush 1and 2."

Their walk soon brought them to the city teleported where a few other players were standing around. A few were brave, using the teleported as they were intended.

"I've enjoyed working on Starry Nights, though it took us about ten years to really get things going."

He stopped next to the platform, opening up a several windows that only he could see. He tapped a few keys on a keyboard, setting up a code capture program so he could see exactly what would happen while they were teleporting.

"We'll be doing quite a few jumps between cities, so try not to get too bored. And don't worry if we get dropped somewhere, I've got it covered as well. Ready?"

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"Yes sir!" She saluted with a cheerful grin. She was a little disappointed that she couldn't see the content on the Windows he brought up. Still, she had an idea of what he was doing and this was still a cool opportunity.

The first few jumps took them to where they intended. Gardenia recognized a few places. Some where new and she wanted to explore them. She made a mental note to check them out when they were done testing the system. Between jumps she saw that people were traveling as well, or at least trying too. There were a handful of people who would complain that they didn't move or this wasn't the intended landing place. Hopefully they could figure out the problem soon.

While they continued to test, she thought about what he said earlier. 10-15 years to get a game ready. Wow. She knew game developing took a while, and for Starry Night, that time frame shouldn't surprise her. The game was do in depth!! Not just with what you could see, but feel and taste. It was like they really were in another world. She imagined that there were probably even scientists working on this project. Nothing like this had ever been released before now.

Surprisingly, it happened to take a little while before the system glitched on them. Ivy was starting to wonder if the system really was broken. Of course as soon as you wonder that, it stops working. They were meant to be in the mountains of Arrundell, but they hadn't moved from the last landing space.

"Finally! So what now? Do you run a diagnostic or something? Do we try
Going somewhere else?"

 

[JadeKnight]

He laughed for a moment at her excitement when they finally came to a stop in the middle of the mountains. After all the time they had spent jumping, he figured it was time for a short break.

"No, I can't quite analysis the code just yet. This was just the first time the glitch has popped up, at least for us. For me to really do any sort of analysis on this, I really need to experince the teleport failure at least five times. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke."

He grinned for a moment at her before decding what to do next. Like the assigned GMs, he had the 'teleport to nearest city' button to use, and well as the button to go diectly to his little studio. He was just about to teleport them to the nearest city when the two newbie thieves from earlier appeared further down the trail from them.

Night chuckled and moved closer to Gardenia, pointed towards the two.

"Those two were the thieves from earlier. Think we should leave them here for punishment?'

 

[Cherrybomb400]

Gardenia grinned at the idea of punishing the two thieves from earlier. Granted it was a legitimate profession someone could select in game, but still. Gardenia could think of a few more things she could do, but getting stuck on the mountain would be an annoyance enough since they would need to travel down on their own.

The silver haired elf nodded and waited to Night to get to work. She kept quiet so she didn't draw attention to them as Night did whatever he needed to do to make sure those thieves were stuck here. For an older person (she still didn't know his age yet) he was pretty cool. She really hoped he didn't turn out to be a creep. That was usually her luck, at least with guys she started to like online.

For the record, she only just met Night, and yes his avatar was very handsome, but she still didn't know this guy well enough to determine if she even liked him as a friend. Right now they were still strangers... but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy looking at him.... or at least the avatar. That was one of the benefits of VR world. You could be anyone, look like anyone. You weren't stuck with the body you have.

Shaking those thoughts out of her head, Gardenia watched and watched, a smile stuck on her face. She assumed that they would be observing, otherwise what fun would the prank be?

 

[JadeKnight]

He actually didn't have a plan in mind on how to punish the two little thieves. He was going to say he had thought of how to take care of them when two large red skulls appeared in front of them, a sign of encountering a mob that would kill them instantly.

Even thought it wasn't going to change the situation, Night moved even closer to Gardenia in a protective stance. He held his sword out at an angle in his right hand, his left hand up behind like a makeshift shield.

The creature was an elite mini boss that had decided to patrol in their area. It was a very large black bird named Zu, nearly two bus lengths long from beak to tail with a wingspan twice as long. It gave a shriek for a moment before diving on the two players. All it did was flick them with it's talons and they were dead.

It noticed Night and Gardenia, wheeling around for another attack. However he hit the emergency teleport, sending them to the fairy capital Blossomtopia.

 

[Cherrybomb400]

It all happened so quickly. The last thing Gardenia remembered was the large bird which could have easily killed off their characters had they stayed where they were. Thanks to Night, they were quickly transported. Unfortunately, the smaller elf had not been ready for the last second travels.

When they "landed", Gardenia went flying back and knocked into a few other players. Of course she couldn't just bump into someone. It caused a domino effect. Her back came in contact with the chest of a female fighter. The two ladies fell back, taking a few people with them.

When the dust settled and people calmed down from the sudden 'attack' everyone got up and Gardenia was profusely apologizing to the other players who seemed to ignore her.

 

[JadeKnight]

He had a little grin on his face, trying not to laugh at what happened with Gardenia after they returned to the city. It was a sight to see all those players get knocked over from the chain reaction. He waited till things had settled down before getting her attention once more.

"Sorry for the bumpy landing. If you are still wanting to tag along, feel free. We'll have to end up stranded about three more times before I have all the data I need to work with."

He smiled and held his hand out to her.

"Then I can show you the studio that I set up work in here."

He figured she would take the offer, as homes weren't something players could buy till level 40 and a lot of gold.

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"I don't normally go home with strangers, but in this case I will make an exception," she teased as she took his hand. Though she meant it as a joke, she wondered if the game actually had that kind of feature... A blush rose up her cheeks. Well, it was a way for nerdy guys to get some tail, that was for sure. If the same could so easily provide all the senses... Virtual sex wasn't very far fetched.

The little elf tried to push that though aside. This was meant to be a educational endeavor and she was going to take the opportunity, even if she didn't learn the mechanics, he still have her an idea for their methods.

"So do you only login to work, or do you play too? Bet you have fun with all the cheat codes."

 

[JadeKnight]

He laughed for a moment at her words, smiling at her blush.

"Didn't your parents teach you not to get into the car with strangers. Not that I have a car at the moment."

He laughed and shook his head a for a moment.

"As the game only just launched, I can say I've been online to do both so far. It's easier for me to work from within the system at this point."

He gave a sly grin for a moment.

"Actually I've not had a chance to see if any extra Easter eggs or codes have been programmed in."

Seeing they were both ready, he took them back onto the platform. The triggering of the next three teleport failures took longer than he expected, nearly two hours. Since it was a boring process, he broke it up be varying the amount of time they had between teleports from ten seconds to a minute.

On the last failed jump, he used his home return spell. They landed in the middle of a cozy little studio style apartment. It was sparsely decorated. A king size bed was in one corner, with a enclosed shower in the opposite corner. A desk and chair were in another corner with a tiny kitchen area with a stove and sink in the final corner. A table with four chairs around in it stood in the middle of the room. A window over the desk had a view overlooking the busy market square of Elhherim, the Elven capital city. A door into the market was nestled between the desk and bed.

"Welcome to my humble abode."

 

[Cherrybomb400]

The two spent quote some time at his place, rather than her actually playing the game like a normal user. Sure it wasn't uncommon to have downtime, but that was mostly done on mini quests to help yourself level up. She talked about the kinds of games she made only this time going into more details about how she made them what issues she ran into and what she did to fix it. Most of it was novice stuff, but there were some advance stuff she had picked up from friends over the internet. She talked about her favorite movies which were action and horror movies, the kind of music she listened too which was mostly soundtracks. Not leveling up aside, Sadie was enjoying herself with her new friend that she made.

The white haired elf yawned. "Ugh it's late. I should log off. See you tomorrow maybe?" She smiled at him.

~*~*~*~*~ Four Days Later ~*~*~*~*~

Sadie got an email saying that a new patch was made to fix the teleportation problem in her game. Finally! The only thing was that she needed to be logged in in order to download it.

She had a quick dinner with her mom (which was sadly just a cup of instant noodles) and then retreated to her room to play her game. On went the headset and down she went.

When Gardenia opened her eyes, she was shocked at seeing the amount of people logged in! They were all downloading the patch. Well, now was as good of a time as any. Gardenia started it, but then an error message came up.

"Are you kidding me?!" she exclaimed.

"It's been happening with everyone. Usually the second try works." One of the other players told Gardenia. She sighed in relief, thankful that it wasn't something wrong with her system. After the third try, she downloaded and ran the patch.

"Alright, lets see how she works!" She grinned, but she would have to get in line, everyone was testing out the patch. So far it looked like it was working! When it was her turn she finally was able to teleport. She actually made a few stops, taking care to only stay in places that were out of her level for a few minutes before a overly powerful demon showed up.

After she was done playing around with teleporting, she decided it was time to go do some leveling, but first she messaged her new friend.

Hey Doc,

Just got the new patch. Works like a level 5 charm Now about those cheat codes...

 

[JadeKnight]

Sadly, James wasn't able to meet with her the next day. He had solved the teleportation problem, but then he got assigned other bugs to deal with. They were mostly dealing with balancing items, correcting descriptions, and just basic cleanup. He was able to get all the done and sent in within a couple of days. This was all included in the new patch the next day.

He had gotten up early to check the new patch out, downloading it early in the morning. He had no problems with the download, but he didn't go out of the studio yet. He had received a mail from his team leader about some extra stuff that was included in the patch's overview.

James,

Though I would give the heads up on some new stuff that was implemented that the boss wants you to test. More functionality was added in for players over eighteen, just for a little fun. Those functions are locked out for players under eighteen, just so we don't get grief from parents. Also you need to test out the new friend finder function, something we want to put in later for everyone. Anyway, have fun.

Rick

He had to laugh at the mail, shaking his head. It was evening when he received the message from Gardenia. He smirked at her mention of getting cheat codes. Deciding this would be the good time in testing the friend finder tool, he added her to the list. It took a few seconds to boot up, but he soon had her located at the market square.

Teleporting to the market, it didn't take long to spot her. However, he stayed stealthed to surprise her. He soon moved up behind her, covering her eyes with his hands.

"Guess who."

 

[Cherrybomb400]

Gardenia just finished buying a few more spell books. She was about to go down her merry way as she checked to see if Nightblade messaged her back.

Nothing.

She was a little disappointed. She was worried that maybe she a bit too much when they hung out. Maybe she came off as really immature. Her mind started replaying over and over their interaction. She didn't remember getting any strange vibes from him indicating that he had enough of her. Then again this was a virtual world, so reading people might not be as easy.

Gardenia sighed and closed her options menu and was about to start walking again until everything went black and she felt hands covering her eyes. At first she thought it was some creep messing with her, until she heard the familiar voice.

"Guess who."

She grinned, all anxiety had been wiped away as she turned, around. She was happy to see him, it was better than receiving a reply back. "Hey, Doc." She greeted him. "Don't get too use to that nickname, I haven't decided if it fits yet." She paused. "Unless you made a flux capacitor." She teased, using the old movie reference ((ooc: i feel old, saying that reference is old... This is heavy )).

"They finally let you out of your dungeon?"

 

[JadeKnight]

He smirked for a moment since she didn't play the game. He laughed and shook his head for a moment.

"Sorry, fresh out of flux capacitors. And Doc really doesn't fit me."

He reached up and rubbed her hair lightly, messing it up a bit.

"And yes, they finally decided to let me out of the cave. Rarr."

He put his hands up like a pair of claws as if to attack her. Instead he grinned and reached forward, trying to tickle her sides.

 

[Cherrybomb400]

She started to laugh at him pretending to be a monster when suddenly his fingers were on her sides. She gasped and was then subjected to fits of laughter as Nightblade was tickling her. Her body squirmed and turned, trying to get away from him. Most people ignored them, of course there were some kids who yelled at them to get a room. At the moment Gardenia was having trouble catching her breath.

"Either- heehee, this armor sucks," she gasped and squirmed some more, "Or the s-seeeensatively hahah, options are" gasp, "To hiiiiigh-hahaha"

Finally she managed to break free from him, and managed to catch her breath. "Jerk." she stuck her tongue out at him.

 

[JadeKnight]

He just laughed for a moment when she called him a jerk.

"Maybe you just need better armor that's not so exposed. Any plans today?"

He avoided the topic of cheat codes, as he didn't want any trouble for her. He took a deep breathe for a moment, looking around at the crowd.

"I think we might have a recond number of log-ins for the game today. Everyone must have wanted to get ahold of the new patch."