VR adventures (closed for Cherrybomb)

[JadeKnight]

He checked the clock for a moment and shook his head.

"It's a little after eight pacific time. Not sure you'll make that college hunting trip."

He teased her for a moment before checking his mailbox for a moment.

"So far I've not gotten any replies back from the rest of the team or the company."

He patted his stomach for a moment.

"And strangely enough, I'm hungry. I dunno about you, but I think going to the tavern might be needed."

There were five restaurants in addition to the tavern, each with foods that were supposed to be native to each of the races. However he wasn't sure if food would really help cure hunger, so he thought going with the basics would be a good test.

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"Yeah, I'm hungry too..." Though she was skeptic as to whether or not virtual food would take the edge off.

Sadie's mind kept going to dark places. What if they really were stuck? Sadies mom was at least at her house... but she had no idea if Nightblade lived with anyone... a wife or girlfriend (hell maybe even a boyfriend) that knew he was in the game and might need help.

"They are probably aware of the issues." referring to his coworkers. After this, her mother was probably going to be freaked out if she tried to log into the game again... Actually Sadie was considering waiting herself, just to make sure that when she played again there were no more glitches.

"I wonder if anyone else is having issues logging out. If there are people who can log in and out we can always ask them to log off and contact the company, then they can log back in and let us know if they got a hold of someone?"

 

[JadeKnight]

He thought about her questions for a moment before shaking his head a little.

"Well, we really don't know how widespread this problem is until we ask around. The best place to do that would be the marketplace or the tavern. Both places are most likely to be crowded right now, and I am hungry. Why don't we go out and see for ourselves?"

He stood up from the chair, gesturing towards the door for her to lead. He knew it would let her buy some new clothes as well.

 

[Cherrybomb400]

They went to the market. Gardenia was able to buy a new outfit. This time she bought her own pants. The dress she had before was nice and sexy but the pants seemed more practical. Plus she liked how they made her ass look.

After making her purchase. Gardenia looked around. There were a lot of people but they seemed... Off. There wasn't the normal 'hustle and bustle' feeling that it had in previous sessions. Maybe it was because it was early or because they too were in the same boat that the two of them.

Gardenia looked to Nightblade to see if he noticed. They walked to the inn to try and at least get some virtual food in them. Upon walking in, it had looked like they stumbled into a riot! "What the hell is going on?!"

People were fighting each other and breaking everything in sight. People were angry and Gardenia had no idea what to do.

 

[JadeKnight]

Night ducked in a hurry as they opened they door, but the thrown plate hit the wall beside the door instead. It took him a moment to take in the riot of players as they tore the place up. He did notice a absence of the usual npcs, except for the innkeeper behind the bar. The innkeeper was just standing there behind the counter, smiling as he watched and waited for someone to approach.

"Where are the guards when you need them?"

He spoke aloud, but figured Gardenia was the only one to hear him. Deciding to take control, he climbed onto the nearest table. He paused for a moment before whistling sharply. A few took notice, but most kept fighting. Finally he yelled as loud as he could.

"The next player to throw something gets a permanent ban!"

The got their attention as the place went quiet, all eyes on him. That probably painted him as a GM, but then he was probably the closet thing to one.

"Now what the fuck is going on?"

One female fairy Mage spoke up.

"We can't log out."

"So you decide to riot and try to screw up your own game? Over something you can't control? How does that help?"

There were a few mutterings among the players, shuffling as they looked at the floor. Another player piped up.

"Are you a GM? Can you do something about this?"

"No, not a GM. However I have connections to the GMs, and I've been trying to get ahold of them. I'm just as stuck as you."

The female fairy spoke up again.

"So what do we do?"

Night looked towards Gardenia for a moment before back to the crowd.

"Wait as long as needed. In the meantime, live, survive, and play as normal."

 

[Cherrybomb400]

There was something about a man who takes charge that was extremely attractive. Gardenia wasn't the only one who had those same sentiments as she looked around and saw some females eyeing Nightblade. There was a flare of jealousy. For a moment she imagined him taking one or all of those girls back to his place and leaving her in the tavern. Nightblade wasn't like that though, or at least she didn't think he was.

Everyone started to calm down and soon the tavern was being put back in order. People were still clearly upset, a lot of them worrying about when they will get out, if they will get out. Gardenia finally took a seat. There was a weird twinge on her left arm and for a moment her eyes felt strained, but she could see perfectly fine. The strained sensation in her eyes was quickly gone but the twinge in her arm slowly faded until her brain didn't notice it anymore.

Little did Gardenia and Nightblade know, the gaming company was already acting fast on the outside, trying to collect as many players as possible who couldn't log out of the game. Everyone was quickly hospitalized but they kept them plugged into the game until they could find a way to get back in and get everyone out.

Gardenia ordered herself some food from the NPC behind the bar before sitting back at the table with Nightblade. The Mage also grabbed two ales and placed on in front of him before she started drinking hers down. God she was sure she could use an actual drink. She doubted it actually tastes as good as the games drinks were designed to taste.

 

[JadeKnight]

He sighed for a moment as he sat back in the chair, glad to be out of the spotlight for a moment. He normally didn't like standing out like that, but he just did what he had to do. He looked at the ale for a moment, nodding his thanks to the mage for bringing it. He picked the mug up, swirling the dark brown liquid around as he looked at the drink. It was well replicated from what an ale should look like, so he wondered what it would taste like.

After a moment, he tipped the mug up as he gulped down a mouthful. He winced a little at the sharp bite of it, along with the slight burning sensation as it went down. It didn't have much for taste, but he could start to feel the effects of getting drunk.

"Whoa, they programmed this stuff a little strong. I think three would be enough to get you plastered."

He smiled for a moment as he saw the innkeeper bring Gardenia over a plate of food, setting it in front of her before heading back to the counter. He snagged her roll for a moment, taking a bite of it. It didn't really have much taste, like real bread.

"Not bad."

 

[Cherrybomb400]

Gardenia started to dig in and drink. She never tasted real beer before. "Maybe the developers wanted to make things more interesting with intoxicated players." She laughed at the though of someone getting drunk and then trying to fight.

The food was alright. Not terrible but not a substitute for the real thing. "Man, I would kill for a cheesesteak with everything on it and some fries from Hangman," it was a sub and pizza shop her and her mom would order from. It was like a local landmark, everyone ordered from there because the food was fantastic!

 

[JadeKnight]

He laughed for a moment hearing Gardenia talk about the programming of the alcohol.

"Well, players were wanting to have things close to life for the game. I just hope the respawn system is working right."

He chuckled again hearing her mention getting real food again.

"That sounds like a wonderful thing to have right now. Hopefully we won't be stuck here too long. Though I don't think the game will be shut down after this little dibocal."

He leaned back in his chair for a moment to look at the other players settling into things.

"Starry Night was setup to be a player driven economy, so you might want to think of a way to get some extra income, besides just fighting. It'll probably take a few days for some sort of ecomony to be established among everyone. The npcs will only cover the basic stuff."

 

[Cherrybomb400]

Gardenia sighed. "Great. So just like the real world, I need to get a job." She rolled her eyes. Maybe she could do something like crafting weapons or maybe something with her spells. "I can enchant items... Maybe I can the town witch." She joked. Most players were fighters, so the idea wasn't a complete waste. She could even team up with whoever the blacksmith was, or would be if there wasn't one.

She took a few more sips from her ale and was already feeling tipsy. It was a good thing this was a game. The last thing she needed was to be virtually date raped. As far as Gardenia knew, the developers hadn't gone into THAT much detail but she didn't seriously press Nightblade for a lot of information either.

She finished her food and stood. "I'm actually surprised, I feel full!" Gardenia wondered if they were going to stick together until the game let them log out. If they were still stuck, would she be staying the night with him again? She didn't want to keep him from his bed, it was his after all. She would need to rent a room. More reason for her to establish a way to make income in game.

 

[JadeKnight]

He laughed for a moment at her comment about making it into a job.

"Yup, even in the games there are jobs. HOw else are we going to be able to get all that epic gear?"

He watched her finish her meal, setting his half drunk mug aside. He really wasn't much of a drinker, and he really didn't want to start now. A little bit every now and then was fine though.

"Ready to go elsewhere? I mean, if you don't want me to stick around that is."

He really didn't have anyone else around that he knew of, and he was pretty sure she probably had friends who were stuck here as well. He stood up from the table and smiled.

"I don't mind helping you get a head start over the others."

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"I'd like to stick with you if that's alright." She was actually really happy that she seemed to want her to stick around. Even though this was a virtual world, she didn't feel safe being by herself, not while everyone was on high stress from the game not letting them out.

Her mom was going to be so pissed, but it wasn't her fault! No sense in worrying about it now. Sadie would welcome her mother's nagging as soon as she was able to log out.

Speaking of which, as the two went out and explored, finding more and more people who couldn't log out. They were also hearing about how some people haven logged in. Sadie assumed that was probably because the developers are keeping people from logging in until the issue was resolved.

"Ok, so whats the best way of leveling up quickly?" She smiled to him as they walked.

 

[JadeKnight]

He hmmed for a moment as they walked through town, trying the best way of doing things.

"Well, how are you wanting to go about it? We can straight up farm one of the starter areas for levels. We could also try and farm for materials and level up as well. Or we could just farm for materials so we both can try and level up our skills quickly. All of them are going to consume our time, but we need to figure out a way to get a leg up in our new home."

He chuckled for a moment, finding it funny he called this place home. For him, it was like a second home after all the programming and play-testing he had done. He wasn't sure how she would feel about everything though.

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"Our home? Awes we move fast, don't we?" She winked playfully at him. "Well it's not like time is an issue." For better or worse they were trapped in the game, best to make the most of it.

"Let's focus on leveling skills quickly." She decided. Building their skills would probably pay off more. So after making sure she had her strongest weapon equipped, she was ready to start mowing down some monsters.

 

[JadeKnight]

He thought for a few moments on the best place that they could go. The newbie area usually didn't have any drops that covered any of the occupations they had. He had planned on doing blacksmithing, mostly for the fun of it. He knew he could always recode the weapons he made, but that would unbalance things in the long run.

"Well, it looks like you will be leveling up some anyways. We'll have to travel to the Rolling Highlands to start gathering your materials, I think. I do know that's where the low level mining starts. Do you have an idea of what all you need to start with for your enchanting?"

He reached down and took ahold of her hand for the time being. It did surprise him that she felt wamr in his grasp.

 

[Cherrybomb400]

"Actually, I do." She smiled as he took her hand and they set off. Most of what she needed was easy to find, at least to get her started. Since the game was still new she could slowly work her way with the lower level players and then as she leveled up she could cater to others.

They made their way to Rolling Highlands. Even though they couldn't leave the game, Sadie/Gardenia was really happy that they could travel instantly to other places in the game. They mowed through the area at a surprisingly quick rate. Even getting some rare items too (she would save those).

"I think that should be enough for now." Sadie said. "I think we killed a lot of time. Lets do something else." Of course she wasn't really sure what else there was to do.

 

[JadeKnight]

He helped her kill the woodland creatures that were her level and some that were above. He also left her alone from time to time to hunt down the ore veins as they appeared, though he did have to compete with other players a couple of times. Since he didn't bother keeping any of the junk items and giving any materials that Gardenia could use to her, he was able to fill his inventory with plenty of ore to practice with.

He grinned for a moment at her suggestion.

"Well, gathering the materials was the first step. You're going to need a bit of practice trying to enchant things as well. I can create things with the ore I collected, and you can enchant the stuff I make. My apartment would probably be best to do that."

He took her hand for a moment, whisking them back to the apartment. Once there, he sat down on the bed, smiling to her.

"Ready to start working?"

 

[Cherrybomb400]

The two had been losing track of time. If they had been watching, they would have noticed how long it had been since they were trapped. It was probably for the better to keep their minds preoccupied then sitting there, wondering and waiting.

"Yep!" She said, smiling. She sat back down on his bed, waited and watched as his character went to work until he created something for her to enchant. While he focused on that, she was focusing on his character's... features. They might have been only able to see each others avatars but there was a reason why the game developers made them the way they did!

She quietly wondered if this was how he looked in real life... probably not. She imagined that his physic was probably different... not that she was the perfect picture of health. She had an average body type in real life, weight wise.

When he finally had something for her to work with she went right away to doing one of her enchantments, which took about the same amount of time it took him to make it the item.

 

[JadeKnight]

It took him a little bit to fashion the ores into workable metal, but it didn't go unnoticed how she was looking at him. He gave a smiled to her every now and then as he worked. Once he had a few simple daggers made, he handed those over to her.

He was soon able to increase his metal-working speed the more he worked on the skill. He had soon reached the limit of the skill he could get from making daggers, the skill trailing off. If he wanted to continue upgrading his skill, he was going to have to find a trainer.

"Well, I've done all I can for now."

He moved closer to her, watching her work. He studied her features as well, noting that the game artists had done a very good job.