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SAO 2.0 [main thread]

DarknessEclipsed

DarknessEclipsed

Star
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Location
My own little happy place
OOC Thread.

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Serina sighed as she got home from school and looked to see a note on the kitchen table and began reading through it:

Dear Serina,
Your Dad and I have spotted a sale on one of those Virtual Reality do-hickies you were looking at online. A small rising company was selling them cheaper to get people to start noticing them, so me and your father managed to nab you one as they were nearly sold out!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Serina Gasped and ran up to her room, throwing her bag on her bed as she spotted the bed like device against her side wall and grinned. Closing her drawer she stripped to her bra and panties, slipped into a Night Gown and laid in the bed. After which she closed the large plastic door and pulled the helmet down, and finally she pressed the switch. The Headset shot a light and weak pulse through her neck, putting her into a stasis state before the chamber filled with an odd liquid, this was the nutrient stuff.

She watched the VR screen in her stasis state as the device gave and all clear and launched her into the world, through a weird white light. Once she arrived she was alone with a tall female wearing a black skin tight dress, she was very busty and curvy. The female approached and smiled, "Hello Serina, I am Nao, I am the watcher of the Soul Stream"

"The Soul Stream?" Serina asked.

"Yes, The Soul Stream is the Hub for your character Creation and also where you will set your base skills and base class," She explained, "Any time you 'die' you will return here to select where you wish to revive," she explained, "Are you ready to get started?"

Serina nodded and soon a menu popped up, allowing her to choose Giant, Elf, or Human and labeled each perk and downside along with any special abilities. After choosing Elf, Druid talent, and choosing her name: Serina, she choose female and created a female elf with blue hair and blue eyes.

"Good, now, since this is before official launch you will spawn in Tir Chonaill, the normal starting spot for Human races," she smiled and bowed, "Good Luck on your journey and have fun"

Serina shielded her eyes as a white light nearly blinded her and soon faded. When she lowered her hand she looked down at the tiny elf body she had, no more then 5 feet tall at most, with a small a or b sized cup and a thin but slender body. She admired the simple clothes she had on, some normal casual pants and shirt, for the 'back in time' era it was set in. She began walking around, noting where NPCs were as she waited for others to spawn.
 
Balancing a box of pizza in one hand and fumbling for his keys with the other, Ben mumbled a few frustrated swears under his breath. He could feel the old lady who lived in the apartment next door staring at him as he did his nightly routine. He really needed to get a key chain, but he moved so often what would be the point?

With a soft click, the key sank home and easily pushed the tumblers away, allowing the weary man inside is apartment. He pushed the door open and shimmied past the 'Coat Rack of DOOM!'. He tried his best not to accidentally step on Mr. Buttons, who had a habit of sleeping lazily in front of the door when Ben worked all day. It appeared as though Mr. Buttons had other obligations today, however, as he was nowhere to be seen.

After settling down and grabbing an ice cold beer from the fridge, Ben plopped into his computer chair and booted up his rig. With a single beep and a few moments worth of white-on-black splash screen, the monster PC hummed to life. The IT specialist munched intently on pizza, careful not to grease-slime his mouse or keyboard. A few seconds later, the game was auto-booted and ready for his log in. He'd been waiting all day for it to download while he was at work. Sometimes the net here sucked hard.

As Ben reached for his VR headset, a familiar sound like the motor of a small chainsaw gave but a seconds warning to the imminent furflab ambush. Mr. Buttons had been waiting patiently for his friend, curled up next to the slightly worn out headgear. Now, he made his attack, flopping down playfully onto his owner's lap and rolling into a ball of fat and fuzz, vibrating the chair with his loud purr. "GET OFF ME, YOU TUB-o-Kitty! You know how I hate it when you pounce me like that!" The grey and white cat climbed up onto the man's shoulder. There he laid, stretched out, with his tail on one end and head hanging over the other. He gave a resoundingly final 'mow', which was followed by more motor revving.

With a deep sigh, the young man gave up and scrathed the cat's back as he put on his headgear. The game's log in seemed fine, and he went through the set up motions easily enough. When the NPC started babbling about how this would be his guide to character creation and navigating the world, he made his usual character for games and then skipped the discussions. The forums would have all the character info he'd need, and he could check those later. He chose a Human, with the Gunslinger path and a talent for treasure hunting. His avater would have green hair, a few distinct facial scars, and stood a little over six feet in height. Being familiar with character creation systems helped him speed through with little slow down.

As he logged into Tir Chonaill, he had a strange sense of immersion. He took a second to look over his character. A plain white long sleeve shirt with a lace-neck and a pair of black pants. His character wore a pair of belts, a gun hanging in a holster at each hip. Even his paid for cosmetic item, a pair of sunglasses that meshed over head gear, was loading up fine.

After his initial log in, the Treasure Hunter in training spent some time roaming the town, looking for beginner quests and getting the early grind out. He didn't want to be behind the curve when the official release date hit them. Also, the grind was what he did. It made him excellent at MMO's like this, where grinding could make or break a person.
 
"Got it boss, I can have that written up for you by the end of the week. I've got a friend that works for the company that's developing it, I'm sure I can persuade him to get me some details. Oh, grow up. Talk to you later." A young woman riding in the back of a small sedan hung up her phone, chuckling as she slid it into her purse. Slight bags rested under her green eyes, along with the yawn that she let out, signaled that she was fairly tired. Kari worked for an on-the-rise gaming website, a writer and on-air talent, making articles and videos for the site. Her lethargy came from the convention she'd just gotten home from, the car she was in having just picked her up from the airport. Her small hand moved a strand of her red hair behind her ear, pointed, cute face giving a smile as she saw her building fast approaching.

With her luggage in tow, she stepped off the elevator onto her floor, wheeling the bags down to her apartment. Her head cocked to the side a bit, seeing two fairly large men standing outside her apartment, along with a box that looked like it could fit a mattress. "Hey boys, can I help you?" she asked. One turned, looking her up and down. "Yeah, you Kari...whatsis....uh, Kari McConnell?" She answered with a nod, cocked eyebrow telling them she had no idea what was going on. They didn't need to answer though, the logo and name on the box told her everything. She gave a gasp, bags falling as she moved to it to inspect the thing, the words 'Sword Art Online' marking the sides.

The game was a remake of one from about twenty years ago, a bunch of controversy had surrounded it back then, but this company had taken the risk and redesigned the virtual reality-based game from the ground up. A whole new code and platform, the thing was basically only available to the excessively wealthy that could pay for early access. At the convention they'd announced they were working with a company to sell them a bit cheaper, and would be sending preview copies to select members of the community. Kari had never thought she'd be one, that their site was even on their radar. Here it was though, sitting just outside her apartment. "HolycrapImsorryIwasnthereletsgetthisinside!" she cried out, moving in a blur to open the door for the movers. About fifteen minutes later, after they'd gotten it inside and helped her get it all set up with a decent tip from the girl, Kari stood with a bright grin, the small screen telling her it was downloading everything it needed from the servers.

Her tiredness had faded from excitement, Kari removing her clothing and changing into a swimsuit. She knew this stuff was supposed to cover your body, the weird gunk that kept you able to play for potentially days on end. The woman slipped into the device, pulling down the helmet and switching everything on. She gave a slight jump at the pulse that pulled her into the game, the nutrient material slowly pumping and surrounding her in the chamber. It would probably feel creepy if she wasn't already being transferred into the virtual reality, her mind and senses converting into digital signal and dumped into the world of the game.

Kari listened to the first NPC explain the hub for character creation and revival, then moved on to her favorite part, designing her avatar for this brave, new world. A human, red hair and red eyes, choosing to go into the Bard talent. "Got it, thanks, Nao!" she said, giving the busty woman a wave. She was already engaged, the AI in this was pretty good. White light surrounded her and suddenly faded, and she was in a city. Tir Chonaill, the base starting area for the early access. She looked down to her virtual self, and grinned at what it had given her. A tight, lacy, black and red corset was laced to her torso with matching sleeves along her arms, with a flowing black skirt, gold, rune-like accents along the bottom. Floating in front of her for her to take was a violin, her Bard item to use for her abilities. "Let's do this then," she said, gripping the neck and taking it, moving to walk around and explore the area. The immersion was incredible, she felt the ground beneath her, smelt and heard the city come alive as she moved through the streets, moving to the center of town to perhaps find some beginning quests, maybe some other players.
 
Salina was busy flowing through her personal tutorial level for the Exclusive Druid class she was allowed to choose, giving her both offensive and defensive magic types, as well as the ability to whip up a good potion or a potent poison, or whatever may be needed. As she returned to town, having gotten all her skills to Rank F now, raising them from the Novice rank they began at, she smiled and put her Celtic Staff on her back and spotted a few new players. The male seemed in his own world, and assuming he was the 'lone wolf' type she passed him up and spotted the lovely looking bard. Pacing over she smiled and bowed her greeting, "hello there, my name is Salina, a Druid player," she said and looked the girl over, "Judging by the Violin and Wireless Mic you must be the special Choir Master Class!" she said with a smirk

[Ostrich the Mic is used to perform both some bard skills, Party Healing, and can cast the shields you have for the Holy Arts Magic. You MUST have the Mic equipped to perform party heal, just a note, normal heal can be done on your violin]
 
The Treasure Hunter went about his quests with a lightning pace, pausing only for a second outside a bar as he noticed two female player characters conversing. Preferring to be established before he made any friends, Xio went about his business. I mean, after all, who's gonna deliver this armload of potions to the NPC that was going to teach him mercantile? These potions might be important.

"Hell, given this stupid game, I'm sure they are important..." His mumbling had an unexpected impact when a nearby player overheard them. The stout Giant was clearly a warrior class of some sort. Judging from his gear, the character couldn't have been made too long ago. That was a plus. The three Giant warriors behind him also punching their knuckles together, bot so much.

"What'd you say about me?" The Giant leaned down and looked closely at Xio's face, which gave an all too real sense of the mammoth warrior's size. "D'you just call me and the mates stupid?" His thick index finger bumped into Xio's chest, knocking the thin Human back a step. "Well? Did ya?"

The Giant's Cockney accent was actually funnier than it was intimidating, but he did have three "mates" that seemed to be just as strong, so maybe this was a good time for retreat. The gunslinger backed away from the Giants slowly, his face showing no emotion at all. "You misheard me. I was insulting the game, not you and your, er... 'mates'. My apologies. I'll speak more clearly next time." The treasure hunter backed away til he passed a small gap between buildings and bolted down the alley, leaving the much slower characters to give chase to him.

He could only assume that discharging his gun before they attacked would flag him as a criminal, and that would be bad. So, instead of fighting now, he decided to give them the slip, using his elusive skills from being an adventurer to distract and evade his foes. Eventually, he gave them the slip, and with some consultation with his map, he was back on the way to the quest drop site.

After finishing his last tutorial quest, the treasure hunter was given a box of equipment that set him up for low level adventure, including a leather dust coat and a cosmetic hat. All he needed now was a brass badge, and he'd look like some grizzled sheriff in one of those tv westerns. Maybe he'd pick one up when they started rolling out cosmetics later on. He also received a basic pair of pistols, slightly better than his starter gear, "Sweet. Bout time I get some class duds. Now on to the show. Look out grind, here I come..." Xio walked off toward the edge of town, eager to try out his new gear on some cannon fodder.
 
Johnathan stumbles into his room after a day of school, and a grueling soccer workout and practice after. He looks at the black VR station nestled into a slight recess of the room. It was built for days-at-a-time play, but he had never used it for more then 12 hours. He rushes through his homework, most of it already done so it was mostly just spell and answer check. After finishing up with the simple work, they young man changes into some simple shorts and slides into the giant machine. He puts on the helmet and hits the start button feeling the slimly liquid start to cover his body when he started to get pulled into the world.

He looked through his games then noticed a "new" tag on a game. "Ooohh SAO came out today. Glad I got the jump and opted in for that early acesss contest." He says to no one in particular. He selects the game and goes about building his character. "Only three races, I hope that changes soon." John says as she selects elf before he uploads one of his standard character looks and enters his typical name. Kytrin came to life in the mirror that was there as a "this is you" character creation. He selected his class next, Alchemist with a focus on summoning.

He entered the world, a weapon called a cylinder on his back, the typical grey robes that came with scholarly or wizardly characters, a book in a holster on his hip and his belt looking more dangerous then a science convention making it obvious he was the former. Kytrin goes about clearing the tutorial quests, getting his first summon ability rather quickly and instantly bringing his little buddy into the world. After bring the dwarf sized golem into being, Kytrin finishes his rush through the starting quests then starts to look for potential party members.
 
Even for being usual tutorial quests, they felt very fun. The immersion that this game was allowing was like no other, clearly. Kari felt everything happening as she moved on through, getting some upgrades for her skills. She also chose to hybridize herself a bit, taking some cleric attributes, which granted her a mic. Apparently this and the violin were used for different things. Very cool.

Back in the city, Kari made her way through the streets, still interested in finding some players, especially now that she was a bit stronger. A girl, a bit younger than herself, seemed to be making her way over. Kari paused, giving a smile as she introduced herself. "Pleasure to meet you, Salina. Yep, I'm the Choir Master, making heals and dealing buffs," she said, giving a bit of a curtsy with her skirt. "Pretty impressive, isn't it? I'm surprised the virtual reality can feel this...not virtual."
 
Salina smilee and giggled at the girls comment about.deal buffs and nodded, "Yeah it is crazy, plus the game is like real life in so many ways!" She smiled, "Like you can marry, adopt players as family, buy a home, trade, commerce, do part time jobs, and eat!" She smiled and thought, "well eating might seem dull, but if we go hingry in game then our stamina is lower then mormal," she gasped, "oh.sorry, I.rambeled,"
 
Kari smiled as the girl went on about the game, all of the other kinds of features that filled the game out. Plenty of MMO's did the combat, level grinding thing well enough, it was great to see one taking it a step further with all this game could do, especially with the immersion it provided. "Oh, no worries at all. It's good to hear about it, what people like," she said, taking mental notes for what to write about later. It would be huge for WackJob to have such an in depth piece on the big new thing that this game was. "Jeez, I'm dumb, I didn't say my own name. Kari, Kari McConnell. Again, it's awesome to meet you. You very far in the game, or fresh meat just like me?"
 
"Fresh to SAO 2.0," she said and shuffled a foot, "but my brother was part of SAO and he tells me to be careful still," she shrugged, "he is like 35 now so it's in the past but he worries about the VR still," she sat on a bench and looked to the sky, "but was it really so bad? I mean it would be like normal life, sure a bit riskier but still so real"
 
Xio killed a few low level enemies in the field, feeling out the weight of his new guns. They were heavier than he'd expected. Then again, they were a part of this world, and made to feel real. He had just reached a degree of comfort that he felt was suitable when he heard loud footsteps behind him. Too loud to be one of the small creatures he'd been making his targets before. He took two steps and dove behind a nearby rock, just narrowly dodging a massive sword that thudded into the ground behind him.

In his wake stood the four Giants that he had evaded back in the town. The one with the Cockney accent laughed and pointed at him with one meaty finger, lifting his sword over his shoulder with the other. "'Er's th' little runt now. 'Idin' as usual, seems." He was joined in his laughter by his comrades, who seemed perfectly fine with bullying the Treasure Hunter. "Y'know, mate... I could relly go f'some o' that gold you been earnin' back in the town. You 'and it o'er an' me mates 'n I might just let you go." He raised his sword in one hand and drew a line across the his throat with the other.

Now Xio had to think. This wasn't the first time he'd been cornered by multiple foes in a PVP situation, but he was barely more than a newb. These guys were only as geared as he was, but they had numbers and false confidence. He peered around the rock and though of the many different ways he could end this scenario without getting torn to shreds and looted for his pathetic purse. He popped off a couple of blind fire shots, the bullets missing their targets entirely. Gunfire thundered through the otherwise quiet area. "Back off, asshole. I'm not afraid of you or your cronies. I suggest you split before I have to pump all of you full of lead. And your loot looks better mine. I mean, that is one fine pair of boots you have there. It'd be a shame to lose 'em just because you had to look tough in front of your girlfriends." He reloaded his left pistol while he taunted them, still crouched with his back to the rock. He took a second to consult his HUD for information about his skills. There it was, his saving grace. He'd have to be quick, and with no auto aim, he'd have to be precise with each shot. He took a deep breath and cursed the wind, wishing he had some back up.
 
She looked to the younger girl, giving a nod. "Yeah, I know a lot went down when this game was going before. I was only a baby at the time. It's good, but surprising to see that they've revived it after so long. I mean, so far so good, at least for me," she said, taking a glance around the bustling spawn area. Kari wondered if this was better at all than the game before, how immersive and in depth it was. No one had been able to play it, and she figured people that had played it back then would have a bit of a complex about jumping back in, so it was hard to compare. "I think it's more about the choice, being forced to be stuck in here. Plus the whole dying thing," she said, a small chuckle given. "I'm new here too, just got the thing delivered today and I hopped in. Completely stoked to see I was able to get in," she said, a wide grin on her face, a brightness in her red eyes, passion about this sort of thing clear.
 
An Arrow would go whizzing past XIo head and hit the lead giant in the eye causing him to cry out in pain before the second, third, fouth and fifth arrow blinding his comrades leaving only one giant with both his eyes, he looked around trying to figure out what had happen to his comrades before he yelled out in pain and the sound of duel sowrd sliched though his legs maling his fall. If Xio looked beside him now, he would see a young blonde elf with good armour who said "Hey, you alright dude. you seem to be panicking so what so I though I would drop in and see if you needed help which it seems you do. Giants don't often appear in this area so this is a new find for me". A notebook appeared in his hand and he write it down. "Now, three of the giants are now blinded so if we work together to take them down first then we can focus on the other guy" He suggested to Xio.

A young Kitsune girl was watching the two girls chat about the old game which made her ears twitch as she though about it, she walked up to the girls and said "If you guys are new here, do you want some help?". "I am Sashia, I was a beta tester for this new version of SOA alongside my brother and I can show you all the hints and tricks you will need to enjoy this game to it fullest if you like or I can help you in other ways" She said that last part with a wink at the two girls.
 
Serina was about to respond as a strange female came up, her odd fox girl avatar was unique, meaning she was a beta tester. The girl promptly confirmed that and went on to offer help, seeming to imply more then just game help. Ignoring the comment and rolling her eyes, "If you wish to help, we can go clear the Alby Basic dungeon," she said as she looked around, "server is still fairly quiet, and since this a prerelease early access version there may be special loot," she said with a smile as she turned to the two and flicked her finger down. This brought down a menu, clicking and flipping through a few menus she set up a dungeon party for Alby Basic and sent the girls invites.
 
A third voice caused Kari's head to turn, seeing another girl walk up to the two of them. She seemed a bit closer to her own age, and certainly was very attractive. A curvy body, but perhaps just as interesting were the tails sticking out just above her ass and the pointed, furry ears coming off her head. The redhead's eyes widened a bit, surprised, this option certainly wasn't in character creation. Hm, a beta tester, that might explain it, getting some extra goodies for helping test the game. It must be rare to have gotten one of those spots, even now the game was hard to find. Kari couldn't help but give a smirk at her little implication. "It's nice to meet you, Sashia. I'm Kari, this is Serina," motioning to each in turn. "Perhaps we can discuss the latter at another time, but I think we'd love to really get into something with the game," she said, looking to Serina as she suggested the first dungeon. In her view, a small envelope popped up and flashed a couple times. Her hand came up to press it, opening her own menu to accept the invitation. "First party of the game, how awesome," she said, giving a grin at her new companions. "Shall we head off, then?"
 
Sashia open up her menu as she doubled check she had everything summon forth her magic harp which allowed her to use her bard powers and a nine fox tail dagger which she would use for her magic and often the scouting she did. She then nodded and accepted the invite. "Alby Basic, this is meant to be a good dungeon which was changed from the Beta but has the same sort of layout" She said before she smiled as she remember they had told her there names "It's very nice to meet and travel with you Kari and Serina" She told them with a smile. When Kari had said they can discuss the latter of her comment another time, it made Sashia give a very flirty wink to her.
 
Serina sighed as she watched the Kitsune girl, Sashia was her name according to the party list. Even if her avatar was a kitsune, she didn't have to act like one, though at this point it felt more like a succubus then a kitsune, but it wasn't her issue, if the girl was a fighter in a dungeon then all was well. Serina nodded and turned and began heading off to the dungeon, "See you there ladies!" she said as she began sprinting, naturally faster then the other 2 as she was elf.
 
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