ROLEPLAY HQ - vr-world

Ash Styx was a 23 year old man and a necromancer, known as one of the top necromancers in Axothis. He was in a guild but he hated interacting or talking to anyone, the only reason he was in said guild was for the perks of the guild, being able to buy but mainly sell items on the guilds shop was a great benefit to him as he gets a lot of unnecessary drops and lower level equipment that he didn’t need. One day he went to the local bar, he heard that there was a new event for the releases of the newest big update to the game. The poster read "Hello everyone, we are hoping you are enjoying the game, we just added the newest event "axo explor." In this event you must explore different worlds to gain points. Every world is different and unique, from needing to find a specific item to completing dungeons! For every world fully completed your team will gain 100 points. This event is done in pairs of 2, a player can not sign up for the quest alone or in a pair of more than 2 players. As for the rewards you can find them in your menu in the event area, where you can also find more info on the event. Good luck competitors, we wish you good luck on this adventure. The event starts in 2 days." Ash was bummed. He needed a partner, even though he hated interacting with people. ‘Whatever, the rewards can’t be that good anyways, I probably won’t need the rewards. Let’s see what they offer for mages.’ He thought to himself while opening the rewards page on the menu. ‘WHAT- THESE ARE BROKEN!!’ There was a massive amount of choices for every class armor and weapons. Ash was looking at the magic scythe with the stats 50% extra magic damage and 120 base damage as it would make his summons more powerful, his current weapon has 35% extra magic damage and 140 base damage . The cloak was also not bad with an extra 60% magic damage but his current cloak had 50% already. ‘I need to find a partner fast.. but where? Maybe here? But the bar is too full... I can't see anything!’ eve

10:29

ryone was gathered around the poster to read it. Ash ordered a beer hoping the crowd would leave before he finished it, but unfortunately people kept coming and there were too many people to ask for a partner. He went back home hoping he could come back tomorrow to find a partner. When he got back home he sent a post on the guild’s chat hoping he could find a partner there. But no one really wanted to be with him as no one really knew him personally. ‘I need to find a good teammate tomorrow.’ He thought. @Alpuccino

From the commotion when Fraeya had logged into Axothis, she could have guessed that there was some major announcement. As one of the top tanks in the game and leader of her guild, she was almost embarrassed at how late to the party she really was. Now she stood in front of the poster, reading it as quickly as she could without getting in everyone's way. Easier said than done for an orc. She stepped aside, pulling up the rewards page, and a low whistle escaped her lips. Sure her armor stat was high enough. But that new shield? I need it. The main hand hammer? I need it. Those pauldrons? I NEED THEM. Her eyes lit up as she dismissed the menu. She'd have to consider her partner closely: her guild chat was already popping up with people looking for partners. She'd abstain from selecting within the guild, to avoid the appearance of favouritism. Maybe build some bridges with other guilds? Already, her private messages were alight with activity. "I will need a day to think about it," she replied to all of them. It could be a chance to help out someone who wouldn't have a shot at the rewards otherwise. There was just one problem with that: she wanted to win. Relying on her ability to carry alone would be a bad strategy for a team event. She left the noise of the tavern and logged out of the game itself for now. There were better places to check. A fansite held a solid, up-to-date series of leaderboards. Easy to check for the game's top damage dealers. There were a few she'd played with before. Mostly pretty social. She had no doubt they'd already have partners. Her attention instead focused on one less familiar name. Ash Styx. She'd seen that name around, running about alone. No real interactions, and she wasn't sure anyone even knew him. A longshot, but maybe... "I'll see if I catch him near the tavern sometime soon..." @mouse_trap.

Ash logged out of the game to try to think of a way he could find highly skilled players as no one in the guild wanted him as a teammate, he was considered changing guild hoping to find one of higher level or maybe putting up posters but that might be a bit to suspicious the player might think it’s a ambush to kill them and take his stuff. Player killing was rare and looked down on but could be done in the open world but was impossible in the main towns and main hub. Before going to sleep Ash looked up the top guilds in Axothis. There were a lot of ads to join different guilds but Ash was looking for the best, he gathered up 5 strong guilds and sent a request to join. “Hi I’m Ash, I am one of the top necromancers in Axothis, I’m not too famous though. I was looking at your guild and was really interested in your guild as it seems quite strong. Is it possible I could join.” He sent that to all 5 guilds hoping he could join one of them. Then when to sleep. The next day he logged on hoping the guild masters would have replayed, only 1 of the 5 replied. Ash left his old guild and joined the new guild owned by a mage named Ugerune. He asked in that chat if any one wanted to partner up, while waiting for that he put up some posters hoping someone would ask him. Ash then went to clear some dungeons while waiting, hoping for an answer. @Alpuccino

Fortunately, when Fraeya logged in the next morning, the initial rush of mail had slowed down. She had the chance to actually consider her options, but ultimately declined every offer for now. She had time to spend in the main hub, if only to get a few routine matters out of the way. High-level armor sold fairly well in the marketplace, so she tried to get a few pieces crafted every day. On her way to the forge, she paused by a poster. A few people had put out public notices searching for partners, but this one was a name she'd seen on the leaderboard. She looked it over, then ahead of herself. It had recently been put up, and she could just see the back of the person who'd left them disappearing into the crowd. "Wait-!" But he'd already gone. She shrugged and continued on her way. Once she got her crafting underway, she had a chance to send him a message. "Hi, Ash. You're the one who was putting up posters looking for a partner, right? I'm Fraeya. Any chance you could use a tank?" @mouse_trap.

After clearing a few dungeons Ash saw that he received messages, he opened the direct messages menu and he had gotten 3 messages. One of them was an auto send welcome message from the guild master of the guild he joined but 2 of them were players requesting to team up. 'YES! I will be able to participate in the event’ he thought to himself happily. He read the messages carefully, one of them was by a warrior called Armis, the message wrote "Hello my name is Armis I am a warrior and I saw your post on the guild's page, I am looking for a partner too. Hit me up if you want to partner up!" Ash looked at Armis in game profile but seeing that he was way lower level then him, Ash knew he couldn't partner up with this guy if he wanted to win. The next message was by an orc, tank and guild leader called Fraeya "Hi, Ash. You're the one who was putting up posters looking for a partner, right? I'm Fraeya. Any chance you could use a tank?" Ash looked at her profile, she was 1 level above him. "yeah sure we can team up, I'm guessing you already read my profile but I'm a necromancer, if you want we can meet up somewhere, anywhere is fine with me just tell me!" Ash replied quickly, happier than ever to find a partner as high level as him and that could tank for his summons. While hoping for an answer Ash put up his extra items in his shop hoping it would sell well. @Alpuccino

Fraeya looked over the completed chestplate. It shone a bluish silver colour, ornate engravings giving more detail that distinguished it from the lower-level items she could have crafted. Most importantly, a 25% crit power boost. Higher material cost, but she knew it would sell well. She carried it over to the marketplace and put it up for sale. Extra gold for her eventually, but for now, she would have to wait and see what came of it. In the meantime, she checked the newest message that had come in. The necromancer had replied. Good. She was still a bit wary, given the fact that he seemed inexperienced with group content. Most summoners she'd encountered seemed to be fairly poor at letting her do her job, despite summoned NPCs being notoriously bad at tanking, themselves. She'd have to hope for better from him. She kept that thought to herself, and instead thought about where to meet. The tavern would be too crowded, with everyone belatedly catching the event announcement or using it as a hub to find a partner for it. She'd prefer someplace a bit quieter. "Hollow Birch Grove, just north of the main hub," she answered after a while, already walking to the bridge that separated the hub's floating island from the mainland. "Promise I won't PK you." After all, it was a trap she'd set often enough during her early days as a player, on her first character. Before she'd re-rolled as a tank. She tacked a joke onto the end of her promise: "I put all my stat points into defense, it'd take forever if I tried." @mouse_trap. (edited)

Ash looked at his messages, "Hollow Birch Grove, just north of the main hub" the message said. Ash replied “Perfect, I’ll be there in no time. See you there then (You own a popular guild so I would hope your not a PKer xd)” Ash started walking to the meeting point, but after pulling up the map realized it was a bit further then he thought, so he summoned a griffin to be able to ride it to the meeting spot. “Ok I don’t know where you want to meet exactly but right now I’m at the big tree in the the center of Hollow birch grove” @Alpuccino //sorry didn’t really know that to put

The advantage of choosing a low level area as the meeting point was the lack of monsters attacking Fraeya. She would have been fine even if she'd gotten swarmed, but terribly inconvenienced. Once she received the confirmation for the meeting spot, she summoned her giant raven mount, whom she had affectionately nicknamed Poe, to fly there. She arrived at the large tree early and dismounted, watching her mount fly off. It was a few seconds before the message. She frowned at it and looked around. "I don't see-" she started to say out loud, before thinking to look at the other side of the tree trunk, where he was standing. Awkward. Embarrassing. She entertained the thought of logging off and switching to the European server for a fresh start on a new character. Instead, she smiled and waved. "Hiiiii! You're Ash Styx, right?" @mouse_trap.

Once Ash arrived, he dismissed his griffin and began waiting while looking around, soon enough, he heard a big thump behind him and as he was about to turn, a huge raven mount flew off, passing right by him. 'hmm… interesting mount, a giant raven, those are quite rare, in a low level place like this. Maybe Fraeya arrived?'. He was hoping for a response from Fraeya, and as he was about to check his messages, he heard someone talking on the other side of the tree, catching his attention. He turned around fully, leaning a bit to the side to look behind the tree only to see an orc approaching him slowly. “Ah, uh, hello?” He spoke a bit anxiously ‘Gosh, she looks kinda scary with all her spikes… Those axes look really sharp too-’ he thought, before hearing her speak and ask if it was him who she was looking for. “Oh, yes that’s me.” He spoke back, walking towards her so he could see her properly as he reached one of his hands up to run his hand through his hair out of anxiety ‘She must be really strong if she doesn’t even cover up her most vital areas with armor…’ he thought, before finally speaking up again “You wanted to team up for the event, right?” He asked, wanting to make sure this was really the one he was looking for as well. @Alpuccino

He was staring. Ah hell, was Fraeya's introduction weird? It was weird, right? Amazing, how much time she spent running group content, yet she still managed to be nervous every time she actually spoke to another player about something other than game mechanics. She played it off the same way she always did: fake confidence and hope it eventually became real. She shrugged and tossed a lock of hair back over her shoulder with one hand. "Take a screenshot; it'll last longer," she joked. He seemed nervous too. Or regretful about agreeing to a possible team-up. One of the two. "But yeah. I'm Fraeya." She rested her shield on the ground, leaning against it. The shield itself was almost as tall as she was, quite an accomplishment for a 6'5" avatar. "I think I've seen your name on the overall leaderboards, but I've never seen you in a group or world chat. You don't normally run with a group, right?" @mouse_trap.

Ash laughed awkwardly “Sorry” Ash said with a small voice. “Wow- that is an amazing shield. I can't believe it. It must have been quite something to find it and buy it, except if u had someone forge it? or did you forge it yourself? in any case it is truly a masterpiece." he said in an excited voice, happy to find someone with a level as high as his. "Oh right, I saw a giant raven and it looked like a mount, was it yours? or did other high level players arrive?” "Oh yeah I don't really do team stuff. I like being alone most of the time. I find it easier as I am a necromance I can summon my undead troops, thought I do need to be a bit careful, every time I summon one they take a bit of my soul and so if I summon to many at the same time I can go insane... that never happened thought don't worry. Once I take them back I get the part of my soul back. I like being in a guild but I am only there to sell my extra loot that I get from dungeons or that I craft. But don't get me wrong, I know how to play in a team, I just prefer not to." @Alpuccino (edited)

Fraeya's nerves eased a bit at the compliment, and she smiled. He at least seemed friendly enough, despite his loner reputation. She looked down at her shield. "I forged it," she said. "But getting the recipe was a hell of a grind. The raven was mine as well. Reward from a past event, a couple of years ago." She stood upright again, slinging the shield over her back for now. Her mainhand axe remained at her side, where it always stayed until she saw fit to draw it. Admittedly, she had no firsthand experience with necromancy. She'd heard of the mechanic he was speaking about, and had had to deal with one who'd gone too far and lost grip on himself in a previous raid, but wasn't sure just what that felt like. Losing part of one's soul sounded physically painful but, then again, so was tanking. The game's level of immersion definitely had its downsides, in that regard. "What sorts of items do you craft?" she asked, curious. With luck, it would be something that could prove useful to both of them. @mouse_trap.

"Hm lets see, most of the time I make magic items like health all different types of potions if you ask me I probably have it or I can make it, I craft magic staffs, amulets with powers, magic bags to store items, i can enchant armor with magical powers and enchanting all different types of weapons with spells to make them stronger. I can't forge items but my magic and power to enchant is extremely good, some of the best you can probably find. "Ash said in a shy voice, impressed by how Fraeya seemed so confident. "If you need a blacksmith I know a guy that is really good. Though you probably already have one you prefer seeing all the stuff you got, it's impressive, truly I can't believe it." Ash continued playing with his hair as he was a bit stressed "But anyways, you said you forged stuff too? What do you make? Do you sell anything ?" he said exited hoping to learn about Fraeya. @Alpuccino

At least he seemed to have plenty of faith in his abilities. Hopefully, it was warranted, because enchantment-related skills sounded useful. Especially if it was combined with her own crafting skills. For now, though, she waved off the compliment directed at her with a flourish of her hand. "Please, it's not that impressive at our level. I'm my own blacksmith, but I've had some help along the way from more experienced mentors," she explained. "Armor, mostly. Some weapons. I've studied artificing a bit, but I'm not sure any of the items I can make in that regard are going to be an improvement over what you already have. I try to sell at least a couple of pieces every day, but I think that will have to take a backburner during the event." After all, her time in-game was already limited as it was, and only going to be more so in the next few months. She'd have to focus whatever free time she did have on this. Speaking of... "What timezone are you in, anyway? Just so we have an idea of when we should expect to have time together." @mouse_trap.

“But at are level it’s more about the grind of getting all the right materials and items and that can take so long sometimes, for example the amulet around my neck is made of a unicorn horn, finding one can be annoying but then it’s rarer to get the drop.” Ash took out the amulet to show it and then put it back. “But anyways I got it in the end so I’m happy. My time zone is GMT+2 I am online most of the time. But from 1am-9am I will be sleeping, I can make exception if you really need me online for something. Is it ok if I add u ?” @Alpuccino

Now that made things a lot easier. Fraeya stopped looking at the amulet to look at Ash instead. "We're in the same time zone," she said. For the next four or five years, at least. "But no, I won't interrupt your sleep schedule." All of her classes this term were in the morning, the curse and blessing of PhD programs. "I'll be free any time between noon and eleven, and all day on weekends. Oh, except Friday." Fridays were, after all, lab days for her. She didn't want to ramble too much about scheduling, so she shut up and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead and add me. It'll be easier that way. We have until tomorrow to get any items we need ready ahead of time, so how about we make the most of it?" @mouse_trap.

“Perfect!” Ash said happily he won’t need to change his sleep schedule and they both can be online at the same time. Ash went to the menu screen and searched Fraya the Unforgiving to find Fraya’s profile and added her. A few seconds later a message appeared in the middle of Ashes screen. “You are now friends with Fraya.” It was the game announcement message. “Now… let’s see. Where do you want to head off too, do you need anything specific like boss drops, or specific materials?" Ash asked. "If you need anything we can do that first and then get the stuff I need. I could use a new cloak, I have a crafting recipe for a better one but I'm missing the silk drop from the spider queen boss in the shattered mountains.” Ash said. @Alpuccino

Fraeya took the same moment to add Ash as well, while she considered what they would need. "The usual potions and serums for high-level content would be good. If you know of any good tank enchantments for pauldrons, those are my only equipment that aren't set with that..." She trailed off, trying to think of anything specific. Luckily, he bought some more thinking time by bringing up the cloak. Now that was something they could manage. She looked toward the mountains and nodded. "Then let's go see if we can get that now," she offered. "It gives each of us a chance to see what the other can do." @mouse_trap.

"Let’s see, for pauldrons I have an enchant to make mobs more likely to target you , or when they hit that part of armor you receive 40% of there damage dealt and they get hit with 80% of the damage they were supposed to deal, once every 15 seconds a effect can be triggered the said effect will heal 50% of damage dealt and/or the damage received by the enchanted piece, add a 30% extra movement speed this also affects how fast you draw your shield and axes, these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. Sorry I rarely do tank enchants so I can't remember much." Ash said. Ash followed behind Freya towards the mountains. "The boss shouldn’t be too hard, the legs have a lot of defense but the head is extremely vulnerable from what I've heard, I never actually fought it because I never needed its materials." Ash said happy to fight a new boss. They arrived at the entrance of the spider queen boss. "Anything you need before entering ?" Ash asked. @Alpuccino

The choice was easy enough to make; Fraeya had plenty of enchantments to help draw enemies in, and never had much trouble in that regard. She had made herself a walking target, and was proud of the fact. The latter, on the other hand, seemed rather versatile. "The second one," she agreed as they approached the spider queen's lair. She drew her axe, looking it over before raising her shield. "I'm good for now. I've fought this one before." After all, she'd had to get plenty of the rare ironsilk drop from this boss for the cloth components of her armor. @mouse_trap.

Ash took his grimoire out of the pocket of his coat "ok, can i get your pauldrons please?" He said. "You better not break them." Fraeya jokingly said while she took off the pauldrons and handed them to Ash, "I would never." He replied smiling. "Now where is the spell... ok found it." Ash then proceeded to enchant the pauldrons. "Done!" he said with excitement once done with the enchanting. "Hope you like it!" he said happily. "Now that that is done let's enter. If you have any potions, it's now." Ash drank a potion to lower the mana cost of spells and a magic damage boosting potion, he then entered the cave of the spider queen. It was dark, very dark. After his eyes got used to it he could start to see. He summoned two wisps, one for Fraeya and one for him to guide them with the light. He continued forward as he couldn't see the boss yet until he reached a missive room where it was a dead end. "hmm... that's wired where is she?” Ash asked while walking to the center of the room. "Did it just get killed and it's on the respawn cooldown?" He continued. But then suddenly the exit from the cave was blocked by a door that dropped down. A massive figure appeared in front of them. It was the spider queen, she was resting on the top of the room waiting for players to come in. Seeing the boss Ash summoned undead elf archers and ghouls to try to hold the spider in place. @Alpuccino

Fraeya put the pauldrons back on once they were enchanted. "Great. Now let's test it out." She uncorked a potion that increased endurance, then one for making her presence both more obvious and more threatening to enemies. Once she drank both in rapid succession, she walked into the cave. She took care to stick the dry areas of the ground. "You'll want to avoid the mud," she advised Ash. "It has a snaring effect once combat starts." She stuck to the edge of the room, already keeping an eye on the shadows high up. The spider queen could have waited on any of the upper ledges, but in the darkness, it was impossible to see which one until she dropped down. Once she made her appearance, Fraeya lifted her shield. "Hold fire until I have her attention," she said. With a loud war cry - exactly the attention-grabbing move she needed - she charged forward, bashing her shield against one of the giant spider's legs. She stayed at an angle, to force the spider queen to turn and face away from Ash. @mouse_trap.

Ash saw that Fraeya was distracting the boss, he ordered the elf to start targeting the spider's head, the bass was so captivated by Freaya 'I knew mobs were going to be attracted to her. but she is quite literally a magnet. it's like if the boss doesn't care about my summons.' ash thought. Ash summoned more elfs and took back his ghouls, replacing them with wights that are much stronger as they mainly use a sword in combat unlike the ghouls that just use their bare hands. Ash usually summons ghouls to start off as they are easily replaceable and he uses them to determine how strong an enemy is and then changes his taktik from there. "Fraeya, do you have an idea on how to take this thing down?" Ash asked. @Alpuccino

Fraeya rolled out of the way of a web attack. The follow-up from the boss's fang clanged off her shield. "Destroy or tear off her fangs first," she explained, hacking at a front leg with her axe. "At that point, she'll send webs out in all directions. Get behind a rock or behind me to avoid it..." She jumped up to avoid an attack, landing on the spider queen's head. "Her magic shield will drop after the attack and she'll be vulnerable to lethal damage." @mouse_trap.

Ash listened to what Fraeya said. "Ok, got it." He ordered his elfs to target the fangs of the spider while some the wights started climbing on the spider to try to get to the head and the others grabbed the legs to try to immobilize it. Ash stayed back to make sure to not get hit by anything as he doesn't have much health and started to cast spells to make his elves stronger but mainly deal more damage to break the fangs. Ash started to notice the fangs cracking so he jumped behind a big rock as Fraeya instructed and suddenly he saw a tone of webs going in all directions. He could feel parts of his soul coming back. Half of his troops died because of that attack, Ash looked back to see the remaining of the troops still fighting and Fraeya behind her shield getting ready to go back to holding on to the spider back while simultaneously hitting it. Ash quickly took out and drank a mana and magic strength potion and then proceeded to summon more elves and specters to suck the life out of the spider. @Alpuccino

Fraeya jumped down from the spider's head to make room for the wights. As the fangs broke off, she dug the bottom of her shield into the dirt and knelt behind it, just in time for the webs to hit it instead of her. They sizzled against the shield on contact, leaving lines of acid burn where they touched, but it remained otherwise intact. The moment the webs stopped, she was back on her feet. She slammed the shield against the spider's head, followed up with an axe to a leg. She could feel the spider queen's attacks start to weaken and grinned. "Keep it up, Ash!" @mouse_trap.

Ash continued to cast his spells making his summons stronger and after a bit the boss showed clear signs of getting tired and on low health. Ash gave it all he got and the spider finally fell down degrading into dust and the drops fell to the ground. Ash recalled his summons, he could feel the parts of his soul coming back to him, and then collected the drops from the boss. "That was fun. and i got the stuff i needed." he said happy to be done with it. @Alpuccino (edited)

As the boss fell apart, Fraeya took a moment to catch her breath, stepping back to let Ash collect everything. "You can have her stuff." She propped her shield against a wall and grabbed a cloth to wipe the blade of her axe clean. "Good work with your summons." She folded the cloth back up, put it away, then picked up her shield again. "Anything else you wanted to get done?" @mouse_trap.

"I could have never done it if you weren’t keeping her attention and riding it. it was amazing "he said with excitement. "No not really, I just need to go to the main hub to craft the cloak. I’ll do that real quick. Do you need anything?" Ash asked. He summoned his griffin and went towards the hub. He landed near the entrance as summons aren't allowed in the hub. He walked to a crafting station and crafted his cloak. “Finally a better cloak, I’ve need waiting for this for so long now!” He said once he was done, full of joy. @Alpuccino

Fraeya barely held back a burst of laughter at the accidental innuendo that came with the phrase 'riding it'. "Oh, I'm sure you couldn't, but you might need to slow down there bud," she teased. "But no, I'm good for now." She summoned her raven as she spoke. "Alright, come on, Poe." She glanced back at Ash. "I'll look over the announcement again, see if there's any hint of what we can expect that I might have missed. Later!" She smiled and flew toward the main hub as well. Once they both landed, she waved goodbye, then made her way over to the tavern where the announcement had been posted. @mouse_trap.