Overreach [IC, PG-16]

[Draconus297]

The demo city had been open for hours, and most people simply stared at the countdown timer waiting for the gates to open. It was because they were staring that they noticed that a huge, silver face appeared right over the town's clock tower.

 

"Before the gates and the world that is Overreach are open to you, I have been sent to inform you on some basic game functions," the face said, in a voice that was too neutral to be human, but too soft and nuanced to be computer-generated- quite the conundrum.

 

"First, we have your Status menu, because every one of those seven numbers serves multiple purposes." The voice seemed to ignore the outcry at this statement, and quite a few people immediately went into their status menu to see how utterly screwed they might be.

 

"As in any RPG, your HP determines how much damage you can sustain before you die. However, this also determines how many edible items can be consumed in a single hour- this even includes edibles that do not restore HP, like Herbs." Suddenly, many who weren't either a Mage expecting healing spells or bulky in terms of HP began swearing profusely.

 

"Secondly, we have your Strength. This both serves as your garden-variety physical attack stat and determines your raw physical strength for things like moving heavy boulders or blocking attacks." This left many more cursing as they began thinking how little their damage potential may be, and how boned they were if they needed to block.

 

"Third, we have your Endurance. This is your Defense stat, and if one needs to be able to take a hit they will need this to be very high. However, your Endurance is also essential due to the fact that it defines your carry weight limit. The higher this number, the more things you can carry- multiply it by 10, and that's your wallet's maximum, as well." Some people immediately logged out in furious ragequit noticing suspiciously low END.

 

"Fourth, your Mana. You may have noticed that you lack a mana meter in your HUD. This is because Mana determines the power of spells and special abilities, not how often they are used- that is based upon each ability's cooldown. However, for Mages this is the most necessary stat, as it determines the power of your offensive spells, the resilience of your barriers, the restorative power of your healing . . . the list is quite long." This statement didn't induce as much rage, but many still cursed.

 

"Fifth on the list is Focus. This determines your critical hit rate, as well as increases the range of ranged attacks like arrows and projectile spells. If two people have the exact same Focus, neither will ever obtain a critical hit. However, if one's Focus is just slightly higher, the difference over the higher Focus is your chance of landing a crit." Those who had signed on as Rangers began grinning, as they realized just how much power they wielded in this world.

 

"Sixth is Reflex. This is accuracy and evasion rolled into one- just like Focus, if it is equal between parties, all attacks without their own accuracy check will be successful. The party with higher Reflex will have a chance to dodge, and can even land otherwise-inaccurate attacks, as the gap widens. However, area-of-effect attacks for the most part ignore Reflex." Yet more rage came from the crowd, as they realized the implications of this.

 

"Last is Agility, which determines both your movement speed and rate of attack for physical attacks." This last sent the crowd into a ballistic rage, which made the rest of the explanations impossible to hear . . . however, those with their Status screens still open realized that there was one item in their inventory- two for Mages.

 

Suddenly, the screaming rage stopped as lush, green fields dotted occasionally by trees, small monsters, and rocks materialized beyond the gates . . . which swung open. Those that stayed in town were delighted to note that NPCs had begun moving, and could be talked to for simple quests or tidbits of information.

 

However, for most . . . the adventure had begun, and the race was on.

[mitchermitcher]

Demo City

HOLY

 

"That's one weird looking face..." HOLY frowned upon seeing the visage appear over the clock counter. It was a strange way to announce things but she'll roll with it. HOLY was dressed in standard knight armor, but without a helmet covering her face. She had long blonde hair tied in a braid and her appearance generally gave off a maidenly, un-erotic aura.

 

The face began to speak, and informed the participants in the area of the meaning of their stats. HOLY wasn't quite aware of the standard for high stats, but she felt she would be fine. Her HP, reflex, and agility were a little higher than the rest of her stats but she wasn't quite sure. Somehow it seemed the announcement made a decent number of people log out too, which only meant there was less competition for the end reward.

 

The end reward.

 

A hundred and fifty million dollars(she didn't calculate the yen pricing but it's roughly a hundred times that) was a lot to ask for. And all she had to do was clear an MMO's main quest. Perhaps it'll be an ordeal to do so but considering she only had to give some of her time(often spent playing other MMOs anyway), she might as well do it. In real life, she(or HOLY supposed, 'he') was a relatively poor college student and the extra money would be really nice.

 

The face on the clock stopped talking, and before people could speak up, the town gate opened, revealing a lush green field with monsters ahead. It was time to begin adventuring.

 

[spoiler=OOC]I really don't know what else to do with an IC post that doesn't give much but I tried. Not sure if I should reveal my stats quite yet so I just mentioned some general details about it.

 

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Tokiko Sonada had been spending much more time in the customization screen than most could be bothered with, and as a result, it would only be natural that the avatar that was WereF0X would be late to the scene. She distanced herself from the other players as she waited for the gates of Demo City to open. As the timer began to count down, a big ugly head had been reared above the clock tower, welcoming everyone to the game and going over the basics. The first thing it explained was all these stats that could be seen in everyone's Status Menus... which prompted WereF0X to go to her own. It was here that she noted that she got a free shield, which was useless to her considering she was aiming to go for the full-on brawler route. Still, perhaps she could trade it for a potion or something, or sell it, hopefully for a decent amount of bronze. That was something that had to be figured out on the spot, among... other things, as WereF0X would later realize.

Sure enough, the head went through all the stats. HP was obvious enough, but in addition to its usual role, it apparently governed how much stuff characters could eat in a single hour, which WereF0X was surprised was a thing. Thankfully her own HP stat was as high as she could've possible expected to hope for, so this news affected her little. Her strength was poor though, and just to rub it in, the head decided it would glorify all the cool things one could do with a good strength stat. No doubt this was seriously something that Tokiko would have to heavily invest in if WereF0X was to get anywhere. Most of the rage-quitting happened when the head droned on about the endurance stat, leaving WereF0X to suspect some really shitty rolls for that stat in particular. Hers was fine though. However...

 

"You may have noticed that you lack a mana meter in your HUD. This is because Mana determines the power of spells and special abilities, not how often they are used..." Now this was just an insult to Tokiko specifically. Here was a stat that proved to be useless to her since she had been going for a brawler, yet they decided to make her mana stat rather decent, meaning that many stats points have effectively gone to waste. Then that stupid head decided to reveal a buff that all those Rangers had, but didn't need(!), as well as glorify another thing that WereF0X was unable to do well because of a shitty roll stat. But finally she caught a break.

"Last is Agility, which determines both your movement speed and rate of attack for physical attacks." This, like WereF0X's HP stat, was as high as she could possibly hope for, as this stat alone could alleviate her poor strength stat for relatively decent DPS. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to give her confidence in PKing the rest of the players, which she was tempted to do when their noobish and trollish behavior effectively silenced what the rest of the head was trying to say. If they were smart, they'd quit their jabroniing and at least try to listen out for ways to alleviate the problems that their shitty rolls may have cursed them with. Then again, if the artificial intelligence of the head was actually, properly intelligence, it would've no doubt detected the gargantuan flood of jabroniing and shut all the offenders up before it continued with its lecture; perhaps even boot them if it came down to it. But alas, this kind of bullshit always happened.

 

...

 

Eventually, the players that had stuck around went about their different ways. For WereF0X, the first order of business was to get rid of this shield; so she looked around for people that could use one. Most everyone else had already ran out into the wilderness, and out of those that stuck around to get some supplies, many were mages, assassins and rangers, which, like her also had no use for a shield. But she did find a few swordsmen who might.

 

"Would anyone like to trade a shield for anything?" asked WereF0X.

[👀 REP 👀]

Demo City

CalypZoe

---

 

CalypZoe let out a loud audible sigh, clearly irritated. She had been waiting in Demo City for quite some times now, and it was extremely boring. There really wasn't much to do other than use that fancy translator thing that was hyped a while ago - something her father in the real world wouldn't stop talking about. It wasn't too bad - the giant timer was close to reaching 0. She headed towards the gates.

 

Suddenly, a giant grey head appeared over where the timer was - she could only assume it was an announcement, seeing as the timer was so close. Any temptation to simply ignore the head faded away when it started babbling on about game functions and a Status menu. Opening the menu, she noticed her stats. They...weren't exactly what she had in mind, seeing as she was a Theif. However, she didn't let this dissuade her like the others - primarily because she wasn't sure what the stats did. Luckily, the head seemed to go through all the stats and describe them.

 

First, the head went on to explain the function of HP. The mention of how it affects what consumables the player could take took her by surprise, especially considering that it was one of her lower stats. The fact that it affected all consumables and not just HP restoring ones was the most critical part of it all. It seemed like she wasn't the only one to get the short end of the stick here - others were audibly upset. Well, at least she wasn't a warrior...

 

She was also surprised to hear about how STR works, although this was a more pleasant surprise due to her higher STR. The biggest surprise was that it helped with blocking attack. This was very strange for her class - commonly, a Thief isn't usually blocking attacks, but it is definitely appreciated. It also made up for her low-ish END, which unfortunately meant that she couldn't hold as much money or loot. When she heard this fact she let out an audible curse, alongside the waves of complaints from the players around her - some were so mad that they logged out!

 

She was too focused on hearing about END that she droned out a bit from the MNA explanation. From what little she heard, however, she wasn't really missing out on much with her low MNA. Hearing about FOC and RFX put her back in a good mood, as her stats were high in those regards. They also seemed really important for what her class wanted to do - the combination of high FOC and STR meant that she was more than likely going to be dealing massive damage, and her FOC made up for her lower HP and END. She was quite happy - even the fact that her AGI wasn't great at all could put her down. It was something she was going to have to get used to though - she was more used to playing with high DPS rather than flat burst damage. She would also have to avoid AoE attacks, but she was already used to doing that. 

 

Before she knew it, the announcement was over and time had flew during that time - once the face faded, the gates seemed to slowly open. At the same time, all the NPCs started moving. It was time for her adventure to begin! She thought it would probably be best to hand back in town and talk to NPCs, hopefully getting some sweet loot and quests.

[Durandamon]

Demo City

BLKKK-Knight

 

"For having such a hefty prize money, this game sure seems..." A bored and slightly annoyed BLKKK-Knight poked at an NPC to get him to talk, but it didn't seem to work at all, "...underwhelming." The blond swordsman sat against a wall, sighing as he waited for the game to begin. He wasn't as anxious as the others around him, since Luna had logged in relatively late to the party due to an awfully timed blackout. 

 

Suddenly and without notice, a grey face appear on the town's clock tower and started talking. It briefly explained the stats and their functionality, while BLKKK-Knight did his best to hear it over the moans and complaints of the people around him. Most stats did just as expected, but he still found himself frowning while checking his own.

 

"My Health and Endurance are pretty damn high, I could have been a Guardian instead. My strength is also quite up there with my Reflexes, but my Agility and Focus..." BLKKK-Knight sighed at the 11 score on both stats that were crucial for a swift and stylish swordsman, "My Mana is low too, but its not like I'm gonna be using a lot of spe-"

 

He was suddenly interrupted by the gates swinging open and most players rushing out for adventure. After a couple of minutes, most players were already gone, yet BLKKK-Knight remained to do what he did best; barter. 

 

"Would anyone like to trade a shield for anything?"

 

"Speaking of Rome..." He thought, as he turned towards the source of the voice. A red-headed female stood a few feet from him, distance which he quickly shortened as he introduced himself, "I believe I heard something about a...shield?" BLKKK-Knight had to look up at her, since she was at least 10 centimeters taller than him. Coupled with her voluptuous body, she gave off an intimidating Amazonian vibe. It seemed like a bad idea to get on that person's bad side, plus she could be useful further ahead. Because of this, instead of outright trying to scam her, BLKKK-Knight tried something else, "Say, I've got nothing to trade since we just started, like everybody else. And the NPCs probably wont give you much for a starting shield, so I say we do this: You give me this weak little shield..." He paused a bit, for emphasis, "...and I'll stick around for a bit, maybe help you get some loot in the process. You might just get something way better than this starting item, and you get to travel with this handsome devil!" He extended his right hand, an impish grin on his face, "Deal?"

 

Of course the shield was worthless, even if it helped BLKKK-Knight given his rather tanky stats. Getting into a party as soon as possible was BLKKK-Knight's best shot for success, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

[Draconus297]

-Carimm Field-

A lush, green meadow extends as far as the eye can see, which is admittedly not far- to compensate for potential draw distance issues on Day 1 until the servers were fully operational, Demo City is essentially in a grassy bowl.

 

Before HOLY can get too far from the town gates, he is accosted by a large, fuzzy creature that resembles a massive gopher. Its attack misses, but it definitely blocks the Swordsman's path. Over its head, there's a gray information box:

 

[urdi - Lv 1 {C}]

 

In the HUD, a small notification pings:

[[Your First Battle! Enable Tutorials? Y/N]]

 

-Demo City-

CalypZoe comes across a single NPC, a shivering old woman. "Help!" She cries, "please, help me! All I want is to make it to the fruit tree on the hill!"

 

A gray information box pops up:

[Fruit on the Hill

Objectives: (2)

Guide Tow to the fruit tree on the hill.

Protect Tow while she harvests 8 fruit.

 

Rewards: (3)

Bronze (15)

EXP (6)

??? Fruit (1)]

 

Not ten feet away, however, are a female Swordsman and Guardian, under the awning of one of the inns in town (which visibly costs 20 Bronze per stay).

[mitchermitcher]

Carimm Field

HOLY

 

HOLY started walking. Unlike the many users who logged in hours before the game started, she only finished character customization a small while ago. She kept moving her body and limbs around in strange ways until she felt used to it. It was calibration, she supposed. In her lapse of awareness, she didn't notice a monster approaching her until it was quite too late. A large...rodent of some sort jumped in and attacked her...

 

"Woah!" ...an attack which she very narrowly dodged perhaps due to her high AGI.

 

"Welp, a monster's appeared."

bgm

She drew her sword and was just ready to attack when a prompt appeared in front of her eyes.

 

[[Your First Battle! Enable Tutorials? Y/N]]

 

Without much thought her finger hovered to the 'Yes' button.

[Draconus297]

A small fairy, no taller than one of HOLY's forearm was long, popped into existence a short distance from the sword-wielding girl's head. "Hi!" it said, using a voice that sounded like a duplicate of the voice selected for HOLY (if admittedly slightly higher-pitched), and a form that resembled the swordswoman's own. "I am Sylvia, the tutorial fairy! If at any point you don't need my help to continue, feel free to say 'I am a competent player' aloud, and I will go away forever! But I wouldn't!" The fairy said with a finger-wag. "I can give you information on thousands of subjects regarding how things work in the game, and I can also give you hints to guide you on difficult quests! Just know that, as long as I'm around, I take up a party member slot, so you can only play with four friends and still get my help, instead of five."

 

The fairy shrugged, silently adding a "I didn't make up the rule" to that statement. "Now, since this is your first battle, let's go over the basics- the weapon you have is a Single-Edge Starter Sword. It's a colorless weapon, meaning there are no special bonuses you get for using it, but you don't get penalized, either. Striking with the blade edge deals 8 damage, and fighting with the blunt edge deals 3 damage. Stabbing is treated as a strike with the sharp edge, although that isn't true for all tippered weapons- check each weapon's description before you equip it!" Sylvia seemed to be yelling this, as if it was extremely important.

 

"See that Urdi? The [C] next to its name tells you it's a colorless enemy- it doesn't resist weapons of any color, but none do super-effective damage either. Each color resists itself, and is weak to its opposite . . . except Brown. Brown has no resistances, and is weak to itself." Sylvia giggles. "Brown is a very silly color indeed. Anyway, you can learn all about an enemy by killing just one- then it's forever logged in your Journal, which you can access in the Menu. If you party up with someone who has killed a certain enemy that you haven't, all entries in their Journal get transferred to yours! Yay!"

 

The fairy floated in midair, before adding, "Ask any questions you want, but that Urdi still wants to fight. Good thing it has terrible Reflex- it misses most attacks in general. Still, I wouldn't push my luck, because it's strong enough to pack a real punch!"

 

Just as she speaks, the Urdi fails another attack, tripping on absolutely nothing.

[👀 REP 👀]

Demo City

CalypZoe

---

 

She hadn't quite found as many NPCs as she would of hoped for, and out of the few that she found none of them were Quest Givers - most of them spouted the same NPC nonsense. However, she did eventually find an old lady. "Help!" She cries, "please, help me! All I want is to make it to the fruit tree on the hill!" As soon as the old lady finished her plea, a grey message box popped up

 

[Fruit on the Hill
Objectives: (2)
Guide Tow to the fruit tree on the hill.
Protect Tow while she harvests 8 fruit.

Rewards: (3)
Bronze (15)
EXP (6)
??? Fruit (1)]

 

"Finally..." CalypZoe thought to herself. "Sure, I'll help you!" she let out her hand and gestured the old lady to follow her. "Where is this hill, anyways? I assume its out there..." she pointed out to the grassy meadows outside. As she waited for the old lady to respond, CalypZoe opened up her inventory to see if they gave her any beginner items. As expected, she did receive one - two, if you want to get technical. Yes, the item in question was a pair of dual blades - the in-game name being Twin Daggers. She equipped the dagger, preparing herself to use it against any potential hostiles in the meadow. And with that, the two of them were off, headed towards the direction of the Hill.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

"I believe I heard something about a... shield?" asked a swordsman who'd then approached WereF0X, "Say, I've got nothing to trade since we just started, like everybody else. And the NPCs probably wont give you much for a starting shield, so I say we do this: You give me this weak little shield... and I'll stick around for a bit, maybe help you get some loot in the process. You might just get something way better than this starting item, and you get to travel with this handsome devil! Deal?"

 

WereF0X was half-expecting the swordsman to cough up a portion of what little bronze he had, but this guy seemed to be smart... and offered up an interesting proposal. Instead giving anything right then and there, the man offered to personally help with getting some good loot for WereF0X. She didn't know if he intended to stop after she got off the ground or if this was supposed to be more permanent thing, but between her bottom-of-the-barrel reflex, her insultingly useless mana and her DPS potential alleviated only by her gargantuan agility, an early-game ally would definitely be of use. The aspect of having to share this massive sum of money that she'd otherwise have to herself was off-putting, but if the swordsman was only strong enough to help her to a certain point...

 

"Hmmmm..." WereF0X pretended to continue thinking, but in truth she'd already made up her mind, "Throw in 10 bronze and you have a deal... maybe."

 

Of course, she was more than happy to negotiate how much bronze the swordsman would have to give up in order to sweeten the deal; just as long as she had something a bit more... immediate, in case he had any bright ideas in stopping sooner than she'd hoped for.

[mitchermitcher]

Carimm Field

HOLY

 

"Ask any questions you want, but that Urdi still wants to fight. Good thing it has terrible Reflex- it misses most attacks in general. Still, I wouldn't push my luck, because it's strong enough to pack a real punch!"

 

Hearing the fairy's explanations, HOLY waved around her Single-Edge Starter Sword, feeling its weight again. It wasn't uncomfortable. She approached the boar after its failed attempt to attack and lightly pierced it with her sword, feeling the hit land, then jumped back and prepared her stance, ready for a counterattack to come.

 

She turned towards the fairy while keeping her eye on the boar and asked, "Alright then, what skills do I have? Do I have any skills or do I kill this thing with only normal attacks?"

[Draconus297]

-Carimm Field-

 

"Yes, yes it is," the old woman, named by her quest description as "Tow", says softly. "Right over there," Tow indicates a small hill near the edge of the bowl-shape Demo City is in. Sitting on that hill is a relatively low-to-the-ground fruit tree, nearly a bush with how short its trunk is. Fruit of many varieties seem to hang from its branches, in many colors and shapes. "It's a dangerous journey that far out . . ." she says, trailing off, just as an oversized rodent bounds up to CalypZoe.

 

Over its head is a simple gray information box:

 

[urdi - Lvl 1 {C}]

 

In fact, the further out CalypZoe can see, dozens of them dot the field here and there . . . and quite a few are looking directly at Tow, approaching the old woman with their slow, hopping gait.

 

/////////

 

Not too far away, HOLY can see the old woman, and CalypZoe, cornered by the approaching Urdi- she can notice this only over another gray dialog box popping up in front of her eyes.

 

[[CONGRATULATIONS!

 

Defeated Enemy: Urdi

EXP Gain- 5

 

Items recovered: (3)

Battered Skin (2)

Bronze (3)

Odd Pebble (1)]]

 

"As a Swordsman, you have the Rage ability. This increases your Agility and Strength by your Mana for five seconds if your HP is at half or below. It's still just physical attacks, but it can save your life! You have to trigger it manually, however," Sylvia says, warning in her tone. "But that doesn't matter, you won! Check your Status screen, and maybe read your Journal to check the base stats of Urdi!"

[mitchermitcher]

Demo City

HOLY

 

HOLY was a little surprised she killed it in one shot. She supposed it was early-game so things were easy then. She got some EXP and drops out of it so she won't complain much. Chances were things will only get harder, considering the end reward for the main quest. She waved her hand around, closing the notification window. Just now she saw an NPC and a player about to get attacked by more boars and helping them out meant more EXP. Checking out her journal or stat screen comes later.

 

"Welp, let's go." She prepared her sword and rushed straight towards the boar nearest the two.

[👀 REP 👀]

Demo City

CalypZoe

---

 
"It's a dangerous journey that far out..." Tow had said, trailing off as the adamant young woman rushed towards the meadows. Before she could reply with a quip, however, what looked like an oversized rodent had appeared in front of her. Above this adorably hideous creature was a grey box
 
[urdi - Lvl 1 {C}]
 
CalypZoe drew her now equipped Twin Blades and prepared herself to rush right at the little bastard and start ripping it apart. However, as she moved forward, she noticed that there were definitely more than one of these things. Not only that, but they all seemed to be...er, well, "rushing" wouldn't be the correct word to use here. It was more like a very slow gallop that they were doing. Regardless, she couldn't leave Tow alone, seeing as this was an escort mission. "I hate escort missions..." she said under her breathe, aiming her blades at the Urdi in front of her, her thumbs firmly grasping the bottom of each blade. "Tow, stay behind me at all time!" She barked at the NPC behind her, before approached the Urdi. She couldn't help but noticed that a paladin-looking character - probably another player - had taken note of them and was rushing into the Urdi that she was about to engage with. 

[Draconus297]

-Demo City-

It was at that inopportune moment that BLKKK-Knight disconnected, leaving WereF0X standing under the awning of the inn talking with empty air.

 

-Carimm Field-

Tow, hearing CalypZoe's order, stood exactly behind the Thief: admittedly a vaguely bad idea when this would wind up with her being struck by elbows as she swung her Twin Blades.

 

Just as she came into striking range, a tiny prompt blocked some of her vision:

 

[[Your First Battle! Enable Tutorials? (Y/N)]]

 

In addition, HOLY found herself being pestered by the little tutorial fairy, Sylvia. "If you party up with someone, then you both will gain XP from fights and quests either of you enters- however, anyone who doesn't contribute or is offline gets only half of the XP of someone who contributed, and they only gain half the XP of the person responsible for finishing a quest or landing the final blow on an enemy. But, if you're not partied up with the player who started the fight, you can never finish off the enemy, and when they do die you get no XP!"

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 

"Hmph," WereF0X shrugged her shoulders at the random disconnection from the man she was negotiating with, "Guess that settles it,"

 

It'd be funny if the guy had rage-quit over the fact that he couldn't get the shield for free, but it was unlikely that that was the case; this seemed more like the proper type of DC over an incidental one. However, WereF0X was still dismayed that she was stuck with a shield that she didn't want, there was no-one else for miles. There was only one thing for it; she'd have to go to the armor shop and see exactly how much this stupid thing was worth.

 

While she was here, WereF0X also browsed through the available armors for sale. True, there was no way in hell she'd be able to afford anything good, but it was worth looking at prices anyway, just so she knew how much gold to save up for her next visit. Specifically, WereF0X browsed for anything and everything that would increase her Strength and/or Reflex stats, as these were the two stats she needed buffed the most.

[👀 REP 👀]

Demo City

CalypZoe

---

 
The beast - an Urdi, as the game was quick to tell her - was approaching towards her and was almost at striking range. CalypZoe had been so excited to get into her first battle that she hadn't even noticed that she had hit Tow, who had stood behind her just like Zoe had told her to do. Before she could dig her daggers into the over-sized rat, however, a grey prompt had appeared over her.

 

[[Your First Battle! Enable Tutorials? (Y/N)]]

 

"Oh?" She had planned on winging it and hoping for the best. At first, she scoffed - she didn't need a tutorial, she was CalypZoe! However, after thinking about it some more, she decided that it would probably be for the best. After all, the designer of the game was cryptic as hell! Nothing made sense in this game - what type of MMO doesn't let you customize your stats? Not to mention the website was full of strangeness - from the multiple languages to an overall lack of information about the game itself. "This better be worth my time..." She muttered under her breath and, with her dagger still in her right hand, she reached over with her left and press the "yes" button on the prompt, still keeping an eye on the Urdi, although she doubt that this thing was going to cause her or Tow any problems.

[Htamret]

???

Celine Raines 

A girl flung open the door to her room, threw her belongings on the floor and closed the door. Celine was late for the release of Overreach, the VRMMO with a promise of 150 million dollars to the first party to complete the main quest line. Even with the largest possible party of six, she had no idea what she would do with twenty five million dollars. Either way, the prize was the last thing on her mind since she was late for the release.

“Stupid bus, stupid traffic…”she muttered under her breath, waiting anxiously for her system to start up.

Even though the first city was already online, she held off on making her character in case any information was decoded from the game’s annoyingly cryptic website. This decision turned out to be a good one, since the characteristics of the colors selectable during character creation were found. After looking over them, she decided that Ebon seemed the most interesting one, but might be a bit of a challenge to work with.

The game was finally ready, and Celine logged on to be greeted by the character selection screen.

 

Demo City

Celin3_the_M00nlit 

Celin3 looked around, taking in the sights of Demo City. There were crowds of other players, some preparing to leave the city and others talking, trying to find parties or trade. One thing in particular she noticed as she wandered through the city was the number of people talking about their stats: some bragging, but most were complaining. This concerned her, and she opened her status screen without missing a step. She was greeted with seven abbreviations and corresponding numbers

“Hm, not bad,” she mumbled, relieved, “at least, I think they aren’t…”

Most of the stats were obvious, but she knew every game treated them slightly differently, so she wasn’t sure if STR or END corresponded to carry weight, and based on the rest of her experience so far, the answer was bound to be painfully convoluted. They were both a fairly dismal 10, but her other stats seemed fairly good. Her AGI was her highest stat with her RFX, whatever that was, close behind. Erfecks? Must be Reflexes, I guess... Maybe it helps with dodging?  One thing she knew for sure was that those two would be good for an Assassin like her. She wasn't quite sure what FOC and RFX did, but having them be high was bound to be good. Her low END and HP were concerning. As an Assassin she didn’t expect to be a tank, but she still needed some survivability, especially since she didn’t have a party yet. Finding some armor would be important. She headed to the direction of the weapon shop. Realizing she didn’t know what she had started with, Celin3 stopped and opened her inventory. In it she found a book and some throwing knives. Interesting starting weapon, but what’s this book?

“'Contains useful information', huh? Sounds like a tutorial to me. Wonder how many people checked this?” She let out a chuckle at the thought of how much fun the devs must have had making the game so user-unfriendly.

Taking note of the direction she was heading, and of any potential people in her way, she cracked open the book, hoping it wouldn’t be too hard to understand whatever was inside, and hoped she could find something, or someone, to help avoid damage.

 

[spoiler: OOC]

Hope this isn't too long, but I suppose all these intro posts are. I tried to work my late joining into the character's lateness as well ^^; I look forward to RPing with you all!