One-Girl FedEx (Solo)

[Arrasi]

UNKNOWN SONGS THAT TRAVELERS SING THEY SOUND FAMILIAR TO ME

”Okay! Fast and reliable service, that's what I do! I'll have this over to your friend in no time!” Arrasi stuffed a parcel of potions into her bag and watched as they all popped up in her inventory menu. Four total, four potions that would have to make it to this other player before the sun set over London. She didn't know the urgency of the delivery, just that she had to make sure the potions were carried safe and sound through the dizzying array of London streets. That's where things got tricky. Arrasi knew she promised “fast and reliable service”, but with her Level 1 skill it was a miracle that anyone had even deigned to hire her. It was probably the desperation of the new situation everyone was stuck in. Not many players could keep their heads on straight, a situation that Arrasi chose to take advantage of. With such a panic, even a low-level Courier like herself could find enough business to both keep up some funds and grind her way to a decent skill level. She watched her customer walk away with a pleasant smile on her face, the one she named her “Customer Service Smile” - bright, cheery, happy and just a little too sweet for her taste. Once she was sure the player was gone, she pulled out her map and located the delivery point. The dot blinked on her map – it was on the other side of the city. No wonder this player was too lazy to deliver it themselves. Arrasi's map was basic, just enough for her to work her way around the main streets that criss-crossed London, but all the little side streets and alleys were missing. Once she had a higher Scribe level she would fill those areas in herself, but as for now her deliveries would take longer without the advantage of shortcuts. With a new resolve, Arrasi tucked the map back into her bag and turned in the direction of her delivery. It was still afternoon, which meant that there were still players roaming the streets – merchants selling wares, explorers looking for parties, and guilds looking to haul in new members. Arrasi ignored all of them as she went about her mission. She was focused, and she didn't need half the stuff players were offering her anyway. Besides, she knew most of them were dreadfully overpriced, a side-effect of the panic. Many players wanted to move stock around as quickly as possible in order to secure their funds just in case they would need it later. Hoarding was an all-too-familiar consequence of a population of players too nervous about the future to worry about anyone else but themselves, and Arrasi was no better than any of them. Taking whatever missions she could get was her way of hoarding. If she could just get enough gold to support herself for a month or so, then maybe she wouldn't feel so nervous as she walked the streets. She still didn't understand what she was doing here in the game world, but having her financial independence was her first goal, then she could go about finding a guild or a party. That was going to be difficult without having her brother around with her. A Bard/Courier could only do so much on their own without a lot of combat skills backing her up. All these thoughts swirled around Arrasi's mind as she walked the city streets. The sun was already lowering fast. If she didn't see her checkpoint light soon, she knew she was going to have a difficult time completing this mission. Words: 602

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GANGNAM STYLE

[Arrasi]

UNKNOWN SONGS THAT TRAVELERS SING THEY SOUND FAMILIAR TO ME

Arrasi stared at the wall of yet another dead end. This mission wasn't turning out very well for her. The streetlamps were just starting to flicker on, and she was still too far away from her target to get her checkpoint light to work. The dot on her map was still blinking, but it had moved to another location on her map, thus rendering her previous route useless. In an attempt to make up for lost time, she decided to risk taking a few unconfirmed shortcuts. None of them paid off, and now she was dreadfully lost in the abyss of London streets. The lamplight barely reached the area she was in, and the encroaching darkness only made her stress even more. London at night wasn't always the prettiest place, and she didn't want to hang around to see how bad things could get. Luckily, or rather unluckily, for her, the dot on her map had left the city limits of London. Whoever it was had just started heading into the wilderness. Arrasi gulped. It looked like she was going to have to head out there, too. She tried to find a main road as quickly as she could. Once she had her bearings again, she began to hasten towards the city gates. Now that she was on a main road again, the lamps were brighter and there were less shady figures around to trap her in side alleys and coerce her into buying stupid things or forcing her into a guild. Her heartbeat had slowed a little, but it still was racing at the upcoming task. She had never gone out of the city alone, not without a party for her to stay with. Now that she stood at the threshold of the wilderness, she couldn't help but imagine the worst. The forests beyond were dark and ominous. If only her levels were higher. If only she had better weapons. If only. If only. If only. With a deep breath, Arrasi took her first steps into the forest. It wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be. The moonlight trickled through the foliage above her, and the monster spawn rates were apparently quite low in this area. This player didn't want to be disturbed for some reason, or else he would have found a different place with more monsters to kill so he could gain EXP. Maybe he was gathering supplies? At least Arrasi understood the sunset deadline now: her client knew this player was going to be leaving the city after dark. At least he could have warned her of this before sending her out to find him. The forest was quiet, though, and Arrasi was just starting to relax a little. This forest wasn't all that scary now that she thought about it. In fact, it was actually quite beautiful, especially with that beam of light a little ways away. Wait. Beam of light. Arrasi pulled out her map to make absolutely certain and, yes, that beam of light was definitely her checkpoint. Her target was in reach! She suddenly picked up her pace, running as fast as she could toward the player before he could get out of range. Nothing else mattered. She had to make this delivery. She had to make sure it was a success, mostly. Her rush to completion made her drop her guard, though. Arrasi didn't hear the crack of broken twigs behind her, and she definitely didn't see the net hiding beneath the pile of leaves in her path. As soon as her boots touched the rope, her stride was broken by the snap and lift of a classic net trap. Her heart skipped a beat before she realized what had happened. She was at least seven feet in the air, bundled up in a net dangling from a tree. A trio of Humans, all three Swashbucklers, appeared from out of the shadows and surrounded Arrasi. ”Looks like we caught ourselves a messenger girl,” one of the players said. Arrasi had heard rumors about things like this: rogue players targeting lone travelers in order to PK and steal their items. She cursed herself for not being more cautious. Her target was already heading out of range again. If she didn't think of a way out of this situation soon, she would lose him again. Level 1 Courier missions weren't supposed to be this hard, were they? Arrasi looked down at the Swashbucklers below. Their menacing grins told her she didn't have much time before they did something drastic. There had to be a way out of this. There just had to be. Words: 774

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GANGNAM STYLE

[Arrasi]

UNKNOWN SONGS THAT TRAVELERS SING THEY SOUND FAMILIAR TO ME

Okay, this was bad. This was very, very bad. Getting caught up in a stupid trap was one thing, but being PK'd on a mission was another. Arrasi rarely got angry, but right now her blood was beginning to boil. How dare these players make a fool of her. Why, if she was playing one of her old games, she would have walloped them by now. She hated her low level. She was better than this, and she knew it. Her heart rate was steadily increasing as panic began to set in. The net they had trapped her in was a tough one – her weapons weren't strong enough to break it. There was a hole at the top that she could pull open if she tried, but that required more time than she had. It was then that she started hearing growls. Looking back down at the ground, Arrasi spotted a few monsters that had spawned not too far away. Their teeth were bared, and they looked prepared to chase down the rogue players that had trapped her. What luck! The players that had been harassing her spotted the new enemies. At first they looked like they were going to try to hold their ground, but a closer look at the level of the monsters convinced them otherwise. Soon enough they were running as fast as they could away from Arrasi, leaving her stuck in the net hanging from the tree. “Okay, nice and easy. Just take your time,” Arrasi muttered to herself as she started to pull the net open at the top. The hole slowly grew bigger and bigger, leading Arrasi to believe that she hadn't been the only one caught in this trap before. A few of the ropes had been cut, no doubt by someone with a higher level weapon who had attempted to escape. Soon enough Arrasi had half of her body out of the net before her grip on the ropes slipped and she fell to the ground with a yelp and a thump. Arrasi muttered a few curses under her breath as she sat up and tried to get her bearings again. The trees weren't too thick in this area. She'd be able to see her target's beam of light once more if she moved fast enough. With that in mind, Arrasi stood up and began to hasten in the direction she had last seen it. Her steps were light and cautious, though. The monsters that had run by before were far too difficult for her to deal with at her level. If more of them spawned...well, Arrasi didn't want to think about something like that. She had never been to the Cathedral before, and she didn't want this mission to be the cause of her first visit. Suddenly her signal beam burst into light directly ahead of her. That was all the encouragement the Bard needed to break out into a sprint. C'mon, c'mon! Almost there! Arrasi was panting as she slid to a halt at the edge of a clearing. Standing on the other end was a Samurai who looked like he was obviously waiting for someone. He had probably been with that group that had tried to PK her. In that case, Arrasi had a few choice words for him. She took a deep breath, preparing herself to shout, but decided to hold her tongue. All she wanted was to complete this mission, then she could just move on with her life (or whatever this game existence was). Opening up her inventory, she pulled out the item that she had been carrying for delivery and made her way across the clearing. “Here's your package, sir,” Arrasi said as she shoved the box into his chest. His face looked utterly bewildered to see her standing there, but that didn't matter to the small Courier girl. A small ding let her know that her mission was complete, finally. Before the Samurai could do anything else, Arrasi began to run back to Londinium as fast as she could. There was no point in finishing the mission if her recipient was just going to take her down like the others in the forest, and she wanted to avoid running into any other monsters. It was a relief to finish the mission, but she next time she would have to be more cautious. Words: 729

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GANGNAM STYLE