The Waking Nightmare [Sarum Special Quest]

[Hanelli]

"Can't hit what you can't see!" ☒ bunji, Nisha, Shepard Dagon, Ruin, Narihama ✐ 403 ✉ Sarum Special Quest! MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

Now that Han had at least one complete set of map pieces for Sarum (there was no possible way all nine would reveal some super-hard quest anyways) she decided to get them together; and once the ‘special quest’ notification appeared, she read it; and quickly sent up a Notification for any interested parties who wanted to join her and see what would happen. In all cases, the party was now filled out quite nicely; so now she was standing at one of the street corners of what she thought was ‘London’; but was apparently known as Londenium anyway. She then kept looking at the three map pieces that had somehow come together; reading and re-reading the rather… bare quest details that were written on the back flap. “So… find the Fairy Gate and then bring this thing there… and then what happens?” she muttered to herself, looking up every so often just in case the interested people who wanted to come along for the ride showed up and were pretty much ready to dive into this ‘unknown adventure’ that the map promised them. What could this be… she thought as she squinted at it again, but huffing and giving up a few moments later; rolling it back up and dropping it into her Inventory once again. She then began pawing through the Interface and saw that there were still some apples from one of her earlier quests just… sitting there, so she plucked one of the greener ones out and began biting into it; chewing and savoring the mildly tangy flavor as it rolled across her tongue. She then leaned herself against the lamp post nearby, and chanced to look p; because even if it looked ‘modern’, somehow there was still no ‘electricity’ present as one would call it. Is this game really set in a fast-forwarded future with no electricity or it’s just really set up this way… I find it quite weird because there are real signs of ‘modernization’ here and there… she thought to herself as he worked her way through said apple, looking up every five minutes or so in order to check if there were any approaching individuals heading her way. She had sent them all a message containing the rendezvous point and time; now she played ‘the waiting game’ while munching away at the apple that she was now turning into a core due to her hunger. ----- (posts will be done via 'rounds'; meaning after I post, anyone can post in whatever order they want. Once everyone has posted, a new 'round' begins with me posting again. e.g.: Me / Bunji / Narihama / Dusty / Nisha / Shepard for Round 1; Me / Nisha / Shepard / Dusty / Bunji / Narihama for Round 2; and so on and so forth until this entire thing is over. Just try to post at least once a day, and let's do this!)

[Ruin]

London had the look of a city reinvented. Green vines and shoots twined around lampposts and crawled across the old, weather-beaten facades of stone and brick buildings. Here and there he could see green carpeting walls and rooftops, the occasional vine drooping down from above. Flowers bloomed among bare branches, delicate pink blossoms waving gently against the backdrop of a brilliant blue sky. Whatever the faults of this new land, weather was not one of them: the sun was high and the sky was clear, light sparkling against glass windows and the occasional fountain. The ramshackle collection of shops and stands of the People of the Land speckled the streets like a renaissance fair, their voices loud and competitively strident as they hawked their wares. A breeze blew by, bringing with it the appetizing smells of roasting meat and candied fruit.

Ruin took in a deep breath, letting the stench of civilization and all its various little amenities and evils seep deep into his lungs. His stomach rumbled and he found his feet walking, quite on their own accord, towards the closest food stall. Crumbling croissants, loaves of dark bread, and wheels of exotic cheeses lined the shelves, their delightful presence on display for all to see and salivate over. Ruin purchased one of everything, blowing nearly a third of his entire armor fund in a single, delicious shot.

He’d make it up later, hopefully. If not, ah well. He took a bite and flavor exploded into his mouth, causing him to forget about his worries. It was definitely worth it.

Munching on his snacks, crumbs falling unheeded down his chin and onto his shirt, he made his way through the marketplace, browsing through various stalls. The pavement beneath his feet was pleasantly warm, as was the food in his hands. He wiggled his toes: his shoes had long ago worn out their soles, a helpful Lander had replaced them with cardboard, cutting and gluing the new soles on top of the old. Thin as they were, they did little to shield his feet from the local environment or random encounter, but on the flipside he picked up on the subtle movements of people walking over the ground more easily.

Plus, they were really quite comfortable.

Window shopping was not his forte, but there were interesting wares on display today. Potions that were supposed to cure baldness and chickenspots, strips of white paper with red characters painted on in what looked to be an oriental script, a fascinating variety of edged weaponry that he had already learned much to his despair he could not effectively utilize, as well as a musty number of tomes and volumes of magic he probably could. Nothing quite caught his eye even when the bell started to ring, signalling the end of the hour and the beginning of the meeting time with the rest of the quest takers, but that was the way it was, sometimes. He could always come back later.

Ambling through the crowd, he made his way to the designated intersection. There was a petite waif of a girl waiting at the street corner just as the instructions had indicated. Ruin waved merrily, striding forward to meet her.

“Ms. Hanelli,” he called, “hello!”

[bunji]

I will hunt you down... The message had been received earlier he had started making his way back from the Marshlands to London since then, the man walked with a steady pace to his step the long black cloak that clung to his figure would flow from his shoulders to dance at the ankles. A hood rested atop his head casting a shadow over his red eyes, with only his mouth, and nose visible he found himself smiling as he made his way to the destination that the coordinates instructed him to go to. The streets of this ruined city where as they had always been, decorated with stands run by different Landers, and players alike who had put their craft to the test. A long soft tail flowed behind him wagging side to side as he walked along finding its exit point thanks to the small hole he had made on the cloak when he put this thing together, all the while his black leather armor hugged his figure nicely each piece strapping to place neatly. The boots which covered his feet would push off the ground as he walked along making his way towards the location where he was supposed to meet with Hanelli, and what he assumed would be the rest of the group. A fox tails eyes raised from the ground as he rested them on the feminine figure of his mate, a smile crept across his features; walking towards Hanelli, and the unfamiliar face he would raise a hand overhead. Open hand with his fingers spread apart he would give them a welcoming wave as he approached the duo, "Hey there!" he called out stopping when he was right within a decent speaking range that he didn't have to yell anymore. The hand that hung overhead would drop to his side, the samurai eying the girl he knew all too well, and the stranger whom he had never met before. It seemed this would be a day of new experiences, and new faces as well Bunji was up for it! Once he was there he would settle next to Han, leaning on the wall she had taken up crossing his arms over his chest he looked up from under his hood those piercing red orbs locking themselves on the man that stood before them. "Don't believe we've met friend, I'm Bunji" he said with a nod of the head to substitute a typical wave.
	words 403 tags @the peeps notes Group quest!
...escaping is futile...

made by jasmin - for sir paya use only

[Nisha]

So it was going to happen, huh? Nisha had gotten a message from han telling her that the special quest was going to start and where to meet up. Nisha had wondered what kind of thing would await them, but aside from having to meet up with the others, she did not really know what she would do or what they would have to do, but looking down on people from the tower she had slept on was not going to help her get any closer. Another point of record for her, the bellfry was at least higher than the last tree she had slept in. back in the real world, she had never much cared about heights, but had neither feared them as well, but in here it had something magical to sleep so high up and enjoy the quiet and clearness of the sky in the night. And even if it rained, like yesterday, the sky was still a thing of wonder to her in this game, intricate cloud designs and so far she had not seen any repeats or loops in the clouds, maybe some kind of random code that put these things together? Whatever it was, quite some time had to have been used to craft and program these. Nisha walked down the small steps around the belltower leading up and down. She had only climbed up since there had been these steps, otherwise she would have just slept outside of london again.

Brushing over her head and tail a little to get the fluff back, she reached the last step and wondered which way the meeting place was again. She shrugged and began walking toward the center for now, changing direction whenever she saw a marking or something else leading her closer to the place indicated and there, not too far off was where several people already stood, her brother was there too, Nisha wondered if he had leveled up at all since back then, looking at her own level for just a second, she strolled over to the group. Only one person there she did not know, a red haired guy. Well, she wondered what level would it average to and if she would be below or above it, no matter where she was, she knew that with the people around, she would at least have fun. And with this team, they would even have a chance at this special mission and maybe get it done with quickly. Waving at everyone as she reached the group and came into talking distance, she said: "Nice to see you again Han, let´s go bowling some other time again. Nice to meet you. Hi brother, seems like you got the memo too, how have you been?" Nisha extended her hand in a handshake toward the new guy and to anyone who might be showing up as well, as soon as they were in her reach.

Words: 488
Mood: Excited
Tags: Hanelli Ruin bunji Narihama Shepard Dagon Data Holder

[Narihama]

.

MP: 100%

HP: 100%

Tagged: Nisha Hanelli bunji Ruin Shepard Dagon

OOC: swy nisha :3 (also, have i forgot anyone else to tag? and i'm meant to be lvl 12)

Equipped:

Great Shield & Starter Halberd | Starter Platemail (with a helmet to boot)

Skill
Heavy Anchor

<Nari’s Apartment> <before start of quest>
Nari’s apartment was Dark but not clouded, the light blocked by some curtains, last night’s meal still on the table, finished and “supposed” to be taken out, Nari, whose in the shower was rudely interrupted by a sudden flicker of a message screen like always, Nari is always pestered by at least someone in this game, Nari looks at the message sender… a message from the “cute little fluff ball”, Nisha, asking me to join in with her quest that she’s partaking in, a now perplexed Nari looks at the context even more, “huh? A Gate?” Nari thinks out loud, “what is that?” of course Nari knows of the Teleport Gates that broke down when we were trapped here, but there was another Gate?, of what kind?, as always there was Nisha’s little trademarked “N” at the end signifying it was her who sent the message, she should really get it trademarked anyway though, after finishing the context of the message, it would seem that Nari will be with a rumoured famous chemist and her side kick, another fox tail samurai, great, just great, another one whose a fox tail, and whose also a samurai, Nari sighs with annoyance after that though plopped into his mind, “including those three, it said that a couple more people would join in aswell, including her brother? Nisha has a little brother?” Now THAT thought brought a very long winded sigh from the guardian, “might as well as bring my armour just in case”,with that said, Nari bring out his HUGE armour spanning the rest of his once half naked (topless) self, now, Nari also grabs his helmet, the more people look at Nari with the helmet on, the more people stay far away from him, probably because they can only see a yellowish gold eye in the eye slit, but that’s what Nari “Thinks” though.

Nari left his apartment, noticing other people that he knows can see him, people like Oxford and Kumori walk past him, and don’t notice him, huh, seems everyone forgets who Nari is since Nari usually runs around fighting with his top off, wow Nari sounds like a dick (not really xD), while walking, people try to clear a way past him since the menacing look of what Nari looks like can even scare an old man nearly half to death, still walking to destination Nari is, but just in time to notice someone as Nari turned, a samurai with donning a black cloak, “creepy, pervert” were the first thoughts that plopped into Nari’s mind, almost subconsciously, “wow, got to remind myself to never, ever eat takoyaki before going to a shower…” Nari thought, “Is he… Yes He Is! , I can smell his scent anywhere” Nari noticing that he’s the samurai whose the side kick of the chemist, Nari subsequently also notices Nisha after him, Nari sees a lot of other people too, like the chemist for example, “not a time I want to be hiding hey?” Nari thought as he walked up to them and faces Nisha, His armour gives him a menacing vibe though his way of speaking doesn’t, Nari also didn’t care for first impressions this time, “yo Nisha, what’s with the sudden message you give me?”, Nari asks with a slightly annoyed tone, also “I’m Narihama Torikota, nice to meet you” is of what he said to the other participants.

WordCount: 571

[Shepard Dagon]

Back To the Real World... Not.

Perhaps it was mere coincidence, perhaps not, but Shepard was close in the area when the notification of an special quest arrived from an Hanelli’s invitation, it displayed an energy similar to the portal we had go through that time in Stonehedge, some sort of event, an what an event, we ended up in the body of other heroes, centuries ago, and became so overpower that we managed to close a deal with the druidic authorities and prevent war, we even had the chance to look at en pure blood Alv, an extinguished race, such invitation was sure worth the try, also Shepard did knew Hanelli from an old quest done in also, Sarum territory, so, why not?

-Shepard-
Let’s see, Sarum Special Quest, Maps 1 to 3 reunited, Fairy Gate displayed at… Londenium? Why here?

A beam of light crossed the sky, showing the location of the now active Fairy Gate, being in a rush, Shepard started to race towards the place so it won’t close before he got in, luckily arriving just in time to see some others adventurers get in, just having one more place to fill in the quest group, what should it be this time? He wondered, it has to be this city, but what happened here? Perhaps the story of how it came to be? Only one way to know so, Shepard crossed the portal and everything faded to black, and began to feel weird…

-Shepard-
Wha…

The loss of consciousness was inevitable, at least for a few second, before falling from a chair and waking up in a full alert state, just to end up overwhelmed by what he saw there, around him… that place, the bed, the computer, the very chair he just fell from, everything… it was home. Shepard’s surprise stopped his breathing for a moment, why, why he was there? Running through the house made him notice no one was there, but even so he felt relief, until a little “peep” made his eyes became wide open; a notification, the quest status changed… “Go to the meeting point”. He still inside the game, but everything was so real, he even was using the clothes he was wearing the day he was sucked in the game… he took a moment for himself to recover, changed the clothes to the fully black suit, bandaged his burnt half part of the body to cover it and went off to the meeting place.

Once he arrived a familiar figure showed up, Hanelli? She was eating an apple, yes, it was her, but near her there where some other players, looking a bit less lost, soon stared at the bandaged guy, who stared at the floor as he got closer.

-Shepard-
Hello…

It was the only word, he began to feel the tension in his body, it wasn’t such a good idea to get in this mission, and he remembered why he hated to walk out of his home so much.

-Shepard-
Just... do not say anything

When he joined the group the quest status changed, and a timer came with it, waiting for the confirmation of the adventurers. “- Speak with the Ataruva executives.”… Ataruva was the enterprise which released Elder Tale, so that was it, Shepard confirmed and keep looking at the ground, there wasn’t much to do, he will keep shut as long as he wasn’t needed to speak.

Tags: Hanelli bunji Ruin Nisha Narihama
Word Count: 575
OOC: Thanks for waiting, I ended up approving so it was worth it, sorry for the delay.

[Hanelli]

"Herpaderp." ☒ bunji, Nisha, Narihama, Ruin, Shepard Dagon ✐ 803 ✉ Let the madness commence! Anyone can post after me, this is basically Round 2! PS: Sorry for the late reply, stupid ISP took a vacation and borked. MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

Now that the ‘participants’ had gathered up; Han looked up and saw a bevy of familiar faces; with a particular redhead’s making her face turn just the slightest shade of pink! Of course, she knew Nisha; but didn’t know that she had a relative who was also stuck in the game! He looks… clownish. Is that what he’s going for? She thought to herself as she saw his name on the display in her peripheral vision; and there was another (Narihama) who she hadn’t yet met, but looked to be a very interesting companion to hang out with, too. Now that Shepard (or Shep, at least in her mind) had shown up, she then took a few more bites of the apple before disposing of the apple core that remained. “So yeah… let’s get going and see what happens,” she began, dropping the Sarum Map out of her inventory and then flipping it around so that everyone had a look-see. She then looked around and then saw that, quite conveniently (or quite creepily) there were signs leading them to the Fairy Gate… and a few minutes of trekking later; they’d all arrived at the place. “Here goes…” she said to nobody in particular, offering the map up to the seemingly gaping gate that led… nowhere. It was like time was going in slow motion; before suddenly speeding up; the glyph-like carvings on the ground beneath the Fairy Gate began to glow softly at first; and there was a tiny speck of light that seemingly appeared in the middle of the entire gate-like structure itself. it then started to thrum, before throbbing and actually expanding in size; up to the point that there was now a portal leading through it; and the glyph-like carvings were glowing so much it was almost too dazzling to look at. “Whatever you do, try to stick together as much as you can!” she said before actually stepping into the light! Now, what self-sane adventurer would just go into something that glowed so brightly it was almost too blinding to look at? This girl, right here! The moment she went through, the light then swallowed her up; and she presumed, everyone else who was with her too. Right at that same moment, she also felt something wallop her on the side of the head, making her orientation suddenly go all fuzzy; and she continued through the light, to no avail… Ugh… must stay awake! She thought to herself, trying to see through the brightness, but it was too much and she felt her eyelids droop. A few moments later… “Ugh… what the hell was that?!” she growled, shaking her head and then looking around; everything looked… familiar yet alien at the same time! Wondering if it was just a dream, she then saw that there were people walking by… people wearing ordinary clothing. “What the… wait a second…” she said to herself, blinking so many times her eyes were going like a blur. She then looked around and down at herself; she was wearing the exact same clothing she had on before diving into the Tale! My black boots… my jeans, my jacket, my scruffy shirt, my scarf… my beanie… what the hell?! She thought, looking around and seeing that instead of the Londinium that she’d grown so accustomed to, it was.. London, the capital of her adopted home country. “Wh… wait a second…” she said, letting her eyesight wander to the peripheral corners; why was there an interface?! She then clapped her own hands to her ears; but instead of them being long and pointy; they were all… normal-shaped and human-sized. “Ah crap. Are you serious?!” she hissed to herself in Japanese, switching back to her mother language for a moment; before looking around and trying to find her companions. “Uhhh, guys… is it just me or do you all still have your Interfaces? Look carefully around your field of vision… this is impossible…” she began; before seeing that there was a flashing notification; and apparently it had the same details as the special Sarum quest she’d taken; they had to go to this place called ‘Ataruva’; which was something she… was not too familiar with. Speak with them about the Tale? The Catastrophe! This is our chance to get word out that the Game has trapped a lot of players! She thought to herself, suddenly springing into action. “Okay, so… I’ll admit, I’m not familiar with London’s actual topography… where can we find the Ataruva offices?” she asked, hoping that one of her companions had an idea of how to get around this ‘London’ they were now stuck in. It feels so real, if it wasn’t for the Interface… shit! She thought to herself, hissing and looking at the seemingly… normal sights that were assaulting her senses!

[bunji]

I will hunt you down... The was not entirely sure why such a large gathering of players, but he had to expect this was a difficult quest at least one that would require so much man power to be taken on. Deep down he was anxious, he felt a sense of excitement wash over him giving him a bit of a rush, he could only imagine what sort of challenges awaited them, Hanelli would be the first to walk in after activating some sort of gate? He was note entirely sure what it was, all he knew was that it was bright, and the light was spreading out creeping everywhere as if it was ready to swallow up the entire group. "Tch..." was all Bunji could say as he raised his right arm up to shield his eyes from the blinding light, before he knew it everything went black he couldn't see or hear anything all he knew was that the light had taken him. ....When he could finally hear he would have his ears barraged by the sound of Hanelli's familiar voice Bunji would lower his arm slowly his eyes opening only to widen as he looked around, just where the hell was he!? The red head walked ahead of the pack a few steps until he ended up a few feet separated from the ground. With surprise taking hold of his vocals he would not say a word, only look around his eyes taking in the details of his surroundings; from what he gathered the ruined city had been replaced with, the actual London? He blinked a few times, shaking his head doing his best to try to figure out if this was real or not...it was then that he looked down to find the outfit he was wearing. "No way..." he whispered as he realized he was wearing the same outfit he had worn the day he decided to play the game, the pair of dark blue jeans with the random tears, the black long sleeve that loosely hung from his figure, and even the bracelet he had received from his mother. The emotional strings where tugged for a moment as he found himself lost in a trance not even listening to what Hanelli had said, "Tch...this can't be real" he said lowering his hand to hide the bracelet from his view, the fox tail, and fuzzy fox ears that normally decorated his figure where gone. It was then that he noticed it too, the lingering interface Bunji would frown a sense of disappointment washing over him as he watched the others behind him from over his shoulder. All he knew for a fact was that this was not real, the interface was still here, which meant that they were still in the game stuck like rats in a maze. Bunji remained quiet, his attention entirely on the surroundings now as he waited for the group to get their thoughts together so they could move along. Quite honestly though he was not only angry, but he wished he had his katana so he could let his anger out; all he knew was that this was still the game, the interface said so, and he didn't understand why such a cruel joke had to played on them. Bunji stuffed his hands into his pocket quietly waiting for the group to move along so he could follow to wherever they had to go.
	words 541 tags Hanelli Nisha Narihama notes wut?
...escaping is futile...

made by jasmin - for sir paya use only

[Nisha]

Having done all the greetings and getting all the formalities over, quickly taking a peek at everyone´s names, Nisha wondered when they would start. Since they were at the fairy gate maybe they would go somewhere? Nisha remembered how travel with these had felt, or rather not felt since it was all just graphic back then on her virtual gear. But right now if they would travel, it would be real, making Nisha worry if they would get through without a scratch or maybe be torn to pieces and wake up in the church on the altar. Ahh, she really hoped they would go somewhere fun though, somewhere she had never been before, maybe some kind of really fantastic landscape, maybe even the moon? How cool would it be to jump that high? Or some kinda living planet thing, maybe they would go all shadow of the colossus on something big and threatening, taking on swarms of low level stuff while trying to find weakspots, it would be awesome. Silently praying for such a thing to happen, she was also aware that the other way could come true as well. Something boring like coming out and having to do a guarding mission, an escort or simply deliver a package, those would be quite boring and would dampen her mood to the extreme.

Sighing, she preapred herself for whatever would happen to her and the people around her, since han and her brother was around, she had no real thoughts of just not doing this, even more so since the idea of seeing a working fairy gate again and maybe be one of the first ones since the apocalypse to walk through one. Waiting for han to do her stuff, she saw how the gate opened and was kinda baffled, sure she had thought this could have happened, but damn, really seeing it active again was quite something and then that bright light. Seeing how han and bunji walked through it, she only waited for them to disappear before jumping in too, feeling the sensation of travel as well as that overbearing brightness all over as she tried to open her eyes to see what was going on, but there was only blinding light and as far as she could tell nothing else. And then it was over and she stumbled out on the other side of the gateway, or well, she stumbled into something that looked damn well like the london Nisha knew. Goddangit, she had wanted to not be out as one of the first, why, how, was there a way back? Nisha looked around and saw han and bunji who had arrived first and then noticed that her body was still different, her hair was still this color, she was still shorter and looking down, yes, she was definitely still in her gaming body and then there was the interface as well. She sighed relieved and was made aware of their new quest direction. At first she wondered where this came from, were they really going to have some kind of impact on the game by doing this kind of quest? Nisha did not really care about progress, but all in all the quest did not sound very interesting and there was no fun to have around here, she did not know london like the back of her hand, but knew of interesting places quite well and this was definitely not a spot where much went down, it was just one of the thousands of streets with all kinds of stuff, but nothing special about it, actually it was such a plain street she did not even now in what area of london they were right away. But her head was swimming as well from all the information and she was close to panicking or just straight away baffled as well, not knowing what to do now. But if no one would take the rudder and control this, they would just strand here for longer and Nisha did not want to stay here any longer than she had been already, london was so gray and bad for people who were used to having the action of fighting monsters all around them at any time.

"Ah, calm down han and bunji, no need to fret over this, we are definitely likely maybe still in the game, as for directions." Nisha said and walked toward a few trashcans. London being the damn tourism attraction it was, there was no way none of these would not have, aha! Tourists were always wielding these like a weapon, but discarded them just as easily, holding a map of london in her hand, she returned back to the group and put her long hair behind her ears while folding it out... long hair? Nisha felt her behind and sighed, no tail, her ears were back to normal and her hair was longer, well, seems like she had taken her human form. But even though they now had a map, she was not too sure about the address, sure she knew the address from when she had visited london for one of the many festivals and shopping, she was sure she had at least passed it once, but she hoped that either one of the others knew better or that they would ask someone around here to find out. "Does anyone of you know the address or where we are?" Nisha asked and looked around if there were any points of interest close that they could see.

Words: 922
Tags: bunji Hanelli Shepard Dagon Narihama