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Ascension [SpiceFox X Krimson Kane]

SpiceFox

Meteorite
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Adelia panted as she fell to her knees, out of breath from fighting the boar in front of her. It was luckily dead and not charging for her like it had been 5 minutes ago, though she only had half a hand in it. It had ran into one of her icicles, impaling itself and wasting away in the fashion all dead things did in this world, it's flesh melting from it's bones and blowing away in the non existent wind, leaving the bones in a small pile. She barely managed to gather any meat from it, with it being a particularly small boar, and got no pelt from it whatsoever. Checking the small pile that had formed under the now dissolved boar, she found a few silver coins and nothing else. She was currently in the middle of a lush field, surrounded by knee high green grass. The boar had trampled through it, flattening it temporarily, but it had sprung back up like it was untouched just a few seconds afterwards. There were a line of trees off to her side, a path leading off into the dense looking forest, somewhere she had dared not venture yet.

Mage, it seemed, was not a good skill to have early on in this game, even if she WAS a battle mage. She had shared her points out evenly, trying to make the most of all of her skills early on, but all it had done was leave her with a lack of mana almost every time she cast a spell. Her spells were powerful enough to do the job, but her accuracy was awful, which meant most of them didn’t hit anything, and recasting a spell was costly. She had found herself venturing out of the town and down to the river to catch some fish or other things fairly early on. Alone, she could catch a few fish, but with others around and her fishing skill so low, she caught nothing, choosing to cook for others instead on the bank of the river and earning herself a few coins in the process. Her current skill points looked as follows:

Adelia - LVL 2 (21/21 Skill points)

PROFESSIONS
Cooking - 6 (Higher lvls allow for better cooking of foods for higher HP restore)
Fishing - 1 (Higher lvls allow for rarer fish capture. Better food produce)
Gathering (Higher lvls allow for more of a gathered item to be gathered at once)
Alchemy (Higher lvls allow for crafting of higher lvl potions)
Medicine (Higher lvls allow for more effective effects from potions BUT NOT FOOD)
Mining (Higher lvls allow for better/more minerals to be extracted)
Smelting (Higher lvls allow for smelting of higher grade minerals and produce better results)
Crafting (Higher lvls allow for new crafting blueprints and producing better results)
Lock-picking (Higher lvls allow for bypassing harder locks)

SKILLS
Stamina (Physical attacks/applications pool)
Magic - 7 (Magic attacks/applications pool)
Strength - 2 (Damage distributed through attack Physical or Magical attack)
Charisma (Chances of passing speech checks)
Accuracy - 4 (Chance of hitting enemy with attack)
Perception (Ability to spot incoming enemies)
Dexterity - 2 (Ability to dodge incoming attacks)
Stealth/Sneak (Ability to sneak up on foes)
Endurance (Determines characters HP and Sprinting time)
Lock-pick (Ability to bypass locks)
One Handed (Proficiency using one handed weapons)
Two Handed - 6 (Proficiency using two handed weapons)

PERKS
None


Adelia was a short and petite for her chosen race, a Teifling, with short white hair, almost purple in places and hanging over most of her face. It was pushed over to the right, curling under her chin a bit and making her have to blow it out of her face sometimes. Her skin was also a creamy, almost purple colour, moreso than her hair, making her look like she was glowing sometimes...not great for stealth. Her eyes were bright green, and despite her being short, she had some larger than average curves on her. Currently, she was still wearing her starter gear, not having enough to upgrade her gear yet, and she had fallen behind in the initial levelling up game. It consisted of a short white dress, that parted near the stomach and opened to show another red dress beneath. The neck of the dress came up to a single point under the chin, connecting to a silver hoop around the neck. Over the top of the dress was an under-bust corset, brown and leather, splaying open at the hips. There were two small sleeves, puffy and attached to the sides of the dress, though they did nothing to cover her shoulders, sitting on the tops of her arms, giving just enough room for the elbow high, finger-less gloves on her hands, also leather. To top the whole outfit off, she wore thigh high leather boots, a small heel to them, which were partially held up using a garter under the dress...it was an all round nightmare to wear, and she couldn't wait to change out her armour.

The game's brand new sensitivity levels, which made you able to feel things in the game as if it were real life, had made things even harder for her, and eventually she had managed to find a nice balance between being able to feel it and being left out of action after any wound. Her small frame made fighting anything close combat basically impossible, and she was glad that at least she had picked a somewhat long range class, even if it wasn't helping her much. She knew the characters in this game were supposed to reflect real life, the game having asked her for her sizes and stats before she even put the headset on, but this was silly. She was supposed to be a big, brutish Teifling...or at least that's what she had expected. Instead she had ended up just as small and fat as she was in real life, just with horns and a different skin colour.

She packed up her stuff, wiping at a bit of boar blood that had gotten on her dress and frowning when she realised it had stained it. Bloody real world engineering...Placing her staff back in it's holster on her back, she turned to look at the town looming behind her. It was a large town, being the starting point for all who logged into the game. The large towers and spires of the central castle, home to the royals of this world, blocked out some of the sunlight, light shimmering off the spires that stood proud. It was the main hub for anything you wanted, with taverns, markets, arenas and much more, everything a new player could want all in one place. The only reason you would leave would be to level and progress the story...She wondered if there was any point in returning there with so little on her, but decided she might get a fair bit of money from her meat at least if she cooked it and tried hard enough. She stretched a bit, her arms straight up over her head and flinched at a small but noticeable pang in her back. She tried looking over her shoulder at it, but unable to see she assumed she had managed to get herself some kind of wound there. She wasn’t surprised, she was a squishy noob after all. Sighing, she started back towards the town, exhausted but ready for some kind of pay off.
 
Jericho let out a frustrated groan.

"This IS the amount of money you're asking for," he finally barked, losing his patience. A box popped above the merchant he was trying to do business with.

[Speech checked Failed]- it read.

The merchant furrowed his brow, folding his arms.
"You're not going to bully me around," he told me. "50 gold or no deal."

Jericho's arm shot out, pointing at the sign hanging above the merchants stall.

"It says right there that the alchemy kit is 40 gold!" he yelled, his pale face turning a few hues more red. "I'm not bullying you! I'm literally-"

[Speech check Failed]
"HOW THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN A SPEECH CHECK?!" Jericho screamed in rage.

The merchant was unmoved.
"50. Take it or leave it."

Jericho had finally had enough; no more arguing.

"You know what, you stupid piece of shit," Jericho reached into his pocket, with the amount of gold he needed pulling out, as if magically, in a bag. He threw it at his face, with the merchant not even phased. "Just give me the damn kit and let's call it a deal, okay?"

The merchant wordlessly extended a large, black box his way, with Jericho ripping it from his hands. He stormed off, too angry to even think about where he was headed. He listed off nearly every swear that he could think of.

"Fuck speech checks," he growled.

After unintentionally walking in a circle in the market area of the starting town, Jericho took a seat on a bench, unboxing his purchase. Glass bottles and vials were inside, along with a bunch of other gear he wasn't exactly sure how to use. A small book was inside as well, going over basics for using alchemy. He tussled his short, dark hair as he read the confusing instructions. Although he was level 2, he had to admit to himself that he didn't know as much about the game as he would have liked.

He removed everything inside of the box, placing the items within his trench coat. As if by magic, they disappeared, though he could feel the added weight to his person. He began to wonder how much more he could carry. Considering he had to sell nearly everything just to get what he needed for his build, he knew he wasn't going to be bogged down by the weight anytime soon.

The brown tench coat he wore was a simple one, not adding much to his protection. It was mostly just to carry his gear without having to tote around a large pack like the other noobs he saw. He watched the nearby fountain, seeing a noob with an oversized backpack hobble along.

The large, double edged blade on his back, which was attached by a snapping loop, bumped into the back of the bench as he stood up. He glanced behind him, wondering if any damage was done. Thankfully, both blades were sheathed.

Jericho made his way over to the fountain, staring at his own reflection in the water. The human form he took was like the one in real life. Although it may not have been that original, he felt it was fitting. He found no sense lying. He was tall, broad shouldered, and had what his mother used to call "distant, lonely eyes" (Whatever that meant). He changed only their color, turning them from a dark brown to a deep purple, matching the purple shirt underneath his opened coat. His trousers were a dark brown, matching his coat, with his boots being black, though scuffed.

"I should probably head back out into the fields," he said to himself in a somber tone.
 
Adelia reached the edge of town, seeing the sun starting to set behind the huge castle and cursing. The markers would be closing soon, and she only had so long left to barter unless she wanted to do so with unhelpful and trolling players. She picked up her pace, willing her tired legs to push her forwards. She wondered if this counted as real life exercise back at home, but realised that was a stupid though as she wasn't ACTUALLY moving...

The pain in her back panged again, and she let out a small sound, stopping to lean against the nearby wall of one of the outer houses on the outskirts of town. She tried again to look at her back, wondering what the pain would have felt like if her sensitivity was up full tilt, before shaking it off. Again she couldn't see the wound, and with a huff she stopped trying. An elderly lady came out of the house she was leaning on, gazing at her with a dead look in her eyes, before launching into an unprovoked attack of words. "Damn travellers, thinking they can hang around my property! Think I won't call the guards? Get out of here!" She screeched, causing Adelia to stand up a bit more straighter, her back twitching against the pain. When she didn't move immediately, the woman started again. "I mean it! You're trespassing! I'll call the guards!" She said, getting shriller and shriller. Adelia knew she needed to get out of the woman's front garden fast, taking a small sidestep off the grass of her property before the old woman stopped talking completely and turned to head back into her house.

Shaking her head, Adelia turned to look back at the path in front of her towards town. RPGs sucked in real life...how did this stuff fly in actual games? She thought to herself. After a small time walking she passed a few people making their way out of the town, most of which looked well equipped to handle the night time, a few who didn't and who she would no doubt see back at the re-spawn point in the middle of town soon.
 
Jericho watched as another noob spawned near the fountain. It was a woman with cat ears, with a human running up to her. Jericho did his best to mind his own business, thinking of a plan for getting some more money. Seeing as he couldn't sell much else of what he started with, it was going to take a lot of grinding to get some extra gold. He reached inside his coat, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. With the lighter inside the pack, he lit himself up a smoke. The first drag made him slightly light headed from the buzz. It was just like smoking in real life. He'd quit years ago, unable to pass up the opportunity to smoke in game. Why not live a little without the worry of getting cancer?

"Mitch, my love!" Jericho heard the neko girl cry out, wrapping her arms around what Jericho assumed to be her boyfriend. He glanced up, seeing the two sucking face. A sudden pain tugged on a heartstring. He quickly pushed the lonely thoughts in his head aside, growing irritated. He drowned out their making out by pulling up his stats, which read as the following:

PROFESSIONS
Cooking (Higher lvls allow for better cooking of foods for higher HP restore)
Fishing (Higher lvls allow for rarer fish capture. Better food produce)
Gathering (Higher lvls allow for more of a gathered item to be gathered at once)
Alchemy (Higher lvls allow for crafting of higher lvl potions)
Medicine (Higher lvls allow for more effective effects from potions BUT NOT FOOD)
Mining (Higher lvls allow for better/more minerals to be extracted)
Smelting (Higher lvls allow for smelting of higher grade minerals and produce better results)
Crafting (Higher lvls allow for new crafting blueprints and producing better results)
Lock-picking (Higher lvls allow for bypassing harder locks)

SKILLS
Stamina 7 (Physical attacks/applications pool)
Magic (Magic attacks/applications pool)
Strength - 5 (Damage distributed through attack Physical or Magical attack)
Charisma (Chances of passing speech checks)
Accuracy - 2 (Chance of hitting enemy with attack)
Perception (Ability to spot incoming enemies)
Dexterity - 2 (Ability to dodge incoming attacks)
Stealth/Sneak (Ability to sneak up on foes)
Endurance 2 (Determines characters HP and Sprinting time)
Lock-pick (Ability to bypass locks)
One Handed (Proficiency using one handed weapons)
Two Handed - 3 (Proficiency using two handed weapons)

PERKS
None

"Maybe killing a few more boars will bump my level up," he mumbled to himself. "I should be able to take on more than just that though. Maybe. Hmmm...."

Jericho closed the menu that was floating in front of him, completely off guard by the makeout session going on. The neko girl and the guy had moved from sucking face to straight up dry humping.

"Anybody wanna buy a girlfriend?!" Another player yelled. Although the voice was female, Jericho had his doubts on it actually being a female player.

"Send tits pics!" Another noob screamed out. "I don't care from who, just send me some!"

Jericho picked himself up, walking away from the center of things, shaking his head. He made his way in the direction of the fields.
 
Adelia finally managed to make it into the actual town, houses disappearing behind her as she reached the shops and markets. A lot of the stalls were already closing, and she knew she wouldn't have the speech checks to keep them open, so she hurried further in. She found herself by the main water fountain, looking around for anywhere that was still open amongst the sea of people. Jeez didn't people sleep?

She spotted a small vender just packing up shop, the fabric roof of his cart still open as he started to clear things off the shelves on it. "Oh, hey wait!" She called, holding a hand out as she ran towards it. As she approached him, the vender turned to look at her, a sudden smile on his face. "Welcome, how can I help you today?" He asked. She sighed in relief, managing to have caught him before his speech patterns changed over for the night.

The bartering did not go well...her meat was of low quality, which she already knew, but even cooked she couldn't get much for it. With a decent speech check she would have been able to get 10 more silver, but without that she was lucky to get the 5 silver she did. At least she could afford to rest somewhere now...

Taking the silver she looked around, still not sure of the layout of the sprawling town, but spotting a nearby tavern. She was hungry, her stomach making it known as she put the silver into her inventory. Currently she had 2 gold and 3 silver on her; if she bought some non-essentials from the tavern she might be able to make something with them.

She started to make her way towards the tavern, a tall, slim looking woman stepping in front of her, barring her way. "Hey sweetie, want a girlfriend?" She said in a sugar sweet voice, batting her eyelids. For a moment Adelia didn't know how to respond, simply blinking at her. "No? Well how about being a girlfriend?" The woman looked her up and down. "Some people pay for your kind...and it pays well" she said, leaning in and dropping her sweet voice for a bit. "I can make sure you get all the cash you want" she said, before Adelia took a step back. "I um...no thanks I..." She looked towards the tavern, unsure of what to do.
 
Jericho hurried his way from the fountain, passing a tavern. A sign hung above the door, reading "The Dragons Kiss." Certainly an interesting name. It actually made Jericho stop in his tracks. For a moment, he found himself lost in the artwork that chipped away on the wooden sign.

"I um...no thanks I..."

Jericho turned his head, seeing a Teifling standing next to the lanky woman. Clearly, the Teifling wasn't enjoying her encounter, with Jericho wondering if he should do something. As much as he wanted to get involved, the last thing he needed was an additional headache.

He sighed, knowing he was most likely going to regret his decision either way.

"Hey," he spoke in their direction. "Everything alright over here?"
 
Adelia looked up at the voice, surprised that he'd gotten so close without her realising. The woman turned to him, looking him over once and sneering at him. A sudden idea popped into her mind, and she didn't have time to reason with herself before putting it into play.

"Honey! I'm so glad I found you! This game is really big huh?" She said, giggling and stepping to his side, looping her arm in his immediately. Her face was the picture of sweetness as she smiled at him and then back to the woman.

"Ah sorry, taken~" She singsonged, pointing to the man and hanging off his arm a bit, leaning into his side. "Not the job for me" she said waving a hand. Her heart was racing, and she hoped this man was here to help her and not make things harder. She had always had a skill for bluffing things, one of the few talents she had that were transferable in this world.
 
Jericho found himself to be speechless, with the stranger hanging to his arm. He saw the desperation in her eyes, picking up on things rather quickly. Forcing the most comfortable smile he could muster up, he did his best to play along.

"I was wondering where you went?" he said. Jericho, for whatever reason, felt compelled to look down at her chest. He wasn't even sly about it, soon finding himself growing red in the face. He quickly turned his attention to the slender hag, narrowing his eyes at her. "I apologize, but my girlfriend won't be taking any part of whatever it is that you do. Nothing personal, but like she already said: taken."

The slender hag didn't budge, with Jericho questioning if he skill check was high enough to get through to her.

(I've been botching speech checks all day,) he thought to himself. (There's no way I'll-")

"Fine," she nearly spat, Jericho in awe that it somehow worked. "Keep a better eye on your.... GIRL next time."

She huffed, puffing out her chest and storming off. Jericho let out a relieved sigh.

"Well that could have gone worse then it did," he mentioned. Jericho eyed the stranger, once again staring a little longer than he intended. "And who might you be?"
 
Adelia found herself letting out an equally relieved breath, not completely letting her guard though as she sees the woman cast a glance over her shoulder at them. She turns to the man, smiling in the same way again, "come on honey, lets get some food and a bed for the night" she says, eyes flicking to where the woman was and pulling him in the direction of the tavern.

She keeps the act up the whole way to the tavern, laughing and hanging on his arm like he was the most precious thing to her, but once they step into the tavern and the door closes behind them, she lets go and takes a step away, putting some distance between them.

Her whole face drops its act, leaving her looking a bit worn and out and fairly upset, a pout settling on her face. It take her a few second to remember the guy is actually there, and that he has asked her a question. "Oh! Sorry, Adelia, I'm Adelia" she says, holding a hand out for him to shake.
 
Jericho returned her handshake, focused on how exhausted she looked.

"You look like you've been grinding all day," he chuckled. "Sounds like me yesterday."

Jericho smirked, looking over to the door.

"If I run into that lady again, I'll let her know I'm out to get you flowers or something."

Jericho laughed, making his way to the tavern door.

"Nice meeting you, Adelia."

He continued on his way.
 
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