Welcome one and all to Evora Online - [Kina & TheFreeman

[Marrionetta]

It's been weeks since the enthused gamer Mimiko Kiritsuga had immersed herself in the Beta for EVO. Initially she wanted to get into the beta for Sword Art Online but the slots were filled in minutes after launch. That wasn't to say of course that the slots for EVORA ONLINE didn't fly out in minutes either, but she was fortunate to snag one of the last spots. As a result she earned herself a free Nervegear, Full Dive Technology that allowed it's wearer to experience the world of Virtual Reality. Fundamentally, SAO and EVO were similar. Although instead of floors, EVO had more of a story, Empires, War ships, NPC soldiers and an open world to explore. In SAO, a player only really died against a monster or boss battle. In EVO, There were much fewer Save Zones. Any city occupied by the Imperial Soldiers was unsafe. The Soldiers typically made patrols, occasionally using intimidation to nab fruits from stalls and such. They're always looking for a good reason to mess with you, if you give them one. Human players can actually be arrested by them and never heard from again. Unless they can escape that is.

Kirimi wielded a large two handed Katana called Kugekihashi or Void Edge. She found her weapon in a place supposedly offlimits to players during the beta but it seemed as though the security protocols weren't quite functioning right. As a beta, it was jer job to report things like this but...This was a sweet weapon...And it would surely be unlocked in the main game. However the boss of the dungeron wasn't even installed yet so she basically got the weapon for free.

With each swing of the large blade, The blade glowed and let a stream of dark purple light trail behind it, making the blade one of the most asthetically pleasing weapons to use in game. The blade itself was made of unknown material. It was Indigo in colour and surged with black electricity. It's sheath was equally dark and grim.

In about one hour, this game would become live and was now past beta status. Hundreds and hundreds even thousands were logging on now for the world's most revolutionary leap in technology.

Kirimi made her way to the square of Alvina City where a large digital countdown was being displayed. 23 Minutes. She was excited for the launch, but what was to come when it ended...would not be pleasant.

 

[TheFreeman]

Every now and then something will happen or a product would be released that would make a person realize that they were living in a time that could be described as 'the future'. The Nervegear was one of those products that lent themselves to those kinds of epiphanies. As soon as they were made available to the public Haruto Takenouchi purchased himself one. Really, the only question was which of the two release titles he would make his first purchase. It didn't really make sense to split his time between the games so he needed to figure out whether to go with SAO or it's competitor, EVO. The most obvious difference was that EVO seemed to have a grittier fantasy setting than SAO did, but before he could really delve into the differences he saw an ad that clinched it for him. It had been for just a split second, but during an EVO ad he saw what could only be described as a sky ship. Seeing as he had wanted be a sky pirate ever sense he discovered the concept as a boy his decision had suddenly become a simple one.



Like many others around the world as soon as the countdown struck zero he logged on and created his character. There were plenty of people out there that would spend a lot of time trying to get their characters to look just right. They would experiment and try various looks and styles before they finally were happy with what they made. He was not one of them and that was because he pretty much made every character he ever played look the same way. It also helped that whoever made the game had done an excellent job with the user interface. So, just several minutes after logging on Hayato was now in the game and ready to begin his journey to controlling the skies of EVO, but there was no point in getting ahead of himself.

Hayato adjusted the bow on his back before looking for his first quest to complete. The UI was telling him that he was in a place named Alvina City. The opening of the game was much less hands on then most MMOs were, but that was to be expected. The lethality of the game had been a selling point for the ad campaign for EVO and it was clearly interested in grabbing the 'hardcore' audience that would be much more interested in the grim setting. So, as he walked the virtual streets of EVO he couldn't help but murmur to himself about this new and dangerous place he had found himself in.

“This is just fantastic.”

 

[Marrionetta]

Tok, Tok, Tok. Kirimi took steps down a sector of Alvina, the Bazaar. Crawling with all kinds of species of Humanoid races. The B'aneth, Lizard men and women. These accel at Monster hunting. Spears and crossbows as well as daggars are their specialized weapons. Nozeal, Canine folk, Typically short, Occasionally hunch back. These accel at Magical affiliated classes such as Alchemy, White magic and so on. Azelon Are Elven/Human Hybrids. Humans have evolved. Faster, more agile while maintaining Human hardiness. They are the jacks of all trades.

Kirimi was Azelon. Her traditional attire was held up by the game, Visually, her large chest held up her dress. After collecting a ample supply of potions and equipment from the bazaar she made her way to the core of the city where the countdown was nearing zero. [GATES LEAVING ALVINA CITY WILL OPEN IN T-5 MINUTES]

Players were pairing up dying to get into the world. Kirimi stood watching the timer, a sinking feeling in her gut. As time counted down, The feeling something bad was going to happen became worse. [TEN. NINE. EIGHT. SEVEN. SIX. FIVE. FOUR. THREE. TWO. ONE.] A loud buzzer sounded and the gates remained locked.

Soon, a holographic projection of the Emperor of Archadia, The one who has imperial soldiers garrisoned in Alvina and many other cities appeared.

"Ladies, and gentlemen. I regret to announce that your lives--as of now, are forfeit. You will quikly come to learn the true nature of this world. Survive if you can. For death awaits you...should you fall. I challenge one and all, fore the answers you seek..lie in the Flag ship, Atrolon. Long live, the Empire."

The hologram faded and the gates unlocked but everyone had become unnerved and began murmuring amongst themselves. What awaited them outside of the gates?

The first thing Kirimi did was make her way to the City's guild hall. She had a feeling Guilds have just severely increased in importance.

 

[TheFreeman]

The speech had been brief, to the point and had obviously had an effect on the crowed that had been waiting to inflict themselves on the lands immediately surrounding the city. One second everybody had been ready to blitz the land. Now, there was a sizable contingent heading towards the guild halls and a good deal of the people left began to search for last minute additions to the party or were now barely creating a party. Hayato took the chance to walk over to a barrel next to a stall that sold potions and took a seat. He crossed his arms and began to consider what his next move should be. Sure, there was some benefits to grouping up, but he didn't want to join a guild only to find that they were sympathetic to the cause of piracy. Sure, he was intimidated by the last minute announcement, but there was unlikely to be another chance to find so few people out in the wilderness. He would have priority in quite a few mob locations.


In the end greed won out. Right when the woman running the stall was about to tell him to fuck off as kindly as she could manage the human Hayato uncrossed his arms and hopped off the barrel and made his way out of the city with the few people greedier than they were intelligent. Maybe... Really, only time would tell who was right, but he was willing to bet that some of the people that braved the wilds first were going to accomplish something special while the rest failled miserably. Hayato dearly hoped that he would be part of the successful group.

When the truth of what exactly was going on came to light Hayato was still unsure of whether or not he made the right choice.

 

[Marrionetta]

It took a moment for Kirimi to realize this but she already had a huge advantage over most players. Her weapon wasn't equipped and her data was unaccessable by others. Her outfit was pure vanity. No stats whatsoever. She decided using Units were the way to go. Units were pieces of equipment that provided less defense then armor or mage cloth but allowed players to tailor their units to provide autonomous buffs, heals and all sorts of things while increasing native defenses as well. Hers were invisible which was an option for all units. Players could use the espionage skill "Libra" to reveal information on a target so long as A) Their level is equal or lower, or B) They're counter espionage skill was lower then the user's ESP skill.

In any case, she already knew this area well. She went to the guild hall to see if the Notice board had any significant changes. She had no intention to join a guild. The jobs on the board seemed standard, however there was one that interested her. Quests appeared based on your level, Everyone could see quests others are accessing at the same time they're interfaced with the Job Board but they cannot accept them unless in a party with someone who unlocked the quest.

[If it is answers you seek, come to Berjerba. ]
[Reward For Completion: 12,200gil ]
[Clear Chance: UNKNOWN ]
[Task: Meet with the client in the Sky Fortress of Berjerba.]

She decided to accept this quest. She's only ever been to Berjerba once. It was quite the city. It was a floating city high above ground, Famous for it's Haunted mine that was said to harbor Aetherialite Ore which was used to forge the game's mightiest equipment. But the mine was a deep and dangerous dungeon, said to have a Clear chance of 0.02%, assuming you were a Tier 1 Character.

When Kirimi visited the mine, She attempted to make the trek only to have to retreat not even five minutes in.
Rumour has it that a raid guild known as The Crimson Bladers made the trek. Their forces in the Beta were decimated, from 130 players down to 6 by the time they were 30 minutes in. They resorted to Stealth to make it in as deep as they could. An hour in, they found out why this dungeon was deemed unclearable. An hour into the mine, the power began to fail. Soon, they entered the abandoned section of the mine. While there were power conduits, they were disabled. Some worked but flickered weakly. What the survivors saw, where ghouls rising. Seemingly lifeless decaying corpses rose one by one and began to wander the mine. They attempted to engage a few in battle but found themselves overwhelmed 10 to 1 in a matter of minutes. They Inflicted poison with every attack, and if they were allowed to bite you, they inflicted a status that would slowly roll back your XP in all areas. Abilities, Levels, everything. In effect, It wreaked havok on player progress. The worst part was they were without a white mage which was the only way of curing that effect. One of their best players dropped 36 levels in the way back to town before he was cured, and was eventually killed.

He spawned back in Alvina as a level 2 Character. Needless to say, he quit the game.

Knowing all of this, Kirimi never wanted to go in there. Never. No one in their right mind did. Even if the Aetherialite could be used to create the strongest ANYTHING, Particle Cannons, Blades that could slice time or dimensions, Bows that could bring down dragons with one fell swoop. It wasn't worth it.

She accepted the mission, and headed off to the Aerodome to depart on a skytrek.

☆·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.¤ ~♡のⓛⓞⓥⓔ♡~☃⊹⊱⋛⋌⋚⊰⊹✗/(*w*) ≡[。。]≡※◦º°×°º◦εїз´¯`·»｡｡♀♡╭☆╯ºØغøº¤ø,¸¸,ºº

Enter Morgan.

Morgan had been walking around the outskirts of the eastern gate. The lower levels mostly went to the Southern gate as the Eastern gate was for lv.40+. Morgan was only Lv.23 but she was good at avoiding fights. Luckily there were no mobs around. She was singing to herself, a song called Village and Void by Joelle, a song she was fond of from another game on older gen consoles.

On her back was a was a rare bow from the Heretic Set of weapons. Normally players had to be a higher Lv. to wield that weapon. Normally that meant that she had sufficiently leveled her main class which wasn't Archer and was Leveling the Archer class while Subbing her main class to help fuel the stat requirement to wield that weapon. Sub Classing was knowledge that wasn't openly available. Not even Kirimi knew about it. Sub classing was a unique feature that allowed you to adapt abilities of the sub-class and transform them into new abilities for the current Main Class.

In anycase, Hayato's adventure would start at the Eastern Gate, where the first player he'd see, was morgan, taking a leisurely stroll towards the great unknown.

 

[TheFreeman]

Here he was at level one leaving the city for the first time and the what else does he see but something that both captivates the mind and the body. The woman carrying the bow was something special as well, but it was the weapon that was drawing him in. Feeling that he had no choice but try and take a closer look at the bow he made his way right for her. As he came within ten feet he lifted his hands palm up before him and openly proclaim his affection for the specimen that he had chanced upon. “Where did you find such an interesting looking bow?” Really, he wished he had a bow that looked half as cool when he was studying archery while growing up. Sure, in the real world such a cumbersome thing would have hurt more than it helped, but he would have looking amazing while failing. “And I haven't a bow even half as fine,” he said as he lazily reached behind him and present his much plainer bow.

Interacting with strangers hadn't been part of the plan. Mostly he wasted to get out of the city and get a handle on how different it was to use a bow in the game than it had been in the real world. And he also was hoping that his real world skills would present him with an advantage that most others would lake when handling that kind of weapon. “Mind if I take a look at what you have there?”

 

[Marrionetta]

Morgan gasped when Hayato spoke so close to her. She leaped to create a distance only to see he was simply starstruck with her bow. "Oh this? This is a bow from the "Heretic" Weapon series dropped by a boss in one of the closed beta quests. It's called 'Heretic's Wings' It should still be possible to get the weapon, but you'd need an airship to get access to it." Morgan quickly lowered her guard after taking a closer look. Clearly a novice, nothing to worry about. "Ooh hey you're new! That's great!! But erm...You're gonna get wrecked here. The Eastern gate has like monsters and junk in their lv.40s" She said before chuckling. "If you'd like I could show you where you should start off? Take you to the southern gate, That's where beginners should start off~" She said with a cheerful smile.

 

[TheFreeman]

"Airship, eh? What a coincidence I happen to be in the market for one of those." He placed his bow away onto his back before continuing. "In the 40s? Yeah, seems like my stomach's just a bit to big at the moment. I should put hanging around here on hold. Hell, I haven't even tried my bow out yet. It would probably be best if I didn't go at it so under leveled." Hayato made a show of tugging at his collar with a single finger. He liked to talk with his hands as it seemed to add a level of expressiveness to his statements. That and it made it easier to pull people in. "So, i would be very lucky and as equally grateful to have you point me show me the way to some place a bit more appropriate for my level. Not only will it keep me from dying in my first go, but I'll get to see how different using these things are in the virtual world." He gestured towards the weapon on his back.

 

[Marrionetta]

Morgan analyzed him the entire time. Seemingly lost in thought as she listened at him and inadvertently staring at him. Her eyes told the world she was lost in her thoughts. She wound up with her index between her lips and gently dug her canine tooth into her finger. By the time he stopped talking, he'd have surely noticed. Before he could say anything she snapped back into reality and smiled. "Great! Let's go!" In actuality, she didn't hear a word he said but simply assumed he'd follow her and such.
Even while walking back to the city, She continuously faded into though as though something bothered her. But right as they reached the gate, she sparked back in. "Oh, That's right!" She exclaimed happily and continued on.
Shortly after, they entered the town square where several players were huddled up. Upon entering the square, both Morgan and Hayato would be alerted to entering a I.E. Zone or an Interrupt Event Zone. Morgan looked around and noticed the influx of Imperial Soldiers everywhere. It seemed as though all exits to the square were barred off. Morgan went up to a player and spoke to him. "Hey...what's going on?" The male replied without looking back. These idiots attacked a guard garrison in the city and triggered a City-Wide Parallel IE. Basically, A Three Stage IE. Stage one, Event: Battle - Insurgents vs Imperials. Stage 2, Event - Declaration of City wide Inspection; any and all suspicious Human players will be detained and thrown into The Galbrice Dungeon in Albion...which is apparently inescapable. Stage 3 is Resolution...whatever THAT ends up being..."

An imperial was making his was slowly around the crowd of players, scrutinizing them when he saw Morgan and scoffed. "'ook wot we 'ave 'ere. A bloody prostitute. Wot shamelessness on display...makes me sick to me stomach. Were it only enough to haul ye to Galbrice." The guard scoffed and moved on. Her eyes hid behind her bangs and she bit her lip. "Even in a game...." She whispered. "Had Adam and Eve heeded the words of god and ate not the forbidden fruit......Then this would not be a problem...my problem...the one thing that has plagued my entire life..." She opened her menu with a swipe of her fingers and went to the log out menu only to find it empty. "What...?" She said to herself. She searched everywhere for the log out button but found none. "Wh-where's...the...l-log out button..." She said slightly frantically. Soon, more and more players trapped in this IE were attempting to log out only to find the no longer had that option...they were trapped.