An icy wind blows through the small, barred window of the interrogation room threatening to put out the only torch illuminating the small cramped space. The sound of dripping water patters to the ground in uneven drops as the icicle that had formed under the torch's sconce hours ago melted from the heat of the flame. It was an almost defiant sound as the water refused to return to it's icy prison. It was this battle of the elements that seemed to add to the tension of the small room. Across the table from you were a pair of guards clad in plate and chain mail. One of the two bore a full helm that he never removed. Part of you wondered why. With the temperatures so cold, it must have been incredibly uncomfortable to wear ice cold metal over their head. Or perhaps the helmet was slightly stuffy as most of the man's breath would be contained within the helmet thus keeping it warm. The sound of something slamming into the table pulls you away from your thoughts. "I'm telling you. We know as much as you do!" Irene shouts as she glares daggers at the two men in front of you. The two of you had been in detainment for about an hour or so after the fight. The guard directly in front of you, a rather serious man who was clearly at the end of his patience speaks up once more. "And we're telling you that it makes no sense that two foreigners, who just recently arrived, immediately find signs of heresy in our city. So we can only assume that you might have had something to do with this." He says, his arms crossed and hands tugging irritably at one of his sleeves. Irene throws her hands up in the air. "What more do you want us to say? That we're here to kill the High Priest? Maybe burn the whole city of Valford and it's surrounding towns to the ground?!" Irene shouts back. "We've told you already! We're just travelers!" "You'd do well to keep your servant in check, sir. Her outbursts look poorly on your house." The guard grunts out through gritted teeth. "I'm not his servant! I'm his teammate! He's not even a noble!" Irene continues to shout. The two of them had been arguing in circles for quite some time and it seemed that the only thing you and the other guard had in common was that neither of you seemed to have the opening to speak up. Part of you found it very amusing and another part of you found it rather fascinating. Irene was never like this outside of the game. She was always far more calm and collected. As a matter of fact, you don't think you'd ever seen her angry at work.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Mon 08 Sep 2025 04:30:45 No. 6303455 Report Quoted By:
You make your choices and choose the palm strike and the single use weapon proficiency. Being able to create space is always good and you remember using that skill to great effect when you used to play. However, the proficiency was probably going to be your hidden ace. Unpredictability seemed to be what you were leaning into. Combined with whatever gadgets you could get from your profession, you hope that other players will have trouble being able to pin your down or predict your next move. That extra second of hesitation could be the difference between a teammate arriving to assist or an enemy flanking you. There was of course the fun that would come from dealing damage using an opponent's enchanted weapon against them or their ally. You begin to wonder if your choice in proficiency would lead to more options for deflecting and disarming foes. Your thoughts are interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps stomping rapidly making their way towards your room. Moments later the door slams open despite the lock. Simultaneously, you roll across the table and kick it on it's side as makeshift cover as you fly on pure instinct. "John! Why didn't you tell me!?" A familiar voice booms out, more pleadingly than angry. There's the sound of something striking flesh and the immediate clicking of the door closing as a loud sigh fills the room. "Not so loud! You want the whole server to hear?" Irene says in exasperation. You peek out from the side of table to see a behemoth of a man standing at the door way, tears flowing down his cheeks in comical amounts as he emotes. His hair flows like a river down his back and around the giant glaive that hung behind him. Irene stands behind him, face buried in one of her hands, head shaking. "You can come out John. It's just me and <span class="mu-i">Roland</span>." She says collecting herself. Roland turns around and gives Irene a look. "Hey, not cool. We don't use real names here." He complains. "You just used John's name." Irene counters. "It's only fair. Anyways, his online name is Regal_20 but he just goes as the Traveler for some reason." "WHAT?!" Roland quickly lumbers over towards you, moves the table aside as if it were a simple chair and grabs you by the shoulders. "That's you too!?" He asks before dramatically looking away and emote crying again while accidentally lifting you to your feet. "It's like I don't even know who you are anymore, dude!"
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Mon 08 Sep 2025 04:31:48 No. 6303456 Report Quoted By:
You give Irene a pleading look but she simply shrugs. You start to wonder how you look like to other people when you play. "I didn't really mean to keep it from you. It all kind of...just happened." You say weakly. "Server Records don't just happen by accident man! You gotta be like some kind of super genius." Roland says as he puts you down. He claps you on the back with the force that felt like a warhammer and grins. "Its like I told you. All the big guilds are gonna want you in when they learn about that! You should totally join one. I bet you could even get into a pro team if you work at it!" You do your best to get your knees to stop buckling and give your boss a weak grin. "I think I'll pass for now. I kind of just want to play the game. Plus, being a pro takes a lot of time. I couldn't work at the cafe and do it at the same time." "No way man! If you go pro, you'll probably get a decent salary even if you're just a reserve player. You could totally take all the time off you need!" He says in his usual amicable self. "You could even quit working at the cafe actually..." He says, rubbing his chin in thought. "Well...at least he's settled down now." Irene says as she grabs a chair and takes a seat. Roland steps back and seems to appraise you. "So you're really doing it, huh? You're sticking to the Hero class?" He asks. "Yeah. It's been working for me so far. I might as well see how far I can push it." You say. Roland nods sagely as he moves to take a nearby seat before something seems to register in his mind and he stands up right away. "Wait! You're telling me you 2 manned the tutorial dungeon as the Hero class?!" He shouts, sending his chair flying. You rub the back of your head. Perhaps it was best to fill Roland in on the finer details before he has an outburst in public. --- "Yoo...no wonder everyone's talking about you. There's rumors flying everywhere." Roland says as he drinks from his cup. As you retold your story from the beginning, Irene had walked back to tavern keep and ordered a pot of coffee which you all were sharing. "I knew I should have gotten the chef profession." She sighs, slightly disappointed at the flavor and adding a bit more milk to it. "I heard some of the other guilds have started sending out scouts looking for you." Roland continues. "Not often that they do that you know. Normally they try and poach you from other guilds during pvp or world bosses." "So, they're hunting him down? For recruiting?" Irene asks. "Seems like a lot of effort for one guy."
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Mon 08 Sep 2025 04:33:23 No. 6303457 Report Quoted By:
"It kind of makes sense though." You say, pouring yourself another cup. "First person to find someone of that popularity has first dibs to set the recruitment incentives. They don't need to price match other guilds, and if the deal is lucrative enough...or at least appears to be then they can pick him up without issue. Now they have the added benefit of saying said person personally favors your guild. It's like free advertisement. More players will flock over just to play with the popular guy and that means more guild dues, more people to run content and farm materials. On the real life side of things, it means more potential fans for your pro team to sell merchandise too. Or at least to donate on their streams. On the corporate angle, it looks good on paper that so many players are interested in your guild/team. Makes it more tempting for sponsors to offer investment. Imagine if the cafe suddenly became a big fan of Evolution or Rising Dragon. Tons of their fan base would come over just to be with like minded people. Companies can point to that to see how much of a good idea investing in them would be if locally owned shops are aligning with their team." "Is it really like that?" Irene asks in genuine curiosity. You nod, speaking from some experience. "It was a big thing in the early years of the competitive scene. Teams had to show that they were worth pouring money into and not just a fleeting fad. Nowadays, I'm guessing it's one of the safer investments with how much e-sports have exploded. One of the big draws is how easy it seems for the average person to become a professional. No need for hitting the gym, or being born with the right genetics. Just as long as you're good at the game. The companies behind pro teams probably capitalize on that. If you join their guild there might be the one chance a recruiter will see how well you play or how much you contributed." You explain. "Of course, it's not that easy. Genetics still come into play, there's always someone who interfaces better with the dive software, or someone with better reflexes. Maybe someone who doesn't free under pressure." You shrug. "When it comes to competition, especially one that pays, teams will grab every advantage they can get. First and foremost being the person behind the wheel." "He's right about that. For all of the thousands of people people streaming the game or playing in arenas, only one or two actually go pro." Roland agrees. "I don't even think I've seen or heard of anyone from the cafe making to the pro leagues and we get tons of fans of the game coming in and out."
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Mon 08 Sep 2025 04:34:24 No. 6303459 Report You cough. "Yeah, well...going back a bit about guilds. How about we head out before the place is filled up with more players looking take shelter from the cold?" "Yeah! I'm all ready to go and kill some stuff!" Roland says downing the rest of his coffee in a single gulp. Irene follows suit and drains the rest of her mug. "What's the plan?" She asks. >What do you say? >Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it. >Explore the caves at the base of the mountain Valford is built on. Maybe you can find some heretics to interrogate or clues. >Wander the lands around Valford. You think there might be a world boss wandering around you could try and steal. >Explore the lands around Valford. You might fight some players to fight or maybe loot some corpses. >Write in.
Anonymous
>>6303459 >Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it. Anonymous
>>6303459 >Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it. Anonymous
>>6303459 >Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it. Anonymous
>>6303459 >Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it. Follow up on that lead.
Anonymous
>>6303459 >Go over to the Frozen Gorge. You might need to fill the rest of your party to explore it or you can risk it with just the three of you. Still, if there's a zombie dragon there. It's best you find it. Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Mon 08 Sep 2025 20:20:50 No. 6303710 Report >>6303477 >>6303478 >>6303498 >>6303514 >>6303527 Dungeon time it seems. Do you wish to attempt it with just your friends or do you want to search for more party members.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6303710 Search for more party members.
Anonymous
>>6303710 Do it on our own.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6303710 >Search for more party members. Anonymous
>>6303710 >just your friends small party, farm affinity
Anonymous
>>6303710 Just our friends, it's a game, still fun even if we lose
Anonymous
>>6303710 >Just our friends Anonymous
>>6303710 >just your friends Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6303710 Ask Roland and Irene if they want to look for a random pickup
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Wed 10 Sep 2025 18:46:52 No. 6304517 Report Quoted By:
>>6304038 >>6304002 >>6303930 >>6303921 >>6303761 We're just doing it with out friends. Having fun was the whole point of this after all. Writing.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Wed 10 Sep 2025 21:54:34 No. 6304582 Report Quoted By:
"Let's go poke around the Frozen Gorge. It seems like a good enough lead and we could do with some gearing up." You say. Roland pumps his fist in excitement. "All right! Dungeon time! I can't wait to try out my build. Check it out!" He says throwing open a window and expanding it to fit the table to show you all. <span class="mu-g"> Ryuji Yamada (Roland) Class: Fighter Level: 7 Skills/Spells: Taunt: Goad the enemy into facing you, diverting the party's aggro onto yourself. Warcry: Taunt now affects enemies in an area around you. Affected enemies have a chance to have their defenses lowered. Cooldown increased to 20 seconds. Guard: Raise your defense momentarily, reducing damage taken for the next 5 seconds. Cooldown 20 seconds. Endure: Brace your body to withstand the attack. Guard no longer requires a shield. Enemies have a harder time forcibly moving you with their attacks and spells while under the effect of Endure. Power Through Adversity: While wearing Medium or lighter armor, gain extra attack power as your health diminishes. The lighter the armor, the greater the bonus per percentage missing. Polearm expertise: Gain extra damage and attack speed while wielding polearms. [Fighter/Ranger] Pin: Hurl your weapon at an enemy and pin them to the nearest object or surface for 5 seconds. If removed by you, deals extra damage and a chance to cause bleeding otherwise the weapon returns to you at the end of the pin duration. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Steel Cyclone: Whip your weapon around in a 360 degree arc, striking everyone within your weapons range. Weaker enemies have a chance of being knocked down. 15 second cooldown. </span> "You're doing a berserker build?" You surmise. Ryuji grins proudly. "Yeah! I need a few levels and I can upgrade PTA to Berserk and grab Bloodlust to have a bit of self healing." He says excitedly. "You should pick up Equilibrium later too." Irene says as she starts to dig through her bag. "Then you can trade in some of your PTA stacks for more healing. Until then..." She places three small bottles on the table. You take on and weight it in your hand. It was heavier than a regular potion was. "I picked up alchemy on this character and I managed to grab the ability to concentrate potions. So each bottle has 2 doses. Should hold us over until we find a healer." "Actually I was thinking we could hit the dungeon with just the three of us." You say as you put the potion in your inventory. Irene and Ryuji both pause and look at you. "The Frozen Gorge is kinda hard, man. I don't know if we could do it just the three of us. Especially without a healer." Ryuji says. "It's not like the tutorial dungeon."
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Wed 10 Sep 2025 21:55:35 No. 6304583 Report Quoted By:
"He's right. I'm not sure how far we'll get without a cleric. If we want to get to the last boss, we're probably gonna need a full party." Irene agrees. You shrug, "That's fine. I just wanna play to have fun. Even if we can't complete the dungeon, we can get some crazy stories from attempting it. Pretty sure we can at least get the first boss done. That's some loot at least. Not to mention, if we don't run into heretics within the first boss then we're probably chasing a dead end." You say and then grin. "Or we can end up doing the dungeon as a 3 man and give everyone even more reason to hunt us down." Ryuji lets out a laugh. "Fine, I'm down! Let's do it!" He says pulling out a wolf skin cloak from his bags. Irene rolls her eyes with a smile and shrugs. "Well it wouldn't hurt to give it a go." She concedes and stands up. "Let's get going before we change our minds." --- The sounds of crunching snow was quickly fading away as the icy wind picked up. The three of you pulled your cloaks tighter as you push onwards towards the dungeon. For the first part of the journey, you had to shield your eyes to the sun reflecting off the endless white fields that surrounded the mountain of Valford but soon ominous clouds blotted out the sun and the winds began to blow. "This is definitely going to be a blizzard!" Ryuji shouts despite the wind not being loud enough to require it. "We should probably change our route! There's a village nearby we can probably get to before the worst of the it hits!" "We're almost at the dungeon though. If we hurry we can probably enter it before we take too much damage." Irene says. "Isn't there supposed to be a secret boss there too during blizzards?" She was right. The Frozen Gorge was home to the Ancient Yeti secret boss. It had a small chance to spawn in the gorge during blizzards but was not a guarantee. Usually parties who wanted to try and farm the boss would simply camp out at the dungeon entrance and wait for a blizzard to hit before entering. However, given the early nature of the server, it was a toss up if teams were doing this and risk getting jumped by another party or if people were willing to risk walking in the blizzard to try and sneak in with the low visibility. "Do we know if the server first kill has been taken for the yeti boss?" You ask Ryuji, raising your voice slightly to be heard.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Wed 10 Sep 2025 21:56:35 No. 6304584 Report "I glanced at the records before logging on but I didn't see it. I don't think it's been killed yet." He says and grins. "But even if it has, I'm sure we'll get something for three manning it." He adjusts his hood. "Still, I think it'd be better if we wait out the storm if we want to conserve supplies for pushing the dungeon." "We'll have to make a decision soon. The winds are starting pick up more now." Irene says. "If we're pushing forwards, we'll need to tie ourselves to one another or we could get lost in the storm.">What do you do? >Push onwards. The chance to fight another secret boss is too good to pass up. >Head for the nearby village. It'd be for the best that you conserve as much HP and potions as you can. >Turn back and wait the storm out in Valford. You can probably make it in time. >Write in.
Anonymous
>>6304584 >Head for the nearby village. It'd be for the best that you conserve as much HP and potions as you can. Issa shame Serena isn't here.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6304584 >Push onwards. The chance to fight another secret boss is too good to pass up. Our tailor demands rare materials.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6304584 >Push onwards. The chance to fight another secret boss is too good to pass up. the blizzard could also hide the cultists
Anonymous
>>6304584 >Head for the nearby village. It'd be for the best that you conserve as much HP and potions as you can. Speedrunning and scoring secret boss kills is fun, but so is just exploring and spending time with our friends.
Anonymous
>>6304584 >Head for the nearby village. It'd be for the best that you conserve as much HP and potions as you can. Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Thu 11 Sep 2025 22:26:34 No. 6305019 Report Quoted By:
>>6304661 >>6304637 >>6304609 Heading for shelter. Writing.
>>6304609 Yeah. Maybe that can be a later thing. To go look for her. Or maybe just send her a message. It'd make sense if there was an out of game chat function so as to not clash with the full dive stuff. Should have thought of that before actually...
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 01:49:58 No. 6305102 Report Quoted By:
"We should take shelter in the village. We have to conserve our resources if we want to three man the dungeon. Plus we can ask around for rumors there. See if we're on the right track." You say, raising your voice to a near shout as the winds continue to pick up. Your group continues onward as fast as the snow allows you. Flurries of snow whip around and strike your face, forcing you all to pull the hoods of your cloaks tighter and restricting your vision even more. "I think my hair is frozen solid..." Ryuji half groans half screams over the wind. "Where is this village anyways? I thought we should have seen it by now." Irene shouts. "We should be close. I saw the waystone a bit ago." Ryuji replies. "If we haven't gotten turned around then it shouldn't be too far." "We haven't. I think I see light up ahead." You shout and point towards the faint orbs of orange that flickered as you walked towards them. You push onwards and eventually you can see the outlines of buildings in the snow. By the time you step into the village outskirts, your HUD is blinking red with warnings about your clothing providing insufficient protection against the current weather. The three of you hug the houses in an effort to shield yourselves from the blizzard as best you can while you rush towards the closest inn or tavern. Many of the shops that you can see are closed, their doors already piled with snow. If there were any signs of people rushing towards their homes or seeking shelter in other buildings, they were long gone under inches of new snow. "O-o-over th-there!" Ryuji manages to shout over chattering teeth. Your own were chattering so hard that you wondered if the game was going to start threatening you with chipped teeth. You look in the direction where he was pointing. Unlike the various homes around you, the windows were fully lit up from what could only be a multitude of torches and perhaps a large fireplace. If there was an icy version of an oasis, this would be the closest thing. You scurry from building to building as you make your way to safety and when you reach the door, your fingers are almost too numb and stiff to get a good grip. The three of you grab the doorknob in desperation and manage to force the door open before stumbling in. Somehow, you remember to close the door behind you and the three of you slump to the ground, exhausted from travel and now sleepy from the wonderful warmth of the building.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 01:50:58 No. 6305103 Report Quoted By:
In your hazy state, you only vaguely hear something in the distance followed up by the room bursting into laughter. You and your friends pick yourselves up and slowly wander to an open table ignoring the looks and stares around you. Unfortunately, the only one that was left was the farthest from the fireplace and next to a window but being slightly chilly was far better than freezing outside. You let out a long sigh. You forgot how intense the weather could get in game. It certainly didn't pull any punches. Ryuji lets out an exaggerated exhale. "Man. That blizzard is a killer!" He says, leaning forward to rest on the table and motioning for a waitress. His hulking body nearly covering most of the available space. "I don't know if we would have made it to the dungeon if we pushed for it." "We would have. It's only a little farther than this village." Irene says, gingerly dusting the snow off of her and trying to ignore the fact people were still staring at your group. "But I don't know if we'd be in any state if this is how we ended up just getting here. The blizzard still hasn't reached full force either. We need more practice." Ryuji straightens up and lightly punches your shoulder with a grin. "The realism in this game is crazy isn't it? Bet you didn't miss the weather effects." He laughs. You return the grin as you rub the feeling back into your shoulder. They were both right, you had complete forgotten how harsh things could get in game and you certainly needed more time to get used to it again. You couldn't deny, however, that it was quite exhilarating to experience these things anew. You may know about these kinds of things due to your prior experience with the game but nothing beats actually going through it once more. It was almost like you were playing for the first time once more. It brought a certain warmth to your chest. Before you can respond, a young woman arrives at the table. "Hi! Welcome to Homely Hearth. What can I get for you all?" She asks as a few windows pop up in front of the three of you showing you the available foods. It takes you a second for what she says to register not because of the cold but rather the fact she was a player. Interpreting your moment of silence as something else, she adds, "We also have our special menu! These meals are provided by an adventurer such as yourselves so they may be a bit more expensive. Don't worry though! I can assure you that they're worth every coin." With that a second pop up appears as another menu appears.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 01:51:58 No. 6305104 Report "Sure...let me just give the menu a once over." You say, shaking yourself awake. A quick glance at the first menu offers the kind of food you expected from an inn. Meat stews, pies, and other baked goods along with wines, meads, and the like. The second menu was far different. It offered various items that had no real theme or common ingredient that you could recognize but they were all of high quality. >What do you do? >Just get something from the regular menu. You only really want something warm. >Get something from the player menu. It's a bit more expensive but it might taste better. Ask what the waitress recommends. >Ask the waitress what she's doing working here. As a player, she can kill monsters or even level up a profession for money. You don't think the owner of this place can offer her any kind of competitive salary next to that. >Ask about rumors. Maybe the waitress has heard of anything suspicious. >Ask Irene what she thinks is good. She's a cook in real life after all. >Write in.
Anonymous
>>6305104 >Just get something from the regular menu. You only really want something warm. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6305104 >Ask Irene what she thinks is good. She's a cook in real life after all. Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6305104 >Ask the waitress what she's doing working here. As a player, she can kill monsters or even level up a profession for money. You don't think the owner of this place can offer her any kind of competitive salary next to that. Anonymous
>>6305104 >Get something from the player menu. It's a bit more expensive but it might taste better. Ask what the waitress recommends. The good stuff, none of that NPC slop.
Anonymous
Quoted By:
>>6305104 >Ask Irene what she thinks is good. She's a cook in real life after all. If possible, I'd also like to ask the waitress why she is working here as a player
Anonymous
>>6305104 change
>>6305133 to
>Get something from the player menu. It's a bit more expensive but it might taste better. Get something spicy
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 17:36:40 No. 6305338 Report Quoted By:
Got a tie between asking Irene and choosing something spicy from the player menu. I'll give it about an hour and then I'll roll for it.
Anonymous
>>6305104 >Get something from the player menu. It's a bit more expensive but it might taste better. Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 18:43:40 No. 6305374 Report Quoted By:
>>6305361 >>6305293 >>6305188 Getting something spicy it is. Writing.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 20:05:09 No. 6305408 Report Quoted By:
Computer crashed and I just lost like an hour's worth of writing and dialogue. Goddamn it.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 21:07:32 No. 6305454 Report Quoted By:
"What's Rabokki?" You ask Irene as you pour over the player menu. It was the only thing on there that came with a spice warning. Irene looks up from the NPC menu, slightly distracted. "It's a Korean dish. A spin on Tteokbokki which is rice cakes in the shape of cylinders. Kind of like some pastas. It's served with fish cakes and boiled eggs in a chili paste. Depending on how much water is used, it can be a bit more soupy. Rabokki is that but then they added ramen noodles to it. I had some when I went to Korea once. You sure you can handle it? You were kind of dying from that breakfast burrito this morning." She snickers. Ryuji let's out a snort. "I should be fine." You say, hiding your burning face behind the menu. "Wait, you went to Korea? When?" "I was in a student exchange program when I was in college. It's actually one of the reasons I chose to go into cooking. My parents were not happy about it...until the money started coming in." She says with a hint of self satisfaction. "Wow, I've always wanted to travel overseas!" The waitress says before covering her mouth and hiding behind her small notepad. "Oh...sorry." "Does that mean you can speak the language?" Ryuji asks. "Yes. I picked some of it up during the program and then the rest when I interned at 정식당 (Jeongsigdang)." She says fluently. You and Ryuji look at each other and he gives you a shrug. "So how come we don't have Korean food at your cafe?" You ask. Irene shrugs. "I just haven't really considered it. I think it'd clash with the rest of the menu, don't you think?" "No way! You should totally do it!" Ryuji says. "It'd totally attract more customers to the place if we can advertise we have Korean food." Irene laughs. "Are you running a net cafe, or a restaurant?" She asks. "But...I'll think about it. I've been meaning to switch out some items for a while now." "You should make a Korean dish for the potluck." You suggest and Irene seems to think about it. The waitress lets out a nervous noise that you think was meant to get your attention but faltered halfway. "S-so...can I have your orders?" She asks. "Oh, right. What are you getting?" Ryuji asks Irene. "Probably something simple. Leveling up alchemy kind of burned through my savings." She says, idly scrolling through the NPC menu. Ryuji shakes his head and waves an arm. "Nah, forget that. I'll pay for something. My gear wasn't too expensive. We can make the money back with our dungeon run." He faces the waitress and points to something on the player menu. "Hey, can we get the stuffed turkey? The whole thing?" The waitress seems taken aback at that. "T-the whole thing? Well...we normally just serve a slice of the stuffed breast along with some veggies. But...if you're willing to pay a bit extra we can do that..." She says. Ryuji slams a hand onto the table causing several people to turn and look at you.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 21:08:33 No. 6305457 Report Quoted By:
"Alright! We're doing that! Get us the whole turkey and I'll have the biggest mug of mead you got! Gl- Irene, pick whatever drink you want." He announces. "Ohh...well if you insist..." She says, a bit flustered. "I'll just have the spiced pumpkin drink." "And you,sir? What will you have?" The waitress asks, turning to you. "I'll take the Rabokki...and a jug of apple cider." You add sheepishly. Ryuji lets out a laugh. You all pitch in for the meal, Ryuji's offering being the biggest, and the waitress heads off to retrieve your meals. Irene closes the menu and sets the player one aside. Leaning in slightly, she whispers. "We have someone's attention. Three tables to the left of the fire place. They've been staring us down since we got here. Don't look at them!" She hisses. "Act natural." "Do you recognize them?" You ask, weighing your uncomfortably light wallet. "No. But they're sporting EVO sigils." She says. "What'd you guys do to piss off Evolution?" Ryuji asks. "It's only been like 2 days." "Nothing. We barely interacted with them." You protest. "And it wasn't even that bad." "It's got to be that thing you got from the prison." Irene point out. "I bet word got out and those videos of you fighting probably aren't helping. Maybe they want it back." "Here in the village? Do you think they followed us?" Ryuji asks, face hardening. "Think they might gank us? There's no guards here. Could probably get away with it." "No. I don't think they could have predicted us coming here. They'd have to know I was the who first killed the tutorial secret boss and then assumed I'd try to do the same with the Ancient Yeti. More than likely they either heard of the scale and are trying to prove themselves to the guild by getting it back. They just got lucky and ran into us by accident. Or...they could be fans who recognize me. What do you think Irene?" You surmise. If anyone could get a read on them it'd be Irene. "Without looking at them again, I think it's the former or at the very least, they don't have good intentions. It certainly wasn't a friendly kind of studying. Not sure how much of EVO would know about the scale if the people we worked with were willing to give it up. They probably didn't think it was important enough to let the rest of the guild know. I'm guessing they're bandits. Just saw a party of 3 barely make it in before the storm and assumed we're newbies easy for the picking." "No way a big guild would let those kinds of people in." Ryuji growls.
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X
Storyteller Luo !!L+CpM0G8T5X ID:jl1OJB2W Fri 12 Sep 2025 21:09:33 No. 6305458 Report "It's exactly the kind of guild that would." You counter. "We're at the beginning of a new server. Guilds are just grabbing whoever they can. They probably won't start weeding out problem players for at least a month or so and even then it's the worst offenders. People who keep a low profile will probably stay under the radar. Even worse, those that make the biggest contribution while keeping a clean public persona are probably going to get promoted. The bigger the guild, the more people these kinds of players can hide with in." "So what do we do? We can't just start a fight in the middle of a player filled inn. We'd get slaughtered." Irene asks. >What do you do? >Wait out the storm. Once it's over, you leave and make as much distance as possible before waiting to ambush anyone who follows. >Eat your meal and head out into the storm. If they follow you, you can probably lose them in the blizzard. >Eat and start searching for rumors. You can't start a fight but that means neither can they lest they risk other players jumping in to help...or rob the aggressors. >Play the social game. Move to their table and strike up a conversation. If they attack people who seemingly tried to befriend them, it'll look bad on their guild and they probably want to avoid that. >Write in.
Anonymous
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>>6305458 >Eat your meal and head out into the storm. If they follow you, you can probably lose them in the blizzard. Anonymous
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>>6305458 >Wait out the storm. Once it's over, you leave and make as much distance as possible before waiting to ambush anyone who follows. Anonymous
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>>6305458 >Order a serving of Rabokki for them, say it's thanks for their Captain treating us well. Anonymous
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>>6305458 >Eat and start searching for rumors. You can't start a fight but that means neither can they lest they risk other players jumping in to help...or rob the aggressors. Anonymous
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>>6305458 >Eat your meal and head out into the storm. If they follow you, you can probably lose them in the blizzard. Anonymous
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>>6305458 >>Play the social game. Move to their table and strike up a conversation. If they attack people who seemingly tried to befriend them, it'll look bad on their guild and they probably want to avoid that.