[LH] Our New Home?

[Mumble Dragon]

It took Lars a second to realize that Kuwan was talking to him. Lost in thought and not used to being referred by his username, Lars was caught a little off guard.

"So what do you think of this situation so far, Lars? Scared, homesick...or excited?" Kuwan shot at him.

Lars pondered at the question. How did he feel about the situation. Being ripped from the world he knew and placed in what seemed to be a physical manifestation of a game he got on sale. Curse your holiday sales, he thought to himself. His mind began to wonder as he walked. I wonder if I can get back to catch a few more games on sale.

His mind continued to reel until a noise drew is attention to their virtual reality. OH, right....Kuwan...

"Well...." he began, tapping his chin as he thought to himself. "This is still a game isn't it?" Tapping in the air, he pulled up his in-game HUD to clarify. "Characters we created, skill list, exp, what seems to be a small girl trapped in a giant's body...." he went on, trying to focus his thoughts. "I guess you could say interested," he went on. "How did we end up here, and what does that leave the world we left behind? And if this is a game, I plan on enjoying every second of it" 

He gave a slight smile in Kuwan's direction, hoping to pass by his interrogating question. Casting his gaze forward, he closed all player HUD's and gave a brief sigh. "Don't you think it's odd that we haven't run into some form of creature yet?" he offered, hoping to change the topic of the conversation.

[Linwelin]

Kuwan nodded along with what Lars was saying, Finally someone who ISN'T beside themselves. This is a fantastic change of pace. Oh, wait, I guess it really was only Hemmingsworth. Even Rico steadied himself quickly. Kuwan breathed a sigh of relief at the change of company. Though still a little on edge, he finally got a little bit of the peace he was hoping for earlier.

"Yea, as far as I can tell, this is still a game, but at the same time, it's quite real. And hopefully we can answer those questions and get some peace of mind. BUT!" Kuwan emphasizes. "Since we can't answer those questions now, I'm not gonna bother thinking about them. Instead, I want to know what we're able to do. Considering we have a skills list, it seems we may be super-human now. Oh, not that that wasn't the case already, considering our bodies. Kuwan noted that both Lars and himself were already a bit animalistic. "But similar to this magic light spell working, I think we can actually do everything we could in the game. But what I REALLY want to know is if we can do more. I mean, we're fully in control of our avatar's movements now."

Kuwan stopped his semi-monologue when Lars brought up the lack of creatures. "It is pretty strange...maybe they're just empty ruin after all?" However, right as he said that, grunts could be heard deeper into the ruins.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Right as they peered into the darkness to investigate, a pair of boar came rushing out, their heads lowered in a charge, aiming to gore you. Having been somewhat alert, you manage to dodge their first charge, but you're not sure how long you can keep that up. However, the hope for meat is before you, and you're not about to let that chance slip away!

[spoiler]Damage taken
Boar 1: 0
Boar 2: 0
Lars: 0
Kuwan: 0
[/spoiler]

[Throndir]

Aria Blanchette
as Sir Hemsworth

When part of the group moved on, Aria followed behind.

When the boars had appeared, Aria had her skills menu open. Most of the words didn't make any sense, but she realized they must have been some sort of abilities, kind of like special attacks you see in those Marvel movies. Aria ha a momentary relapse of drooling when she imagined Thor bashing away boars and sending them flying as if they were nothing, but she quickly shook herself from the reverie as the immediate danger was upon them. She had barely gotten out of the way from the first assault, and she frantically started scanning her skills and abilities list.

So many options. Battle Master? Decoy Action? A-ahh... As she continued to fiddle with the controls, more and more menus appeared. Attack? Attack.. Where is that!

[Linwelin]

[spoiler]SO, I'd forgotten that I meant to do an example post of combat (to my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong on anything, Mystic), then left town for a couple days. Kind of left everyone hanging XD sorry.

Also, a reminder to fill out what you can in your google character sheets in your character post. If you have any questions, feel free to private message me about them :)

NOW THEN, time to get to work.[/spoiler]

"Uwah-oof!" Kuwan managed to jump to the side in his surprise, but did a light shoulder-check to the wall. There was a soreness, but no actual damage was taken. Well, I guess pain can be felt. It's becoming less and less of a game... After patting his shoulder, he turned his attention back to the boars. They'd both charged past, and were now standing between Hemmingsworth, Lars and himself. Of course, he'd wished that one of the more healthy members of the group attacked first, but could see the chaos of not knowing how to engage.

As a druid, me knew he had a ranged blast he could do with his staff, but had no idea how to activate it. So he just stuck is staff in the boars' general direction, scrolled through his menu and hit magic attack. Immediately, a glowing orb-like projectile of green light shot out toward the creatures.

[spoiler=An explanation/How to approach this game system]Ok, so now for a small explanation of combat. All basic rolls are 2d6+(some bonus). An auto attack is 2d6+(Hack and slash) for melee and +(Volley) for ranged. For now, mage basic attacks will be 2d6+(Your caster ability modifier) until I figure out a name for it. On a 10+ you hit your target. On a 7-9 you hit, but are also exposed to a counter-attack. 6- you miss and something bad happens (enemy attack, dropped weapon, etc.)

This system is very reactionary and story-driven, where creatures only really hit back if you don't hit them flawlessly. This is because characters in this system are treated like a group of action TV show protagonists. The focus is the players and the story, not the enemies, just like the camera is mostly focused on showing the protagonists and the plot more than how the bad guys are fighting back. So think of the group of enemies as just that, a group threat. Their damage isn't dealt individually, but in one, flowing instance, using the highest damage die among the group +1 damage per additional creature assisting that attack.

For instance, these boars do their damage die +1 because there are two boars. however, were they to split up and attack separate targets, each would do just their damage die to their respective target. Once again, please ask questions, as this is a much different system than most. Not difficult once you have the perspective, but quite different.

Also, a note. This system is fairly lethal if you're not a tank. If possible, don't go for a fair fight. Make traps and ambushes to kite enemies into, so on, so forth. If anything, you're gonna be planning out situations similarly to how you'd have a strategy for a raid in MMO's. Damage can be taken at any moment's failure.

I do have to apologize, though. I'm still not sure how to make armor and attack power scale in this system, so information on how game stats work is still pretty lacking. Working on it ^_^[/spoiler]

[spoiler=My combat rolls]
[blockquote]Attack (To be named):  2d6+3 : 4, 1 + 3, total 8[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Damage if hit:  1d6 : 6, total 6[/blockquote][/spoiler]

[Throndir]

Aria Blanchette
as Sir Hemsworth

Games are so complicated these days! Aria was almost frantic, there were too many options for her, and though Xen had told her how to open the skills list, she had no idea what was what. There were boars going at them, and she hardly had the time to go through each of the options one-by-one. So Aria did the unthinkable.

"Something's gotta work!" With that she began randomly pressing all the skills and buttons.

[spoiler]
+3 modifier for Hack and Slash
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 2d6+3 : 3, 3 + 3, total 9
[/spoiler]

[Kirhart]

[spoiler]/roll 2d6[/spoiler]

Rico simply used his dagger to strike the Boar, not trying to get TOO fancy yet.

[Mysticsage]

Xen stood in the back with his grimoire open in his hand and his menu open infront of him. Pressing the buttons as fast as he could he shouted

[spoiler]roll to summon
Taking gm choosing something bad to happen
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 2d6+1 : 4, 3 + 1, total 8[/spoiler]

"Summon servant: SNOWMAN!" At the top of his lungs. Within seconds the pages of his book began glowing the only pages with symbols shining a white. The air suddenly grew colder around Xen, cold enough to see his breath. Power like he had never felt before coursed through his body in that moment. It felt bubbly, like soda was coursing through his veins and into the book. The only thing that could fill his mind in that moment was. This must be how real magic feels.

And out from the sky materialized a giant snowman right in front of the boars. The thing was as large as a basket ball player and wore a upturned bucket for a hat.

It was all Xen could do not to start  laughing. He had called something into existence! Something adorable to boot! As the snowman tried to look menacingly at the boors he could not help but smile at the absurdity of the thing. Apparently it's cute but pudgy appearance kept most people from choosing the low level servant.

But seeing his guardian face to coal eyed face he knew he had made the right choice.

"Kaiser Ice breath!" He commanded as the two boars got covered in a cone of cold
[spoiler] This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d6+5 : 6 + 5, total 11

5 cold damage to second boar[/spoiler]

[Linwelin]

As the boars charge past, Kuwan manages to recover himself from dodging against the wall and fires off a blast of magic. Just as he does this, however, the boar that had nearly hit him turned around and rushed back at him. Just as it takes the damage from Kuwan's blast, it gores the fox tail with one of its tusks, throwing him back against the wall once more.

It is at this point that Sir Hemmingsworth enters the range of the combat. Unbeknownst to the them, guardians gain a small bit of aggro by entering combat, thus the other boar immediately begins running at them instead of back to Lars. In your flurry or button pressing during this charge, you activate 'Anchor Howl' as setup, further increasing aggro and nullifying a small portion of the damage taken per hit for the round. With the boar right on top of you, you finish your panic by lashing out wildly with your blade, trading blows with the boar. This boar doesn't manage to gore due to the armor, but still manages to get a good hit. You also notice that the boar that had attacked Kuwan is also drawn to you, heading your way.

Then, in a surprise feat of magical aptitude no one had really expected, Xenos calls forth an impressive ice summon. Though simply a large snowman, it lets lose a large blast of ice, which nails both of the boars. Unfortunately, Xenos, in his excitement, got too close to the origin of the blast, and a frigid gust resulting from the summon spell ended up knocking him over. The one before Hemmingsworth collapses and shatters into specks of light, disappearing and dropping a few gold pieces and what looks to be raw boar meat, though you don't know how much. The second boar also takes a solid hit from a gust of ice magic made when the snowman was summoned, but is still standing. From the way the boar died, it's confirmed in your eyes that this really is a game world gone reality.

There's no time to rejoice just yet, however, as the final boar begins to charge.

[spoiler]I rolled the damage for those that didn't. Sir Hemmingsworth rolls 1d10, got an 8. Were Rico or Lars to roll, they would roll 1d8. Xenos and Kuwan roll 1d6 for damage.

Damage Taken:
Boar 1: Dead, dropped 5 gold and raw boar meat.
Boar 2: 11
Kuwan: 3
Lars: 0
Rico: 0
Xenos: 0
Sir Hemmingsworth: 2 - 1 (Anchor Howl) = 1

Hate (Aggro):
Sir Hemmingsworth: 2

Status:
Xenos: Summon Servant: Snowman, Prone

Anchor Howl's effect expires.[/spoiler]

[Throndir]

Aria Blanchette
as Sir Hemsworth

I did something! No idea what though, but it was still something! Aria said excitedly. She swore, right after this battle and a good night's rest, she's going to sit down and look through that skills menu Xen had showed her earlier. It was almost exhilarating, seeing wild boars in real life, Aria would have simply fled the other direction, but in body of Thor, Aria couldn't help but feel almost invincible.

"Okay... take this then!" Gripping her hammer, she pushed another few sets of buttons.

[spoiler]
+3 modifier for Hack and Slash
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 2d6+3 : 3, 5 + 3, total 11
Damage included this time:
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d10 : 10, total 10
[/spoiler]

[Linwelin]

'Beginning' to charge is all the final boar managed as Hemmingsworth's hammer slammed down straight between its eyes as soon as the creature drew close. The force of the blow caused the creature to stop dead in its tracks, quite literally, and plunge into the rock and dirt beneath it. There was no movement to collect itself, obviously overkilled. The strike had come as a surprise to anyone watching, as the ferocious excitement displayed by the guardian was a near-polar opposite to the timidity shown before. It was clear the thrill of combat had reached them.

The boar soon shattered into red, digital shards like the one before it, also ending up as a pile of raw boar meat and some gold coins.

The end-of-combat loot menus popped in front of the battle's participants.

Sir Hemmingsworth and Xenos see:

VICTORY!
Earned
3 gold
1 Raw Boar Meat

Kuwan sees:

VICTORY!
Earned
4 gold

[Linwelin]

Kuwan had just been preparing to cast his Heartbeat Healing spell on Hemmingsworth when he saw the hammer brought down hard. Eesh...that'd even knock me silly. Where'd that confidence come from!? Seeing that the guardian was just fine as is, the fox tail decided to instead focus on healing himself. Pointing his staff upward, he hit the command for the skill and brought forth a green light to cloak himself. After a short moment, his missing three health points were quickly healed.

"...Hmm, not bad." He muttered at himself, surprised by the heal's effectiveness. It was a regeneration spell, so it was not instant, but recovered a small amount every second or so. It seemed to take effect after a slight delay, but would recover 10 health with his current skill. Though he noticed it stopped as soon as he stopped focusing on it, meaning he could only effect one target at a time. Kuwan made sure to note this to himself for later.

"Anyways, not that that surprise is gone...what was that ability from before, Hemmingsworth? It drew the enemy's attention to you, which is pretty useful. You'll want to use that later." While speaking, he accepted the loot window before him. "So what did everyone get as loot?"

[Mysticsage]

Xen took the moment to stand up then as smoothly as he could manage. His new height was going to pose a real problem if a simple gust of wind could knock him over. If Hemmingsworth had not been there. He might very well been the first to test the limits of this world. Pulling his cowl over his head to hide his embarrassment he tried to just make it look like he was shacking off frost.

But regardless of any embaressment he felt. Inside he was bubbling with joy he had performed actual magic. MAGIC! Casting his spells and seeing something physical manifest! It was in that moment that it finally sunk in that they were no longer in their reality.

The ritualist  took the moment to accept his victory spoils feeling the purse at his hip get heavier. Checking his inventory he also saw that he was now in position of some boar meat. It was apparently classified as an "ingredient" grade consumable item.

"I got a few coins and a crafting item." He was guessing based of off the ingredient tag but it made the most sense.

[Throndir]

Aria Blanchette
as Sir Hemsworth

Hemsworth. Aria thought to herself.

To be perfectly honest, Aria was still finding it strange that she was being called by her idol's name. Though one quick look down, reminded her well enough that this was still some sort of fantastic world. Aria had slightly blushed, Hemsworth did have quite a package...

No! Musn't think that! She stayed completely still, but to the onlooker, they would have realized Sir Hemsworth's face turn red slightly. She shook her head though as she noticed her movements felt sluggish.

The adrenaline from the fight was dissipating fast, and though the fight breathed in a new sort of rush, the weariness from the day, as well as hunger was beginning to creep on her. Aria had enough sense to respond back to Kuwan however, as she stared at the notification telling her she earned new items.

"One of the buttons... I think." Aria said as she yawned, answering Kuwan's first question on what 'ability' she had used. "Or something. Anyways I got the same stuff as Xen. Meat?"

Aria was hungry, but more than that she was tired.

"I don't suppose anyone knows a place to sleep? Like a hotel? I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I'm pretty tired of just gallivanting around... I'm pretty zonked out." She said, her tone of voice tired more than anything else.

[Mumble Dragon]

Lars stood idly toward the back as he slid his weapons back into their holsters. The battle was over as soon as it had begun. Being caught off guard by the sudden realization of boars, he hadn't noticed the other party members approach from behind. Instantly the cave was full of adventurers throwing their weapons at the poor beasts, not to mention a freak blizzard that he would much rather avoid. The sudden snowman left him mostly confused. Had that really come from the spry little man Lars had met only recently. No matter the fact of giant men swinging hammers or killer snowmen, Lars' hand stayed when it came to rising up and attacking the invaders.

When it came to crunch time, Lars had failed. Slightly embarrassed and a little awkward, he couldn't believe he was shown up by an odd looking snowman. Giving a sigh of defeat, he was slightly saddened by the loss of opportunity to try out a few attacks. . 

[Linwelin]

Kuwan takes a moment to change targets from himself to Hemmingsworth, healing them back to top health. Admittedly, they were not missing much in the first place, but may as well take the time to bring everyone to their best condition. To see the glow surround another was a bit more eye opening. This wasn't some in-born ability, and he wasn't simply a "fox tail" now, but legitimately using some form of magic. HEALING magic. The most miraculous form of fantasy. It was...exhilarating.

"A hotel, huh..." Kuwan responded off-hand, breaking from his reverie of fantasy magic. "I didn't see an inn back in town, but I'm sure there is one. I have to agree, though, the day has been tiring. I'm ready to find a bed. Also, it'd be great to get that meat cooked!" He says eagerly, mounting his staff back behind him and beginning to head out of the cave.

____________________________________________________________________________________

About half way back out of the cave, strange noises were occasionally sounding from the walls and ceiling around you. It was a strange bubbling noise that left all in the group slightly unsettled. The source of the sound was soon discovered, however, as strange, green blobs began to ooze out of the crevices in the walls and fall from the stalactites above. There were 5 in all, 3 toward the exit, and 2 behind the group, completely surrounding you all. Their tags listed them as [Mob] and [Green Slime], and their health seemed around the same as the boars. Any other qualities, if any, remained unknown.

[spoiler]Damage Taken
Hemmingsworth: 0
Lars: 0
Xenos: 0
Kuwan: 0
Rico: 0

Slime 1: 0
Slime 2: 0
Slime 3: 0
Slime 4: 0
Slime 5: 0

Hate

Status[/spoiler]