File: erquestonlineraces.png (535 KB, 600x800)

535 KB PNG

"Welcome to Erquest Online," says the voice once again, now embodied by a woman best described as an angel; dressed in white with matching wings and a golden ring above her head, "I see this is the first time that you've come to our world, would you like to see the intro-"
A 'Yes' and a 'No' prompt pop up in front of you, and you tap the negative with your finger before it's even settled. The woman frowns at you before continuing, "Let me help you make your first character then!"

Given a moment to think, you realize that the room you're in has changed completely. Rather than the smoke-stained walls of your apartment left behind by the last tenant, the place is white from corner to corner, save for the mirrors lining up each wall--if you'd call those mirrors, you're looking straight at them but half of them show off an image of your back, your sides, and all the other different angles.

"There're six playable races in the world of Erquest," she says, swinging her clapped hands in front of your face, and then pulling them apart; a floating screen forms between her palms and you look at the image on it, a bunch of pixelated figures and accompanying text. "Take your time," she says, "The Noman race is part of the new expansion, but I heavily recommend Human for beginners!"

It seems there's a gender option in addition to race, but Ervin wouldn't let you live it down if you grew a pair of tits, you tap on the blue male icon. Absent-mindedly moving your finger over to one of the boxes, you tap on it...

Your vision blurs, and just as quickly it comes back together... but something's different, your hands feel--they look massive. Are they... red? The floor is further away, and it just keeps getting further and further, those hooves aren't yours, are th-
Your body hits the floor with a slam, and as you lift your head you can see the reflection in the mirror in front of you, and it's not yours.

"Would you like to play as a Deman?"

>What race will you play?

>>34561408
Anman.
Unless Noman count as vampires, if so then them instead.

>>34561408
>Human

>>34561408
Elman, unless >>34561448 is right

>>34561408
>Noman
Revives at 1 HP are worth it.

>>34561448
>>34561540
They're more Dullahan than vampire.

File: Dulla.jpg (371 KB, 620x913)

371 KB JPG

>>34561557
Yes please, Noman all the way.

>>34561540
I second Elman.
Wings seem good to me.

Deman would be my second pick.

>>34561408
>Elman
Being able to fly from the outset seems pretty great, though it might not be so kind to our friends if we're dicking around airborne and leaving them on the ground all the time.

Noman would be fine too, and since they're new in the expansion there's bound to be some sweet plot tie-ins it'll give us access to.

I assume "per refresh" is going to be handled in meta as being once per thread or something? Or are we going to be cheesing the system by relogging whenever we have downtime?

>>34561557
>Dullahan
Yesss, sign me up.

>>34561408
>Noman

>>34561408
>Norman

File: Kiss the enemy.jpg (331 KB, 1200x1000)

331 KB JPG

/tg/ just loves going hardmode huh?
Dullahan please.

>>34561408
Imman

>>34561650
I imagine it refers to world refresh. Often once a day in most MMOs, some do them more often.
Refers to when quests and rare creatures reset, as well as 'daily' abilities.

>>34561738
Makes sense.

Noman, a thousand times Noman.

File: erquestonlineclasses.png (508 KB, 600x800)

508 KB PNG

The angel's screen floats down in front of your face, and you lift the large, heavy hand that you've been given. You click your hand on one of the other races, just eager to get out of the thick frame you've been stuck in. Your vision blurs, and you find yourself lifted up in the air, there's an itching in your back as large, white wings carry you.

"Oh, are you interested in Elman? It's a fairly popular race, people come here just to experience flight."

"How do I get down!?" You yell to the angel.

"Just stop flapping your wings!" Stop flapping your wings? How in the world would you do that, maybe if you just relax... and that's the floor, meeting your body as your feathers stop buzzing. Alright, maybe you should leave races with extra body parts alone. You get up on your feet, and brush your messied hair away from your face, feeling a bundle of feathers where your ears are meant to be.

The Deman are a bit too big, and you imagine the Imman to be to small, it looks like the Anman and the Elman both provide their own difficulties, and really, who wants to play a human in a game like this? You tap on the Noman symbol, and your body changes. A cold wave hits you, and there's a pinch at your neck, your shoulders, and on each thigh. You look at your hands and they seem human enough, though they've lost some of the hue.
The room starts to spin, and you go disoriented. Your vision blurs, differently from how it did a moment ago, and when it clears... who's that in front of yo-

Oh, it's you.

Your head just fell off, you're holding it right now.

That certainly just happened didn't it.

You toss your head in the air, screaming in shock, you can see your body jumping in confusion as you soar through the air, one of the arms flinging off as it swings too far.

"Careful there," the angel says, as she catches your head mid-flight, "You need to decide on a class." She floats you over back to your body, and screws your head back on to your neck.

>CONT

File: Sundowner SMIIIIIIILE.jpg (57 KB, 584x622)

57 KB JPG

>>34561937
I'm enjoying this immensely, and we're not even out of chargen

Caster lyfe

The angel hands you another screen before sauntering off. This is your first VRMMO, but you've played a few games before and all the quests line up with what you'd expect. The Striker looks like the typical warrior tank, the Walker seems to be a blend of the more roguish archetypes, the Caster is an offensive mage, and the Warder seems to be somewhere along the lines of a monk or cleric.

"Every class can tank, do damage, and support, so don't worry too much about what you pick, just have some fun with it." That's what Ervin told you on the phone while you were waiting through the installation. "You'll be able to pick up a professional at level 10, your first class upgrade at 15, and then a sub-class at 30. As long as you don't play a loli catgirl dog-fucker, you'll be fine."

"When you're done picking your class, you'll probably want to customize your appearance too." The Angel peeks over your shoulder as you browse your options, in her hand is the arm that you lost a moment ago, she slams it into your shoulder-slot, a little painfully in-fact, before spreading her index and middle finger to pull forth another screen. There seems to be a mess of customization options on it, but a little tweaking on one of the pre-sets is good enough. It seems they're set to sub-races with a few little descriptions, but no mechanical bonuses.

>Pick a class

>Pick an sub-race...
>...White One, thin but almost human-like.
>...Grey One, large with dry skin and bony features
>...Black one, lanky with long clawed fingers and glowing eyes

File: The_Headless_Horseman_5.jpg (12 KB, 325x293)

12 KB JPG

>>34562111
Votin Grey, anything but headless warrior striking fear in the hearts of men is a false path.

>>34562111
>Warder
>Black one

>>34562111
Warder, white one.

I guess we won't be looking like >>34561596 >>34561719 or >>34561924

>>34562142
oops meant Grey Warder

>>34562111
>Caster
Flying long range DPS sounds fun.
>Black one

Grey caster

>>34562111
>Warder
>White one

>>34562150
Mostly you won't look like one due to lack of a vagina, but otherwise you could just be one of those but with large black eyes.

>>34562111
>...White One, thin but almost human-like.
Warder

>>34561395
I'd like to say I expected it, but nope, did not think this was you.

>>34562111

>Caster
I don't want to pick jack of all trades anymore, and I'd like to see what magical items are like, if we can enchant them.

>Grey

>>34562111
>Caster
I liked necromancer in diablo.
>Grey one.

File: Sad caocao.png (71 KB, 170x194)

71 KB PNG

>>34562171
Please be less gender neutral in future chargens, otherwise people will expect to be different from what you have in mind.

>>34562111
>>...Grey One, large with dry skin and bony features
>Warder

>>34562111
White warder

>>34562111
>Caster
>White

>>34562111
>...White One, thin but almost human-like.
Warder.

>>34562111
>White one
>Warder

>>34562204
>only woman you've talked to in months is a coworker
>not being a clear label as male

>>34562111
>Caster and White one

>Grey one
>Caster

>>34561937
>>34562111
>Warder
Uses our racial MAG slightly for support skills, still lets us do combat things. Alternating between support skills/combat skills probably means really interesting skill rotations.

Indifferent on subrace except for not-Black. Clawed fingers would be really hard to get used to for mundane tasks.

>>34562204
>It seems there's a gender option in addition to race, but Ervin wouldn't let you live it down if you grew a pair of tits, you tap on the blue male icon. Absent-mindedly moving your finger over to one of the boxes, you tap on it...

>>34562111
>...White One, thin but almost human-like.
Warder

File: 1334895-312e302e302e38322d3134.jpg (15 KB, 260x390)

15 KB JPG

>all these people not wanting to look like Sion

Closing, counting, writing, being disappointed at my own inability to discern samefags.

>>34562162
My apologies that I didn't make things clear enough, you're a Noman, not an Elman.

>>34562184
It wouldn't have been an awful guess, I think I've mentioned once or twice that I was waiting for Arcadian.

>>34562204
There's a little line on how male was selected but you're right, I did keep things pretty vague. I usually dislike chargen so I'm not too used to it, but it seems like an MMO quest deserved one.

File: Mon'keighs everywhere.png (56 KB, 196x203)

56 KB PNG

>>34562288
If I wanted to self insert as an ugly bastard I have my own life to live.

>>34562267
You ain't a bad guy, namefag.

>>34562111
>Walker
>White One

Part of the appeal of being headless is appearing to be normal, until you throw your head to someone like you would a basketball.

>>34562332
Why would you want to keep your head attached when we can instead keep it in a box with eyeholes or hire a halfling on stilts to carry it around and turn this into a 3rd person game.

File: Thing.gif (997 KB, 500x277)

997 KB GIF

>>34562332
>Part of the appeal of being headless is appearing to be normal, until you throw your head to someone like you would a basketball.
It looks like it isn't just the head, based on
>there's a pinch at your neck, your shoulders, and on each thigh

There's bound to be a dungeon that involves a Noman party member being able to detach an arm and navigate it over to pull a lever.

When do we choose to be a gril

>>34562476
Never, read the thread.

>>34562476
We don't, try to read.

>>34562332
Being able to throw your head at somebody does sound nice for the scare factor, but you'd also be giving them direct access to your head. It's kind of an important part of your body.

>>34562483
>>34562494

But I have read the thread.

>>34562566
>It seems there's a gender option in addition to race, but Ervin wouldn't let you live it down if you grew a pair of tits, you tap on the blue male icon. Absent-mindedly moving your finger over to one of the boxes, you tap on it...

You click on the warder icon, and the plain clothes on your body pixelate into blocks of colour before settling back into a new form. Baggy pants and a sleeveless shirt with a narrow, but awfully low cut.

"Oooooh, a Noman Warder? That's an odd combination, you might be the first that I've seen." The Angel claps her hands together, hovering around you excitedly.

Using the mirrors on the walls and the customization screen, you make yourself a suitable image, familiar but different from yourself, hair that's a little more fuller and a fair bit more longer, arms about as muscular as the options will let you take them, and a face that's just a little more handsome than your own... if not for the abyssal black eyes associated with the Noman race.

"Now, your name, sir?"

"Aster," you answer, going with the name you typically use in games. A block of letters float up in front of you, waiting as you tap in each letter.

"Fantastic, now then, you're good to go!" A block of pixels forms beside the angel, and then into a lever. She pulls on it, and the floor beneath you... crumbles. "Welcome to Elquest Online, I hope you enjoy your stay," she says as you plummet through the sky...

...

...you come back to, how long were you out? You don't feel like much time has passed, but haven't had an easy time keeping track of it since you arrived in that white room.

The world around you is different, wide grassy fields and clear blue skies; the air is fresh and you can hear the chirping of birds, and the chatter of people. Virtual reality is right, this place feels more real already than your day to day life.

Come to think of it, you must've fallen miles, you can't see... whatever it was you were trapped inside of any more. You don't feel any pain though, really your whole body is a little numb. You pull yourself onto your feet and...

"A new quester I see," the gentle voice of an older fellow calls out to you.

>CONT

>>34562582
>railroading

>>34562615
Oh fuck off. It's better this way.

>>34562615
Other quest threads just start you off with a male or female character anyways. This isn't really different.

>>34562613
Elquest or Erquest?

>>34562658
It's Japanese.

>>34562615
> Not turning it into /tg/'s magical realm.

>>34562658
Obviously it was just localized badly from Japanese.

It was written as Elquest in the Deman racial description also.

You turn and your eyes settle on him, he's got tanned skin unbefitting of the mess of white hair on his chin. "I'm Father Gogregio, welcome to the Church of Beginnings. Take it slowly, it's usually a bit disorienting for new questers to get used to the AR-set."

"Have you been playing long?" You ask him.

"Something like that, just focus on me."

You squint your eyes at Gogregio, and a gleaming crystal forms over his head, floating up and down. Above it, a green-tinted box displaying his ID as 'Father Gogregio' and other symbols and numbers you hardly understand.

"I'm an Artificial Intelligence Player Character," he says, "I'll spare you the details, I have a feeling you can figure it out on your own."

"So you'll answer my questions?"

"That's what I'm designed for." He gives you a chuckle, crossing the arms of his thick brown robes.

"Where's Granrose?" Ervin told you that he and Lloyd would be waiting at the gates there, the first capital of Erquest.

"Just head down that road you landed on, and you'll find yourself there shortly."

Let's see if there's anything else you need to ask about...

>Ask questions...
>You should go meet Ervin and Lloyd
>Write-In

Write-ins are heavily encouraged in all situations.

>>34562658
Erquest, I am a fuck.

>>34562760
>Do you have looping dialogue trees?
>You should go meet Ervin and Lloyd
>Practice carrying head while walking straight->juggling head while walking straight

Punch ourself in the balls.

>>34562878
I uh... I mean... Why not?

>Practice carrying head while walking straight->juggling head while walking straight

>>34562760

Ask Father Gogregio what's going on in the world. What's the current political climate? What factions are vying for control? And how the hell do we bring up the map UI?

Also, let's give this whole "Virtual Reality" thing a good trial.

>>34562878

This seems like a good way to test it.

>>34562878
No

>>34562760

Are all AIs as self aware as you are? Where can I get some training on my class and abilities? How dangerous is it to travel around here?

>>34562760
Start heading towards Ervin and Lloyd, check skill tree and inventory and see if we can get an area map on the way.

>>34562760
>Ask questions
Does he have any other roles aside from just answering our questions? Beginners' quests that we can grab or anything like that.

Are there any surprises we should expect on the road there? Wouldn't do to get beaten up by a couple random wolves or slimes or whatever starting-area mob because we don't have our VR-legs yet.

>>34562968
Asking about how to get the map open is a good idea, though.

Other than that
>You should go meet Ervin and Lloyd
We can ask them about the other basics. Inventories and stat/skill screens and all of that.

>>34562878
This is pretty stupid, but it's a frighteningly plausible kind of stupid.

practice carrying our head around

File: astersheetpng.png (463 KB, 600x800)

463 KB PNG

"So... how do you talk, do you have dialogue trees?" You're a little curious about how intelligent this artificial intelligence is.

"In the same way you do I'd wager, I have a personality and basic knowledge built into me to serve this role, but most of what's in here," he says, tapping on his bald skull, "is years of experience."

"Are all NPCs in this game like that?"

"For the most part, but don't think too much about it, I had a fellow come to me once to confess that he couldn't play the game any more because it was murder." Gogregio shakes his head. "What a douche."

"Are you really allowed to say something like that?"

"I'm not a real priest, just a program. Don't worry about it."

"So what about the world, if you can all think then is there a political climate?"

"Wow, bet you're a tabletop gamer with questions like that." Is he making fun of you? "There're five major cities scattered across Erquest, the human settlement of Granrose in the middle, and then at each corner one of the other five original races owns one. Other than this, there're some dozen settlement spots around the land."

"Spots?"

"Players in Erquest can purchase land with enough gold, so large guilds will often buy plots to set up their own towns in. Because there're only so many slots, you'll find the guilds often spend time fighting each other."

"Alright, so how do I get some training."

"Blink twice and you'll open your menu," he instructs you. Following his command, a large wheel of icons opens up in your sight. As your eyes dart from icon to icon, the one you focus on grows. "Just stare at one for long enough and it'll open up, you'll want to look at your map first."

You find the icon that resembles a map, and the little sphere widens into a flat and slides into your peripheral. It seems Granrose is just where he said it'd be, and there're countless other markers as well.

"Your eyes and your finger tips will let you manage all your information in this game."

>CONT

>>34563191
....shit, that's a pretty good char sheet.

I have a feeling that the menu being opened by blinking twice will cause it to pop up inadvertently a few times.

>>34563265

There was never a character sheet I wanted to have sex with. Until now.

File: Curved_b4b16a_2972665.jpg (54 KB, 500x500)

54 KB JPG

>>34563191
Well first things first, let's ditch that staff for a nice melee weapon, maybe something long and curved, or something blunt and clericy

You scroll through other menus, it seems that other than the racial skill you have some kind of attack ability called [Balanced Strike], apparently it adds some bonus to your damage when you use it but you lose balance... whatever that means.

"There're some slimes on the road to Granrose, I'll give you a quest to hunt down some of them that you can turn in at the church in the next city. Any time you're at a church, you can set it as your respawn point." The father flicks his finger at you, pulling up a prompt to take his quest [First Hunt], you accept it without thinking. "You don't have to finish it, but it's a good way to start out if you're passing by any ways. Careful there, I've seen more than a few men panic the first time they take damage."

Damage huh, you should probably see how pain plays out in this world. You lift your fist up... and you slam it down against yourself. The pain creeps up on you quickly, your vision flashes red for a moment as you take the hit.

"What in the hells are you doing!?" The father looks at you shocked, as you crumple into the ground.

"Testing... the game." You manage to squeeze out a few words, and give Gogregio a thumbs up. It's certainly not as painful as it would be in real life but... you still punched yourself in the-

"You rolled a Warder! Your fists are like iron!"

"I'm... okay." Don't cry Aster, don't cry. You get up again, doing your best to look tough.

"W-well, the slimes certainly won't do as much damage as you did to yourself just now..." Gogregio makes a difficult smile at you, and waves you off...

You're juggling your head as you walk down the path, or trying to at least, you end up dropping yourself more often than not, but the faster you get used to this body the better. It actually wasn't too difficult to get used to walking with your head in your arms as long as you faced straight forward, but you're finding it difficult to do more while your head is in motion.

>CONT

>>34563318
I say we ditch it for something more punchy.

>>34563292
I assume it require blinking twice in rapid succession.

>>34563372
Brass knuckles?

That's when you see them, five blue blobs bouncing around the meadows beside the path. They're minding their own business, licking the glass with long tongues and poking around with googly eyes... but you do have a quest to complete, and five is exactly the number you need to kill.

There should be enough space to engage on them one at a time, but they look weak enough, maybe you could just fight all of them.

What's the worst that could happen?

>Pull a slime and fight it
>Aggro the entire group
>Keep walking
>Write-In

File: 1398810353379.gif (134 KB, 340x340)

134 KB GIF

>>34563318
>long and curved

>>34563372
but we might need it for some skills
maybe we can get a more battle oriented staff thats kind of like a spear or naginata

File: Voulge_(Warband).png (48 KB, 193x183)

48 KB PNG

>>34563318
I like the idea of a Voulge.

>>34563404
>Pull a slime and fight it
no need to get cocky

>>34563417
We won't most likely won't need it if we go Brawler later on, so we can keep it until then.

>>34563404
>Pull a slime and fight it
Let's not get in over our heads just quite yet, it would suck to blow our passive because we ended up getting cocky.

>>34563404
Let's just safely put the head on a rock, where it's nice and safe, and can watch the fight. Then we run in there, and then run in there, and get punching like it's Diablo.

This VRMMORPG is now a VRMMO Action RPG

>>34563404
>Pull a slime and fight it

>>34563404
>Pull a slime and fight it
Especialy since we just hit ourself for who knows how much and probably didn't heal it up yet.

I'm changing this >>34563466 to this >>34563460

But use our weapon.

Pull one slime and fight it by itself. Watch how low it manages to get your health before you kill it, then watch to see how fast your health regenerates outside of combat in this game.

If the slime fails to get you below 20% you should be safe to pull at least two.

>>34563404

>Pull a slime and fight it

Better then getting punched in the balls!

File: AD&D.png (103 KB, 541x257)

103 KB PNG

>>34563430
I'd rather a glaive-guisarme.

>>34563404
I'll support >>34563460

but I wanna see if we can pick one up and pet/tame it.

>>34563404
>Pull a slime and fight it
Get a handle on it the easy way at first, then go deal with the remaining four if it seems really easy to kite them around.

We don't have any AoE abilities anyway, so it's not like we gain anything substantial from fighting them all at once.

>>34563460
>>34563485
This seems a little too goofy, and if another slime comes by and notices our head we'd be dead meat.

>>34563489
>watch to see how fast your health regenerates outside of combat in this game
We can just check that now since we injured ourselves back at the Church.

Anyone else want stats on our fists in comparison to the staff?

>>34563534
>This seems a little too goofy
As a Dullahan the chance or our head getting knocked off in a fight is pretty high. We should practice fighting without a head on something easy.

Punch ourselves in the balls again.

>>34563563
If it comes to that, I'd rather experiment with actual staff fighting first: blunt damage, reach, versatility, and leverage

>>34563511
>all these long handled weapons
goddamnit /tg/ stop touching yourself over the idea of spear variants like in every other melee weapon discussion

>>34563318
We're a monk aren't we?

The obvious course of action is kicking the shit out of everything.

>>34563611
This is an MMO quest. We could be argueing about far worse things.

>>34563640
like fucking the slimes?

>>34563660
That's on the lower end of the list, yes.

My computer disagreed with me. Hold on a second while I get it up again

>>34563660
I'm sure someone has already tried it.

>>34563671

Please, this is /tg/! That barely counts as mid range low!

>>34563679
The curse. The cuuuuuuurse.

>>34563620
It seems like it's Monk/Cleric.

That said, trying to pick a specialization right off the bat seems like a bad idea. We don't even know what our skills/class progression looks like, or what benefits picking Staves over Polearms or Swords over Blunt gives you in-game.

So this is an MMO. I'd assume we're playing it with some kind of computer. Can we alt+tab to the game's wiki and research shit?

File: return it.png (175 KB, 512x384)

175 KB PNG

>>34563811
There's more than enough time to test.

>>34563776
Thank you for reminding me of this guy.

It looks like your health regenerates quickly enough outside of combat, it's back to full in the time it took for you to get here from the Church of Beginnings. You pick out one of the slimes further from the pack, and set your head down on a rock. It's probably not to your advantage to fight detached like this, but sooner or later you'll run into a situation where you're beheaded and you'll need to be prepared to fight like that.

Even though you're not prepared to fight normally yet.

Your body rushes forward at the slime you targeted, marked with a crystal and a name box. A faint green health-bar sits between them, and you swing your leg at the slime in an effort to knock it down... only to miss by a mile, turns out it's pretty difficult controlling your body from a distance.

"The Noman race was designed for veteran players who want a challenge, I don't recommend starting as one." You remember Ervin's words. "By the way, Warders are probably the most difficult class to play. You should probably just roll a Human Striker and make a new character once you're used to things." That fucker, why didn't he pop into your head again sooner?

The slime stares at your body with its googly eyes, and its tongue lurks out, licking your boots. Battle begins, turning the slime's grey bar red. A box with your name appears at the top of your vision, and your health bar inches down just the tiniest bit from his 'attack'. Its would-be cheeks puff up as it takes in the taste of leather, and in a sudden fury, it lunges fiercely at your arm.

Okay, not a good start but you can work with this.

>You are currently [Balanced]
>Combat is done by rolling 3 sets of 3d20s.

>[LIGHT] Punch the slime, you'll have an easier time hitting it like this.
>[HEAVY] Smash the slime with your staff, let's see how this thing handles.
>[GUARD] Deflect the slime with your staff and kick it back.
>Write-In

Light attack first

Rolled 8, 12, 10 = 30 (3d20)

>>34563859
>[LIGHT] Punch the slime, you'll have an easier time hitting it like this.
ROLAEN

>>34563859
>[HEAVY] Smash the slime with your staff, let's see how this thing handles.

Rolled 5, 13, 6 = 24 (3d20)

>>34563859
Yeaaaaah, shut up Ervin. We'll show you.

>[LIGHT] Punch the slime, you'll have an easier time hitting it like this.
Tactile feedback is probably going to help us stay on target if we're really going to try and fight disembodied.

>>34563859
>[LIGHT] Punch the slime, you'll have an easier time hitting it like this.

>>34563859
Discretion is not the better part of Valour

Heavy attack that small unassuming blob like Tiger Woods strikes a golf ball

My computer is bamboozling me, it's been dying for months but it decided to sit down and behave for the last two weeks, only to start crashing after I started running. Also 4chan connection errors I guess.

Rolled 1, 11, 12 = 24 (3d20)

>>34563859
>[LIGHT] Punch the slime, you'll have an easier time hitting it like this.

Brawling is the best method of combat anyways, weapons are for pussies.

Rolled 16, 13, 15 = 44 (3d20)

>>34563859
>[LIGHT] Punch the slime, you'll have an easier time hitting it like this.
ROLAEN

The quarterstaff in your hand seems a decent enough weapon, but right now you're more worried about hitting the slime at all than killing it. You slide the staff over your shoulder and it sticks itself onto your back, reeling back swiftly, you swing your fist forward and slam it against the slime's face. It feels like your hand is meeting gelatin, the slime probably feels like its face is meeting a truck. It flies back onto the floor, bouncing off of the ground.

More than half of its health is gone with that one hit it seems. You can't really make out the expression of the critter at the angle where your eyes sit, but you can see its body forming an odd shape. The sides pull together and the slime becomes a cube, slowing making small hops towards your body.

>You can activate skills such as [Balanced Strike] regardless of whether you're performing a [LIGHT], [HEAVY], or [GUARD] action, but certain skills only activate under special conditions. Warders begin combat at a [Balance], and lose it or gain it by using skills. When too much [Balance] is lost, they become [Staggered] and can't active combat skills. When they have too much [Balance], they become [Still] and can't activate support abilities. When a Warder spends a round without using any skills, they move back towards [Balanced].

>[LIGHT] Slap the approaching slime, a wide-armed approach will probably be safest.
>[HEAVY] Smash the hopping slime into the ground with [Balanced Strike].
>[GUARD] Wait and watch the slime come close and stomp on it.
>Write-In

Rolled 11, 14, 4 = 29 (3d20)

>>34563859
>[LIGHT] Punch the slime, you'll have an easier time hitting it like this.

Can we get a scythe?

>>34563983
>heavy
dees connection errors doe

Rolled 18, 16, 1 = 35 (3d20)

>>34563983
>>[LIGHT] Slap the approaching slime, a wide-armed approach will probably be safest.
How about we try out Balanced Strike then

Rolled 4, 6, 2 = 12 (3d20)

>>34563983
>[HEAVY] Smash the fucker with Balnced Strike

Apparently the original post box works. Let's test this out.

>>34563983
>[HEAVY] Smash the hopping slime into the ground with [Balanced Strike].
Slime has entered its final form. Giving itself more structure (cubic rather than amorphous) makes me think it might have slightly higher defense now, and stomping on polyhedra is never a good habit to get into.

Rolled 1, 16, 8 = 25 (3d20)

>>34563983
>[LIGHT] Slap the approaching slime, a wide-armed approach will probably be safest.
I'll back >>34564018
We may as well Balanced Strike anyways if it can be used with anything.

>>34563983
>[PARRY] Deflect the slime with your staff, and get used to using it while tiring the slime out.

4chan's screwing up on me.

>>34564043
good to know.

>>34563983
>>[LIGHT] Slap the approaching slime, a wide-armed approach will probably be safest.

File: 1408761563603.jpg (368 KB, 840x700)

368 KB JPG

Rolled 14, 4, 6 = 24 (3d20)

So how do we know how balanced we are?

>>34563983
>a wide-armed approach will probably be safest.
Never the safest. You open yourself up too much on the windup. Not to mention it's a huge tell.

>[LIGHT] Punch it again, but this time with feeling.
It's almost dead anyway.

>>34563991
pic related

>>34564080
Come on, we could mount our head on the end of the pole part!

>>34563991
I would rather not

Rolled 3, 16, 13 = 32 (3d20)

>>34563983
>[LIGHT] Slap the approaching slime, a wide-armed approach will probably be safest.

By the way, do we have any other undead properties?

>>34564179
Swinging your own skull around willingly atop a weapon seems like a great way to get dizzy and/or stabbed in the face.

You menu opens up with two blinks, and a hard look at the little magic book icon opens up your skill list. You'd rather not find out how [Re-Dead] works, and try to figure out how to use [Balanced Strike].

The slime leaps at your chest, and you only barely avoid it thanks to a sudden burst of speed. A direct hit there probably would've knocked some wind out of you. You play a careful game of keep away, swatting at it and avoiding its attempts to stomp down on your foot.

"How in the world do I use Balanced Strike?" You yell out, frustrated at the unintuitive design... and that's when you feel it, your right hand pulls together and hardens, somehow you know it'll only last the second, but you move fast to make it count. With the slime coming in once again, you make a swift chop at it with your hand, meeting the gooey texture and tearing straight through it side-ways.

The two halves of it are sent flying behind your body, bursting into pixels and dropping tiny coins that bounce towards your body, and jumping into your pockets...

You can feel your body a little dizzied after the attack, the [Balanced Strike] icon is mostly greyed out, just a little pizza-slice shape of it still in coloured and slowly growing. It looks like there's some short cool down on the ability...

You clean up the rest of the slimes one by one, testing out your fists, your quarterstaff, and learning how to control your body. You probably can't do anything too complicated yet, but you're not missing half of your swings and that's pretty good. Your health bar is a little below half after the last fight, but it'll just be minutes before it's filled itself up again as you've come to find resting between fights.

"Nice work there, Aster." A pair of violet hands drops in front of your eyes, accompanied by a sultry female voice and the soft press of something on the back of your detached head.

>CONT

When can we make our head able to move independently from our body?
I want to move our head independently from our body.

File: Cowen Spider.jpg (91 KB, 600x900)

91 KB JPG

>>34564304

>>34564329
Something less likely to terrify the locals, perhaps?

I wonder if we can trade arms with other Nomans, that be funny

File: BabyFace.jpg (55 KB, 1019x562)

55 KB JPG

>>34564342

"What's going on? What is this!?" Is this a player killer!? Are you being player killed!?

"Relaaax, open-world isn't toggled until level 15." The woman gets off of you, turning your head around so you can face her. She's tall, an easy seven-feet minimum. Violet skin and similarly coloured dark hair, long and even with flat bangs. Her eyes are golden, a red dress clings to her body, barely holding in her breasts.

"Uuuh..."

"Like them? I set the slider to max." She does a twirl, showing you her ample rear as well. When she stops, she lifts up the side of her dress to show you her legs...

Is this a player molester!? Are you being player molested!?

"You were taking forever and Ervin couldn't call you, so I thought I'd see if I could find you. You always use the same name so it was easy... hey buddy, could you stop ogling my tits?"

"I wasn't!" You insist, an innocent man just trying to figure out who you're talking to. Her name displays as 'Lluthiana'.

"Oh reeeeeeeeeally?" She leans in forward, thrusting her chest in your face, her finger tugging on the top cut of it. "Reeeeeeeeally? I was thinking if you were, I could give you a..." She whispers into your ear, you can almost feel her thick lips. "...closer look."

>You were definitely staring at her
>You were definitely not staring at her
>Write-in

>>34564346
This introduces whole new levels of fetishes

>>34564382
motorboat immediately

>>34564382
>>You were definitely not staring at her
Get your tits outta my face

>>34564256
>"How in the world do I use Balanced Strike?" You yell out, frustrated at the unintuitive design... and that's when you feel it
Maybe we've gotta shout out our attack names like a chinese cartoon protaganist.

>>34564304
Take it easy.

>>34564382
>You were taking forever and Ervin couldn't call you, so I thought I'd see if I could find you. You always use the same name so it was easy.

>Write-in
"I swear to god, Lloyd."

>>34564382
>Attempt to retrieve head, grope accidentally.

>>34564382
>Write in
"Lloyd, cut that shit out, if I wanted to stare at breasts I would do it when I knew they didn't belong to a guy."

>>34564414
>>34564420
Second

>>34564382
>You were definitely not staring at her
Stranger danger and all that.

Also fuck Ervin for not telling us Lloyd was playing a girl, we totally could have been a qt3.14 Dullahan if he had mentioned that.

>>34564382
>Is this a player molester!? Are you being player molested!?

haha

>writein
Wow Lloyd, I didn't know you liked to roleplay as giant women. That's not weird or anything.

>>34564382

>You were definitely not staring at her

Lloyd, I am not staring at your tits, and, dude, you've got issues!

>>34564346
Could female Nomans swap out tits?

Whole new meaning to bolt-ons.

Rolled 7 (1d12)

>>34564382

Lloyd you sick fuck, of course I was looking at your tits. Lets see them so we can get this out of the way

>>34564382
>Write-in
"This is DEFINITELY creeping me out."

>>34564414
>>34564420
>>34564439
This

>>34564382
If we wanted to optimize for maximum pasta before the novelty of our pal playing a huge purple amazon wears off, we'd end up yelling at him to give us head-- OUR HEAD. GIVE US OUR HEAD.

>>34564420
>>34564443

Seconding these.

>>34564516
>end up yelling at him to give us head-- OUR HEAD. GIVE US OUR HEAD.
Oh fuck, that's beautiful

File: 1408225412776.jpg (219 KB, 640x2560)

219 KB JPG

>>34564516

A+

>>34564516
>>34564543
>>34564594
I don't get it

>>34564617
blowjobs

File: wtf_shinji.jpg (21 KB, 479x282)

21 KB JPG

>>34564617

How do you not know head is slang for oral sex?

>>34564656
>>34564659
Oh, I just missed the lack of the first "our"

>>34564382
Too late to post, buuuut..."You might beat me here, but if you don't give me my head back by the count of three I'll bust your nuts in at school. Don't make this weird, dude."

>>34564702
>In school
You mean at work right? We're all salarymen here

>>34564382
>Write-in

"Fuck off Loyd"

>>34564732
Ah, right. At work.

>>34564702
>>34564732
This, at work.

"I swear to god Lloyd, cut that shit out. There is something wrong with you if you think I' going to stare at your tits."

"Aww, you're not fun man." Lloyd, or Lluthiana as the case may be backs off from you and shrugs his... her shoulders. "Well, better than Ervin's reaction at least."

"What'd he say when he saw you?"

"Nothing, he just shook his head at me."

"It is pretty creepy Lloyd." You can never admit to either of them that you were an inch away from playing a female Dullahan, no one can ever know your secret.

"Don't put on airs bud, we've seen your secret folders. And call me Lluthiana in game, I have an image." What image? What possible image could Lloyd have roleplaying as a giant woman?

"Just help me with the head." It's awfully difficult to navigate your body when you're not looking at it. You can walk just fine, but you have no idea where you're going without sight.

"W-well, I g-guess we are friends... just once, and we never mention this to Ervin." Lluthiana kneels down, closing her eyes, she opens her mouth and sticks her tongue out.

"I hate you so much right now Lloyd."

"Lluthiana." She stands back up, chuckling in a masculine way despite her clearly female voice, and picks up your head. You have to resist the urge to make the situation any more awkward, knowing that Lloyd has never lost a game of chicken in his life. He--or she, plops your head back onto your body...

"So what class did you go with... Lluthiana?" It'll be awhile before you're used to treating this guy, as a girl.

"Caster, then Sorcerer," she says, "I'm going to become an Enchanter soon..." Her eyes shift to yours. "They get a lot of control spells."

"You and your creepy fetishes."

"A man should have a right to pretend to be a woman who acts like a man." Lluthiana sticks her chest out proudly, you catch a few random players staring at her as you arrive at the Granrose gate...

>CONT

>>34564784

How do you even say Lluthiana? Is it just like Luciano, but with a lisp and an A at the end?

>>34564784
>mfw Lloyd is one of the most notorious ERPers in the game.

>>34564870
Shit man, don't say my name, it's pretty weird.

>>34564889
Your face indicates that you had no reaction.
Is this true?

>>34564931
It's Lloyd. No one is surprised anymore.

"Oh, you found him." Ervin's voice is calm and deep, you don't need to scan him to know it's him, his character looks identical to himself.

"He got caught up fighting some slimes, I thought about helping him but he looked adorable shaking his stick at them."

"I swear to god..." Ervin smacks a heavily armoured palm against his face, his whole body is worn in white plate. He was always the most handsome of you three, neat blonde hair and those blue eyes the girls go crazy for. Shame about that personality. "You went with Aster again huh? I'll add you to my friends list."

It looks like Ervin went with Ervin as his name. You're not sure if he's narcissistic or uncreative. Probably both. After a few seconds of waiting, prompts from Ervin and Lluthiana pop up in front of your face, you tap your finger to confirm each of them as friends.

"Huh, you two are in different guilds?" You notice now that the little guild tag under Ervin's name reads "Silver Crusade", and Lluthiana's "Redmane Troupe".

"Ervin's a boring asshole and joined a raiding guild."

"Lloyd... Lluthiana decided to play with the Red-District Troupe."

"It's not an ERP guild."

"But you do ERP."

Lluthiana shrugs her shoulders, sticking a tongue out. "Don't judge me until you've experienced being a woman, with other women."

"So uuuh... what do I do now?" It always gets a little hectic when you're with these two.

"You killed the slimes for a quest right? How about you turn that in?" Ervin suggests.

Opening your map, you see the turn-in marker at the cathedral in the centre of Granrose. It looks like a bit of a walk, the cities in this game must be massive.

"Want us to show you there? Or should we let you explore on your own? Now that we have each other as friends, we can communicate from anywhere," Lluthiana tells you.

>Go with Lluthiana
>Go with Ervin
>Go with both
>Go alone
>Do something else...?

>>34564908
Luciano.

Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano. Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.Luciano.

Rolled 11 (1d12)

>>34564987

Go with Ervin

>>34564987
>>Go with both
Unless they have other things to do

>>34564889

I will never understand the people who go to MMOs for sexual roleplaying. Is it just to have something to do when you're in the middle of grinding (uhuhuhuh)? That and whoring for gold are the only reasons I can think of that you would do it in-game instead of just making a profile of that particular race on another site, unless you're worried people won't want to play with you because you're from some pre-established setting.

Who am I kidding though, these are VR headsets we're talking about here. Cybersex is probably way more literal.

>>34564987
>>Go with Ervin
>>34564889
Good call

>>34565022

Seconded. I hate try hards, but I hate ERPers more. Let's go for the guy who thinks he's fucking Shiroe.

>>34565016
Second

>>34564999
no stp pls ill dy

>>34564987

>Go alone

Ervin will suck the fun out of everything and Lloyd will probably """""subtly""""" insinuate that our gear would suck less if we whored ourselves out.

>>34564987
So Lluthiana/Loyd is a demon, what race is Ervin? Human?

>>34565109
I wouldn't mind doing that actually, doesn't seem like that bad of an idea

>>34564987
>Go alone

Doesn't seem like we're best bros with either of them from what's been told.

>>34564987
"Ya know Lloyd, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I ERPed myself...when I was, like, 13.

>>34564987
>Go with both

Bro it up.

"I guess I'll take him there then," says Ervin, glancing over to you.

"Alright, send me a message if you need me." Lluthiana waves off the two of you, making half-way between a girlish skip and a clopping gallop on her hooves.

"What'd you roll any ways?" You ask Ervin, though you have a general guess.

"Human Crusader," he answers, leading the way...

The city of Granrose is quite a sight to behold, you can't keep your eyes anywhere for long without your marker high-lighting some player or some object. At this size, and with all these players walking around, it really feels like you're in another world. Up until now you'd just been going through the systems, but when even the smell of baked goods is simulated, wafting through the air, it's hard not to get pulled into things...

Unless you're Ervin, because Ervin has a stick so far up his ass that he draws his weapon out from his throat before entering battle. He hasn't said much of anything since you two started walking, which in retrospect is exactly how you remember him through elementary, high school, and college.

"So why did you go human? Luck doesn't seem like a great stat and... it sounds kind of boring."

"Divine Providence gives me bonuses in raids against hazard events and the grind to max level is faster with it." What in the world did he just say?

"Is max level such a big deal?"

"The game starts at max level." He glances over his shoulder back to you.

"Do you know why you can't get a date Ervin?"

"Why?"

"It's because you're a dick."

"Hm..." Yeah, it's your usual exchange with Ervin. It's nice to know he hasn't changed at all...

The Granrose church, or more accurately, The Granrose Cathedral stands before you now. Intricate waterworks built into a beautiful architecture of marble walls and obsidian statues greet your eyes, and two green-label NPC knights salute you as you pass through the entrance.

>CONT

>>34565402
I'm a little surprised Ervin hsn't got on our case for picking the race/class that he specificaly said were difficult for beginners.

>>34565501

Ervin knows that we're just that fucking badass.

You spot a man with the quest marker floating above his head standing not too far from yourself, looks like this 'Father Gogrego' is just one of the attending priests here. He looks nearly identical to the Gogregio you met earlier.

"Hello son..." A lot less energetic than his peer, he greets you in a rackety voice while Ervin waits by the door.

"I'm here to turn in my quest," you tell him, clicking on the turn-in prompt that crops up before you. Oh, was there a reward? Seems you have a choice between...

>Beginner's Sword
>Beginner's Club

The equipment doesn't look any better than your quarterstaff, but they're options at least.

"Ah yes, my brother Gogregio must've sent you." Do NPCs have siblings? "Now let's see, looks like you slew five of the wretched things... there we go."

You turn in the quest and collect your prize, when a bright light engulfs you.

"Oh, leveled up huh?" Ervin raises a brow watching you. "Only level two? Did you just not do any of the starting quests?"

"Hey asshole, I rushed to meet you," you say back to him.

You open up your menu and browse over your options, it seems you can increase one of your stats by one, and you have a new skill.

>What stat will you increase?

>What skill will you take...
>...Healing Palm - Gain [Balance] and an ally you touch is healed a small amount.
>...Wolf Fang - When you begin combat with an attack, you may lose [Balance] to gain a bonus to your [Hit] and [Attack].
>...Stone Wall - When you perform a [Guard] action, gain [Balance] and a +1 to your [Defense] for the turn.

>>34565574
>Stone Wall
We invincibro nao

>>34565574
>>...Healing Palm
We need a way to bring balance up, and this helps in a party setting.

>>34565574
>...Wolf Fang - When you begin combat with an attack, you may lose [Balance] to gain a bonus to your [Hit] and [Attack].
Speed
Sword

>>34565574
>Stone Wall - When you perform a [Guard] action, gain [Balance] and a +1 to your [Defense] for the turn.

>>34565574

>SPD
>Healing Palm

>>34565574
>>...Healing Palm - Gain [Balance] and an ally you touch is healed a small amount.
>Beginner's Club
Let's go with these

>>34565574

>Beginner's Sword
>What stat will you increase?
SPD
>...Wolf Fang - When you begin combat with an attack, you may lose [Balance] to gain a bonus to your [Hit] and [Attack].

>>34565622
>>34565642
This.

>>34565574
>What stat will you increase?
Speed, gotta be versatile
>What skill will you take...
Healing Palm, gotta be melee DPS with a small amount of healing abilities.

>>34565609
Oh, and uh... Speed. As well as the club.

>>34565655
Also take a sword, never know when we need to cut things.

>>34565642
>>34565622
Second

>>34565574
>>...Healing Palm - Gain [Balance] and an ally you touch is healed a small amount.

>>34565687
You realize that we need a way to increase balance, seein as that mechanic seems important to this class.

>>34565574
>Beginner's Sword
Don't really need another source of blunt damage, and low level swords that are an upgrade are probably widely available since every class can use them.

>Speed

>Healing Palm
Should have at least one way to gain balance before taking more skills that lose it, and this is especially excellent if we can use it out of combat to overload on Balance and start out Still so we can spam Balanced Strike to make farming early levels quicker.

>>34565710
>Beginner's Sword
>Speed
>Stone Wall

>>34565710
We should have a way to bring balance up that doesn't require a party. Having a party is nice but we should have the option to go solo.

>>34565574
>Sword
>SPD
>...Wolf Fang - When you begin combat with an attack, you may lose [Balance] to gain a bonus to your [Hit] and [Attack].

Taking Healing Palm right now doesn't seem like the best decision and as long as we don't use things that make use of balance every turn we shouldn't run into issues with it for the time being because of
>When a Warder spends a round without using any skills, they move back towards [Balanced].

>>34565838

Stone Wall depends on being in combat and guarding, though. Healing Palm's balance gain also functions independently of its healing.

>>34565890
No it doesnt

>>34565928

Referring to which of those statements?

>>34565838
I will say that Healing Palm is a lot worse if you can't self-target, which I figured it could even in spite of it saying "ally".

If you can't, party with another Noman Warden, trade arms with them and agree to cast Healing Palm on each other with the arms you traded every time it's off cooldown.

>>34566015

The angel said that we were the first Noman Warden she'd seen, though.

>>34566032
If we don't have an Odysseus pun at some point, I'll be disappointed.

>>34566061
I do not get.

>>34566136
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outis#Origin_of_the_name

>>34566015
There's another fairly big issue you're missing with the theoretical benefits of Healing Palm, that being that we don't know if we can carry Balance between fights. If we can't then there's absolutely no point in taking it at the moment seeing as the turn that would be spent using it in combat could be spent just attacking instead of using a skill to refill our Balance just as well.

We'll only need something to charge balance once we start burning more of it per turn or getting to situations where not using a skill would end up a wasted turn for whatever reason, and I don't see either of those happening early on.

File: astersheetpng.png (467 KB, 600x800)

467 KB PNG

Well, you need some way to increase your balance, and speed is a useful stat in every game isn't it? Swords are a little bit more heroic than clubs, and between your fist and the staff, you can deliver a sound enough beating not to need some shorter, thicker stick.

"Noman Warder though, you really jumped into it didn't you Aster," says Ervin, as you finish picking out your level up.

"It's going to be hard getting used to people calling me that." You've played plenty of games now with that name and you've been on voice chat with strangers a few times before on Defense of the Elderly, but something about virtual reality is frankly, more real.

"What skill did you take for your level up?"

"Healing palm."

"Probably should have taken one of the other ones, that skill is no good running solo. I guess we can do something as a group then. I'll message Lluthiana."

"Do we really need three people? You have to have forty levels on me."

"Thirty-eight levels actually. I was capped until the expansion landed today," he explains, "When you enter a zone below your level, Erquest reduces you to the cap. Let's see, we can probably grind you up to five real fast if we run The Slime Caverns."

"What's that?"

"That's the dungeon for the Plains of Beginning. It's a level five instance, but we can probably run it with three or four people since Lluthiana and I will still have our skills even with our levels reduced."

A prompt pops up in front of you, inviting you to Ervin's party. You press to accept it, and boxes for him and Lluthiana emerge in the corner of your gaze.

"Heeeey guys! We're running Slimes?" Lluthiana's voice comes out of nowhere, you turn your head left and right looking for her.

"She's not here Aster, that's party chat."

Oh god, are they telepathic now!? Can they hear your voice!? Don't think of anything damning, don't thi- damnit, you went and remembered that video.

"Just so you know, it only works when you talk into your hand."

>CONT

>>34565941
>Healing Palm's balance gain also functions independently of its healing
This one. You only gain balance if there is something to heal.

>>34566156
That explains nothing.

>>34566322
It's a reference to when Odysseus fought the cyclops, he called himself Noman so when the cyclops said "Noman is hurting me, Noman is killing me" no one came to help him, it's a pun

>>34566175
I don't mean to power game, but... When we killed those slimes some coins flew out of them and into our pocket. The character sheet still says we have 0 gold.

Or were the coins XP?

File: 5(137).png (55 KB, 480x280)

55 KB PNG

>>34566175

>Slime Caverns with Lithuania

This can only end well.

Your little panic episode over, you start experimenting with the party functions.

"Hey Ervin, can you hear me," you speak into your palm.

"Yes, I'm right in front of you."

"I'm in your heeeeead Ervin."

"We're both in your heeeeeead Ervin," says Lluthiana.

"I hate both of you."

"We know you love us Ervin. We're like a virtual menage a trois."

"Goddamnit Lloyd," you say.

"Lluthiana."

"If the two of you are done with that." Ervin sighs, into his palm so that each of you can hear him. "I'll meet Lluthiana at the city gates. Aster, you see if you can find another party member or two." Ervin leaves the cathedral, after heavy-handedly assigning you a job.

"Ervin. I'm your conscience... you're a dick Ervin," you whisper quietly to him after he's out of sight.

Let's see, how should you go about this. You're a Warder, and while Ervin and Lluthiana are a bit stronger than you, they're effectively a Striker and a Caster. Maybe a Walker would be good to find... those sorts always hang out around taverns right? Though, it's probably no big deal if you look for someone else, somewhere else.

>Head to the city taverns
>Hang out around the Cathedral, you don't want to move and there're plenty of players coming in and out of here
>Return to the Plains of Beginning, a new player will be more comfortable to play with
>Write-In

I actually haven't completed the full Warder skill tree in time. I wrote it off as the class least likely to get picked because I am stupid, so the image with detailed explanations in unfinished. Next session I'll post it up for you guys to plan over in advance, but just to explain healing palms conditions.

You need an ally to target.
Your balance is stuck at [Balanced] outside of combat, so you can't spam it to set up.
You must heal and you must gain Balance to activate it.

>>34566364
Oh. I'd only seen it translated as Nobody or No one.

Thanks.

File: astersheetpng.png (469 KB, 600x800)

469 KB PNG

>>34566381
Good catch, I completely forgot.

>>34566407
>>Head to the city taverns
Might as well go exploring the city too

>spoiler
Kek

>>34566407

>Return to the Plains of Beginning

We can pick up some of the quests Ervin implied we missed and getting someone new will piss him off.

>>34566407

Hah, so healing palm was a terrible choice

Well Lets go to the taverns

>>34566407
Go to da plains, find ourselves a qt3.14 then have it be a guy.
>I actually haven't completed the full Warder skill tree in time. I wrote it off as the class least likely to get picked
Who doesn't want to punch people?

>>34566463
I doubt it. He told us to get other party members, and we only have one level on anyone new.

They wouldn't be any more of a burden we would be, and I'm sure they'd get more use out of running the instance than higher level people.

>>34566407
>Your balance is stuck at [Balanced] outside of combat, so you can't spam it to set up.
You know, I'm just going to take this moment to wish I had read the skill votes earlier because this shit seemed obvious yet nobody else seemed to catch it.

I guess this is what happens when I trust in /tg/ to do something on their own and they try to optimize without thinking things through.

>>34566407
Oh well.

>Return to the Plains of Beginning
If only because it'd be nice to have someone closer to our level around to party with if our friends are busy doing things their own level.

Alternately, if we're feeling lazy we can just wait around the Cathedral for a new player who's coming in to turn in their first Slimes quest and not have to make the whole trek. It guarantees that whoever we end up with isn't 100% inept, at the very least.

>>34566407
Can we change it? I'm not sure everyone realised what they were voting for

>>34566568
I'll give you guys the opportunity starting next session or maybe at the end of this one, I don't want to kill the pace dealing with meta stuff. Admittedly, I should've clarified during the discussion, but I really dislike engaging the meta without having a reason.

I'll take this chance to add that stats and skills tend to mean less in combat than decisions. Write-ins are heavily encouraged as mentioned and even if you only go with prompts, there's a mechanical system in place.

>>34566568
I would honestly rather keep it, it's not a huge deal and it's not like it's a useless skill

I'm sure we would have picked it up eventually, anyway.

>>34566407
>Return to the Plains of Beginning

Looking inside your inventory, it seems the [Beginner's Sword] stats only come out about equal to the staff. Your unarmed attacks do a little bit less damage, but the hit rate is higher, and down your skill tree you can see that there're skills which make up the difference between wielding weapons and brandishing fists. Your equipment aside, a little rounded stone icon catches your eye, was it here all along?

The description of the [Return Stone] tells you that it'll bring you to where you have your return point set, which seems to still be the defaulted Church of Beginnings. You touch the icon of the [Return Stone] and it emerges from the menu and onto your palm.

"How do I activate this..." You tap your finger on it a few times, and your body is engulfed by light. You fade out, and in seconds, you fade back into the world, standing where you first landed.

"Oh, back already?" Says Gogregio, who you meet again. Despite his words, it seems that the clear blue sky has given way to night in the time you were gone.

"How much time has passed since I got here?"

"My time or your time?" He chuckles, lifting his arm in front of him as though checking a watch. "Try this."

You imitate his motion and stare at your wrist, a little screen forms, displaying three different sets of time.

"The first one is your local time, the second one is Erquest time, and the third is server time."

The server is on your hours, so the first and third timers are redundant, but it looks like you've only been here about three hours in real-time. In Erquest though...

"It's been twelve hours since I saw you, but most don't ever show their face back here after they leave," Gogregio tells you.

"Thanks." Seems Erquest goes four times as quick as the real world. "I'm looking for a party member, could you help me?"

"Hm... there've been quite a few people logging in today, new expansion and all, plenty of new players and alts," he says.

>CONT

Gogregio's pretty cool.

And that train of thought makes me wonder if anyone's tried to waifu NPCs, and what their reactions would be to those attempts.

>>34566852
"Just how intelligent are you? You seem to handle person interactions fairly well...is it all just pre-programmed responses or is there a genuine intelligence in there, deciding which movements and actions to take?"

>>34566947
See: >>34563191

>>34566947
He's got some modicum of AI, just like most, if not all NPCs.

>>34566944
>wonder if anyone's tried to waifu NPC
If a game like this existed I'd give it within an hour of game launch before someone puts the moves on an NPC.

>>34567039
And then rape happens.

"Anyone will do, some higher leveled friends of mine are helping me out."

"The Angels dropped a few people in here, there was another Noman Warder just like you actually. He's not much for quests though, he's been punching slimes out by the plains then coming back here to sell the drops all day." He thinks. "An Elman Caster was actually looking around all confused. I think he's real new, I bet he's still lost around this area."

"Anyone else?" No Walkers yet.

"Actually... there was an Anman Walker I saw this morning, gave her a quest to hunt some wolves in the woods but she hasn't come back to grab the reward yet. I wouldn't normally be worried but... she hasn't visited my brother Gogrego to turn in the slime quest either. Maybe she just logged off."

"For an artificial intelligent, you seem really... intelligent. Is it really all pre-programmed?"

"I'm doing my job, that's all. I just happen to be good at it." Gogregio gives you a calm smile. It seems that's all you'll get out of him.

"Ervin, what's the max party size? I got three I might be able to pick up," you ask, whispering into your hand.

"Five," he responds, "if you want to get the most experience out of this, we can just go with four or even forget the extra member. Your choice Aster."

You'll only be able to grab two of them at best it seems.

>Go for the Noman Warder
>Go for the Elman Caster
>Go for the Anman Walker
>Go with just your party of three

Here comes the qt3.14 catgirl!
Also, does healing palm go off magic/int or something else?

>>34567091

Go for the Anman Walker

Time to find our first waifu!!!!

>>34567094
>>34567122
She's probably going to be kuudere as hell.

>>34567091
>Go for the Anman Walker
Well, we did need a walker to round out the party.

>>34567091
>Go for the Anman Walker
Gotta get our damage dealer.

>>34567139
That just makes it even better, honestly.

>>34567094
>>34567091
No actually, have only Ervin or Loyd lead us, and grab the rest of the newbies, so we get more characters/friends

>>34567091
Get the Noman Warder and the Anman Walker.

Two battle-healers and a tank. It's like having two pocket mages with swords.

>>34567169
Trust me guys, best plan.

>>34567091

I feel bad for the Elman. If he hangs with Ervin he'll hopefully pick things up pretty quick.

>>34567091
Go for the Anman Walker

>>34567091
>>Go for the Elman Caster

>>34567091
>Go for the Elman Caster
and
>Go for the Anman Walker
The caster probably needs the help. And Walker is the only class we don't have.

>>34567169
This guy knows what's up.

>>34567091
Only go get the Anman Walker. We need more experience and we dont' need a fuck up to slow us down

>>34567169

I like this idea, but on the condition that we go with Ervin. Lloyd will just groom them for the Redmanes.

>>34567091
>Go for the Elman Caster

Just get all the newbies! Switch arms with the other Warder for dat self-healing palm Teach the Elman, and have him call us teacher! Romance the Walker, then find out she's aguy or underage, or both! Fuck Loyd, have Ervin lead us!

>>34567091
Just go get the Anman Walker to even the party out and get this goin

>>34567192
>>34567258
>>34567277
No. The only reason we're able to take on this high of a dungeon is because we have two really high level people helping us.

We might not be able to complete the dungeon without both of them. Just the Caster and the Walker are fine.

>>34567328
But remember, there's a level cap, so Ervin or Loyd's level get's reduced to 5, and Loyd or Ervin will probably be good enough to slol the dungeon, so with 4 newbies, we'll be fine.

>>34567415
*so even with 4 newbies, we'll be fine

"I guess I'll see what happened to that Walker." You can decide on whether you'll need a fifth member later, but right now you're a little worried about that Walker. You'd probably still be fumbling around if not for your friends, but who knows what she's doing lost in the woods.

"I'd be happy if you would. Here." Gogregio flips her hand at you and a quest prompt appears, [Rescue the Cat].

"Are you really allowed to make quests like that?"

"Sure." He shrugs, and you part ways with him...

You're not much of an outdoors-man, the last time you went camping, you ended up losing your tent to a bear, which might not have been so bad if he didn't swallow the keys to Ervin's car. Thankfully he left Lloyd's bag alone, unfortunately Lloyd packed nothing but alcohol in it. It was a long walk home in the cold rain, good times.
The woodlands here remind you of that time, the experience is so realistic you swear you'll step on a discarded can of beer or a used condom any moment now. In fact, you just felt a crunch beneath your boots, now to look down and...

That's a skeleton. That is definitely a skeleton. Oh god, oh god, is it going to jump out at you?

Whew, okay. It's not undead. You can keep walking...

Curiously enough, Gogregio's sudden prompt does have a destination marker. You follow it through the dark forest. You've spotted a few owls floating around, and a cursory glance tells you that they're mobs, but thankfully they seem aggressiveness.
The snarling of the wolves between the shadows of the trees on the other hand, you'd rather not venture inside to find out if they're alike.

You reach the area your quest prompt is at, a small clearing dead centre of the winding woods. There's nothing too notable here, other than a singular large tree in the middle of it...
...and the girl sitting between the branches.

>CONT

I should've made one of the other characters female.

>>34567484
>the wolf chased the catgirl up a tree
I honestly don't know what else I expected.

>>34567484
Can we actually do what I was saying here
>>34567169
?

>>34567601
Nope

Two cat ears stick out of strawberry blond hair, the hair cut mid-length on one side and short on the other with cat-like green eyes, both contrasting some fairly tanned skin. She's got the basic Walker equipment on, a plain green-brown tunic and long linen pants. Though the female model leaves a bit more belly than the male model you saw making your character. Her feet dangle above your hand, the toenails come out to a point almost like claws and there's just the thinnest patch of fur where they connect to her ankle.

"Lose your shoes?" You ask her.

She stares at you inquisitively before answering, "I threw them at the wolf, but he ate them."

"Gogregio had me come find you, I'm looking for a Walker for my party."

"Oh thank god, I was worried I'd be stuck here all night." Maybe you should tell her about the [Return Stone]. Yours is on cooldown for awhile yet though, so maybe not. "I was exploring, and this wolf came out of nowhere. I've been stuck here for hoooours," she says, though she doesn't actually seem too bothered.

"Have you just been sitting there?"

"I logged off for a little bit inbetween, but when I came back I was still stuck here... I'm not sure what I expected."

"Well, come down then."

"Uuuh..." She bites her lips, revealing two pronounced fangs. Her cat tail lurks out from behind her, and she grabs a hold of it tightly. "I can't get down..."

"Just climb down."

"I can't," she says, "I'm... kind of stuck here."

Oh, of course.

>Tell her to use the [Return Stone].
>Climb up and get her.
>Offer to catch her.
>Write-In

>>34567601
Yes. I'll prompt it later if we get the chance.

>>34567601
I'd rather we have at least two people who know what they're doing on our first run. There's no need to rush things. It's not like this is going to be the only time we'll ever be allowed to make acquaintances.

>>34567655
Not op

>>34567484
>I should've made one of the other characters female.
That characters class did have something to do with it. There are only four classes and we already had three of them. If the caster was female and the walker was male, we would have chosen both of them.

>>34567698
>>Offer to catch her.

>>34567698
>offer to catch her

>>34567713
Pretty much this.

>>34567698
>Offer to catch her.
LET THE ROMANCE BEGIN
also sweet
>>34567701
It's still an MMO, we may never see them again.

>>34567698
>Offer to catch her.
We catch her and our arms fall off, calling it now.

>>34567782
>LET THE ROMANCE BEGIN
You realize it's probably a man.

>>34567799
ROLL D20 TO CATCH HER, BEST OF TWO.

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>34567821
lets see how badly this will go

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>34567821
High rolls mean groping?

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>34567698
>Offer to catch her.
I wouldn't trust myself with trying to carry a full-sized person down from a tree, but catching her should be easy enough.

>And then once she's safely down, let her know about the [Return Stone].
It's helpful information for later, and she gets to be flustered over us wanting to catch her even though there was an easier way out.

>>34567799
I'm expecting this too, honestly. Hopefully we catch her just fine and THEN our arms fall off after she's safe and sound so it's mildly comedic rather than just slapping her with them unceremoniously in free-fall.

>>34567821

>>34567821
Fuck, why did I mention it. I'm so sorry guys.

>>34567818
Yeah, probably.

>>34567841
>>34567847

Yup. You guys suck.

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>34567874
forgot roll

File: 1351842680977.png (339 KB, 991x394)

339 KB PNG

>>34567821
>beating things up rolls are best of 3
>helping people rolls are best of 2
FRIENDSHIP CONFIRMED WORST. MIGHT MAKES RIGHT.

>PUNCH THE TREE; LOOT THE CATGIRL.

>>34567961
>that pic
AAHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAA

"Then jump and I'll catch you." You stretch your arms out, gesturing for the cat-girl to descend.

"Jump!? From a tree!?" She looks shocked at the idea of jumping, not even bothered by the part of you having to catch her.

"Is there a problem?"

"Ah, the ground's so far away..." She stands up, her feet clinging onto the branch and her claws digging into them. All things considered, she could probably climb down fairly easily if she just put in the effort, but it's a little late for that.

"Well?"

"Hold on! I'm still making mental preparations... haaaah." She takes deep breaths, yeah, she's a strange one. "Okay, okay, I'm jumping. Catch me, alright?"

"Okay."

"Make sure you catch me!"

"Okay."

"ALRIGHT, JUMPING!" She leaps off the tree and you ready to catch her... but her tail grabs the branch, keeping her from falling. "IT'S TOO SCARY! NO! NO!"

"What's keeping you Aster?" Ervin asks you.

"Annoying catgirls," you whisper.

"Some things never change huh guys." Lluthiana snickers.

"Okay, I'm doing it, aaand..." Her tail rips loose of the branch and she spins in the air, you catch her in her arms by the knees and the back. "Aaaah... that was so exciting." She smiles at you, her hands stretched up like paws and a certain cattish curl to her lips. For all the trouble she was just now, she's awfully cute. With a clear look at her not obscured through the leaves, you see that her name is 'Pixie'...

Your arms snap off, literally dropping to the ground with the girl still held between them... well, so much for a good first impression.

"Ah... well. Hm." She stands up, plucking each of your arms up with her hands. You can feel the soft touch through them. "I uuh, think these are yours."

"Yeah," you say, a little embarrassed, a lot awkward... now, how do you go about asking her to join your party.

>CONT

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>34567961
Eh, 5/10 bait, put effot into it, but too obvious.
>>34567913
Also reroll

"Grrrrrrr..." The noise comes from further in the woods, a canine growl.

"Oh dear, it's back."

"What's back?" You ask Pixie.

"Remember how I said a wolf was chasing me? That'd be him." She points into the darkness between the trees, as a large feral hound steps out of it, black fur standing on end, a maw full of jagged teeth.

"Hey Ervin, what do you know about wolves in The Plains of Beginning?"

"They're only in the forest, level five usually. Last thing you clear before running the dungeon... why do you ask?"

"I think I know why he's asking." Lluthiana snickers some more.

"Well, here're your hands," Pixie grabs both of your arms and slams them into their slots, before giving you a bow and quickly fading into the scenery, using her [Prowl] skill.

"Well..." You stare at the wolf, who stares back at you, hungry. It bends it knees, preparing for a fierce lunge.

>Use your fists
>Use the quarterstaff
>Use the sword

>[LIGHT] Avoid the wolf and try to out-smart it as you do damage.
>[HEAVY] Smash into the wolf as it charges
>[GUARD] Brace for the wolf's attack and try to hit it back.
>[Best of two 1d20] Turn and start running.

>Write-In

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>34568241

Wait until the beast lunges, then uppercut it.

aka Use our fists, HEAVY

>>34568241
>Use your fists
>[HEAVY]

What could go wrong?