Starting in Root Town

A peaceful gathering, in a normal game day.



The Nero Idol Reika (that doesn't use a stage name) was told to spend a few hours before the patch taking care of the fans, so that's pretty much what she's doing. Standing in the Root City square, she's gathering a bit of a crowd as she's singing her single "White Wishes". She seems to like what she does, and enjoy her fans, as she sings to them in her game avatar, which was made to look like her, with a few differences due to races in this game. Her class and races were mostly picked by the fans as well.

    Merek of course would be coming through while he logged into the game. It was time to begin the testing, to make sure that all was prepared. A look to the gathering where folk are listening to Reika, he begins moving that way. The human male of course with dusky skin, as well as a metallic black hair which is messy. He wears a white-black attire with a longcoat that keeps a beltcape, two weapons on the back of the sheaths which he wears. That glove lifts a hand while he begins to open a screen, setting to recording while he smiles a bit at the performance.


    As the music fills the square, a tall, dark scaled salamander leans up against a wall. His scaled tail rests near his armored boots. He is wearing black leather pants, with steel plate thigh guards. He has three belts around his waist, with an armored chest plate, and a duster jacked over that.

The salamander's name is Xander Scaleharth and he seems content to just watch the concert for the moment. Though fiery gold, draconic eyes do skim over the players that pass by, giving each one a quick inspection.

As a Nero Idol, it's pretty much her job to entertain the players. Right now it's singing, but she often ends up going into parties just to please them. As a result, she's had several levels up (anyone that takes a look at her status screen can see that), yet she's still wearing starting gear for what appears to be some kind of ninja class, with a short yukata and a chainmail underneath, even her pair of short swords are still level 1. It's quite obvious that she's not here to play hardcore at all, only to show off. Anyone that saw her in the wild were just a few steps away from Root Town likely.

She's not even using a stage name either, Reika is her real name and character name, as she shows off her brand. The real players probably wouldn't give her the time of the day as a result, yet the fans love what she does. Which is mostly nothing.

    Merek smiles a bit, seeming to content in that performance, while he takes a moment to lean next to a post, a hand moving to take a wisp from the pack which he keeps with him, playing about with the device, which begins spinning along those fingers a little bit.

The hurried clacking of hooves on cobblestone approaches from the distance, followed by the clattering of cart wheels. Then it's the people yelling as they dodge out of the way, which cause the murmuring crowd to turn and look at the source of this ruckus. Turning a corner finally brings the source of this bruhaha into view: it seems to be two grunties pulling two sleek, one-person carts at breakneck speeds. Very strange carts: they are vaguely shaped like motorcycle, and a red one sort of has a 'horn' like shape that works as a back rest and arches to end in a point above the head of the driver. Driver who, in this case, seems to be a not-too-tall young spriggan girl with black hair, wearing something that looks like a cross between a nurse's uniform and a martial artist's gi: downright terrified, she holds onto the reins for her dear life, while a young man with ridiculous purple, black, and gold hair stands atop the arched back-rest, facing a similarly positioned young man from the other cart.

    "I SUMMON FIVE!", he yells, in a bit of an overdramatic fashion.

    "I block your summon due to the unavailability effect, and counter it!" With another overly dramatic pose, he screams, "I SUMMON GO FISH!"

    An elongated form shimmers into existence in mid air, between the hurtling carts, following them, twisting and turning, until the everchanging sheen subsides revealing a giant floating carp.

    *SLAP*

    There is a wet impact sound, and the nursefighter is sent plummeting across the air. She slams against the ground some distance away, and as she does so, a little interface containing a green bar suddenly appears, floating around her shoulder, an electronic chime underlining her HP being drained accordingly.

    "UTA! You okay?", screams the guy standing on top of the grunty cart, both of them now hurtling away from the location. The girl who has been dislodged from it, staggering to her feet, yells back, "...Yeah, don't worry about me, I'm fine! I think?" Dusting herself off as the two carts disappear completely into side alleys on the opposite side of the square, leaving a murmuring crowd behind. "I get the FISH part, but what about-"

    A 'go' bord finally shimmers into existence above her, dropping on her head, pieces and all, and inflicting more damage. "OUCH!", she exclaims, rubbing where she was hit, apparently notices the HP meter for the first time as it goes down again. "...Oh, snap," she says, pointing at it. "My bars went down. I... I..." She squints. And then relaxes, scratching her head in confusion. "...I don't know if this means that the impact worsened my reception, or I need to plug myself in to recharge?"


    Xander does look over Reika's stats and snorts gently, trying to not laugh to his own thoughts, before shaking his head. "PR. Always the PR." He then tilts his head gently, ".. at least she has a nice singing voice." he says to himself, as he glances to the side of his own private view to check the time. "Hm."

    As Merek goes to lean against the post, he gives the man a curious look and a quick once over examination. Checking over his gear and just the little details the system is willing to pull up. Perhaps seeing if the human has anything interesting from end game raids on him or any curious items.

After all, Xander, and more importantly his player, was an end-game raid player, at least when he wasn't in pvp matches or attempting to win some item off some player by means of a dual.

    What does get Xander's attention is the ruckus created by Uta. His eyes lazily look in the direction out of boredom as he sees the girl seem, very confused by things. He raises a brow, before moving his jaw just slightly to the side. He then walks over toward her and without even giving it much though, or concern, flicks his hand to cast a cure spell on her to heal her HP back up. "You alright...?" He asks in a very calm, almost bored voice.
Reika
#204:1583507489

Reika's song gets interrupted by the sudden bout of screaming attacks and loud chariot noises, enough that the nearby crowd's attention is drawn away from the idol.

"Hey, I think I've seen that on VTube, something like board games on chariots or something."
"That's just a fad, it won't last."

And then there's the crash. Even Reika winces at the noise. "Hey, does it actually hurt in game or...?" She wonders, she hasn't been hit by anything herself, not even by a door frame. She can feel the footsteps though, so maybe?

"Oh yeah, the VR transmits stuff, it doesn't hurt as much as the real thing, but enough to make you want to avoid getting hurt." One of her fans reply, and soon drowned in a torrent of eveyr fan wanting to be the one to give the best answer, making the idol a little dizzy.
Merek
#204:1583507489

    Merek's gear would be a curiosity, it looks all custom made, with the stats a bit different than one might think to expect. The short swords which he wears are made with metallurgy material that's a unique material often found in Westlande. With a shift of a hand, his scarf waves up into that wind a little, and he nods a bit to Xander, taking a moment to check his menu. Next to it would be a special icon, that notes the man is a game tester and employee. Little does he know, his recent login will be the one that would bring him to a new world in the day. A look offered a bit as well to what looks to be Uta along with that as well, and offers a light chuckle.
Uta
#204:1583507489

Uta finishes dusting herself off. Even the slight hint of dizziness she was displaying earlier fades when the healing spell kicks in.

    "I... I think so? I mean. I- hey! The reception is back to all bars!" She turns to him, extending both hands with a panicked face. "Don't move! I had a TV like that as a kid, someone had to move into just the right position, which might or might not have been comfortable, and stand completely still for reception to be decent. Ah, rabbit ears. They don't make them anym-" She shuts up and puts a hand on her mouth as a bunny Cait Sith passes by. "...uh... I mean, anyway. I hope I have not interrupted anything, mister...", she trails off, as if for asking for her interlocutor name. But before he has the time to reply, she snaps towards the stage. "Hey, is that a digital Reika recreation?! Wow, nice... uh... animatronics? Is that what they're called?" She takes a second look, and adds, "She looks a lot like the real thing. I wonder who programmed that one..." And, trailing off, she mutters, "...then again, it might be just a recording... silly me."
Xander
#204:1583507489

    The strange gear is kept in mind by Xander, though he may have missed the very important detail that Merek was not a standard player, but thankfully Uta's oops saved Xander from making a horrible life choice: Challenging a GM to a dual.

    We all know how that goes in MMOs.

        It might involve giant chickens.

    As the audience tries to help explain things that could make anyone dizzy, Xander turns to face the folks and places his hands up in the hair, "Hey! People!" he uses yell to get the crowd's attention. "We have an idol here giving you folks a wonderful show before the big bang! Give her your love!" Then points to her, "And you keep being amazing!"

    Then as Uta discusses stuff he can't help but laugh a little. The Salamander actually smiles, just as the man behind the VR does. He then steps up to her and gives her a quick look over. "New to the game, huh?" His whole demeanor seeming to change, becoming more friendly; Welcoming even. "The name is Xander." He extends his hand to her, "Welcome to the game."

Then he hrms. "Also, that 'bar' is not reception, it is your HP, um, Health Points. If that hits 0 your KOed for about 10 mins, but no big deal. Enough time to get a drink, maybe even a snack!" Xander then turns to face where Reika is, "And that isn't an animated NPC... That /is/ the real Reika."
Merek
#204:1583507489

    Merek watches while Uta, does whatever an Uta does. Really, what would you think, he then takes a moment to open a log which he begins to speak into, "Video Log, this is Black. Things seem ready for launch, I'm as excited as the players, prepared to test and debug the new launch. We can't have a new patch messing up on the players, this for many of them, means a lot. Reminder, don't have a repeat of the 'Chicken Incident'. We don't need a TPK on everyone first day in." He'd not been on that long in employ, just since 2011, which would mean that a lot of things are still new to him. "Reika is online, I might ask for her to do a local performance for the update. Well, if the admins permit it."
Reika
#204:1583507489

Reika is indeed the real one, or would be a very elaborate projection to be able to react to Uta and talk to the crowd. Mind you, if they can tap into the VR world like this, she could just as well be 'piloting' an avatar from another place without VR involved... but no, she's just like the rest, currently resting in a bed with the Dive module on her head, with her consciousness transported to this world, along with all of the sensory feedback to go with it.

She jumps a bit as Xander's call out, but smiles at it, bowing elegantly. She doesn't seem like the idol that got a big head from it, she looks pretty sociable, just... stuck with her fans around, cutting off her liberty. She's not really here to play anyway, just to bring in the fans some extra exposure to the rising idol, padding her popularity with more members. That's why she's stationed in Root Town usually, it wouldn't do to have her try to sing in the middle of raid, or any other area that is more serious about the game anyway.

She slides back to the fountain, and starts to sing her song again. If this wasn't a virtual world, they'd probably ask for autographs too.
Uta
#204:1583507489

Uta extends back a hand, to shake it. "Uta," she says, as if that wasn't obvious already. "Pleased to meet you, Xander." ...first time in, yeah. Does... does it show much?", she asks, a bit self conscious. "I thought I'd try something new and-" she abruptly lets out an abrupt wheeze, her voice going all high pitched and squeaky. "...the actual Reika?", she asks, barely able to contain her awe. "Like, for realsies? Bona fide? The real deal? The genuine article?!" She starts hyperventilating, and still unable to control the pitch of her voice, with a raised trembling finger, she asks, "...can we ask for autographs?" Then, realizing what she said, she hesitates for a moment. And resumes, "...can we print them afterwards?"
Xander
#204:1583507489

    For now, Uta has Xander's full attention. He uhs gently and the avatar shift's weight gently as hands go to rest on the three belts around his waist. "Well... S-sadly no," he ahems, forcing himself to compose a bit, "But you can take a screenshot to keep on file of the event. Maybe they will eventually implement a feature where you can hang it on a wall in a virtual home or something one day."

Xander snaps his fingers and pulls up a menu, then sends Uta friend invite, "Here, sending you a friend invite. This way if you ever have any questions you can feel free to whisper me. I like to help new players out after all, we were all there once before." He then gives her a two finger salute, "Also hate for you to miss the singing event, s-so I will let you get ba," Ahems again, "Back to that." Nods his head.
Merek
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Merek looks like he's thinking about it, and nods, perhaps that will be a little bit workable into the video log. The man then watches along while Xander assists a new player, making a note to tag the player's file. Then he begins to receive what looks like a bit of reward gold. Of course, he then manages to mess up while he begins a command line.
    Then, a whole lot of chickens begin to spawn, they begin clucking while they chase players, "Ah, that's not, ah not again!" He then tries to work the debug while he watches the chickens, making a way to the players, mainly Uta and Xander, "You guys, get those chickens away!"
Reika
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

And here comes ANOTHER song interrupt, but this time it's far more chaotic. The players gathered around the idol gaps as the flock of chickens stampede in, and they quickly make a wall around Reika. Reika is just very confused "Does... this happen often here?" She knows it's a game though, but she really doesn't know where the game starts and end, when it comes to these things.

The players take out their weapons and shields, and try to deflect the incoming fowls, but since this is a no fighting zone, it has little effects, and the GM-spawned chickens bowl through mostly unimpended.
Uta
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Uta's lip barely hints at curling upward in satisfaction ata deed well done, when all those chickens appear. She lets out a shrieks, then squeals, "I KNEW I'D PUSH A WRONG BUTTON ON THAT MENU AND MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN!", she whines, and looking around in panic, she rushes for cover, attempting to elbow her way past the crowd and reach the closest portico... where, one supposes, there will be an entrance to a secluded courtyard. Hopefully one which will not be large enough for chickens to pass through.
Xander
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

    Then there was chickens! Chickens everywhere! Xander hears Merek call over and turns to look to see tons of chickens coming right for them. Xander grins, then smiles, and then laugjhs! "Death to chickens!!!!"

Then he remembers, oh right, no combat here, but there /are/ the guards and he goes to use the pick up emote to lift Uta, "Th-This way!" and she is gone! He blinks and then sees the chickens coming his way and yells at them, "Come on you cluckers!" then yells in actual /english/ "I am hungry for some KFC tonight!!" and then runs the chickens for the guards!

All in hopes that as he tries to aggro all the chickens he can, in a massive chicken train that he can get the guards to do their AI jobs which is to protect the people of the town.
Merek
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

    Merek watches while the chickens begin to chase along with people, of course moving to those trying to lure them. The man sighs a bit while he works to debug, meanwhile the guards are beginning to fight. He isn't permitted to lift the protection, that would be even more an issue, so he thinks about it. And begins to chase chicken while he yells back in English, "You can't eat them!" He then begins to pick up chickens to carry them away from the main area.
Reika
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Fortunately, being a no fight zone, also means there's just about no damage dealt even with the bowling going on. The idol's shield crumbles, but there's very little harm done, just lots of confusion. She watches as Xander and Uta seem to distract them away from the plaza "I heard about that, it's uhm, enmity or something, right?" There's no real answer since the players around her have no idea what she's talking about exactly, and still stunned by the chicken invasion.

This event will be known as the Root Town Chicken Infestation. Maybe. SOMEONE might remember this happened at least.
Xander
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

    The fact someone spoke English back /made/ Xander's player grin a bit in real life. The young man behind the screen was an American, born on the Japan base, to a mother who had dual citizenship and he managed to get that as well, given he was born before 1980s when it all changed.

Something that might or not me on his actual file depending on how much info Merek had access too about the player's and their actual real life IDs.

    He didn't have a response for Merek, beyond a friendly grin and little fake sad face, before he kicks a chicken at a guard. "Chickens! Chickens! Everywhere!" He sings out, "Chickens! Chickens! In every square!"
Merek
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

    Merek of course was from America, and was there on Visa for working with the company. The man eventually manages to find a bit of the code line, while he begins to look to the chickens. When eventually everyone looks to have enough of that fun, he begins fixing that while the guards begin finishing protecting the people.
Uta
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Uta blinks, as she's being carried around by Xander and suddenly yells back, in a surprisingly good Received Pronunciation, i.e., what is commonly known as a 'standard British accent': "<Why are we communicating in English now?>" There still is a trace of a Japanese accent there, but that's surprisingly well above average. "<Is it, perchance, part of the game?>"
Reika
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Reika isn't sure what she's going on, or what she should do! People are running away, maybe it's an in game event and she wasn't told about it? But none of the players around her seem to know either. Reika hops off the fountain... and decides to go after the rest, following the trail of chickens. More curious than anything really, since she's about useless to do anything else at the moment. She has a pretty high speed stat, unknowingly, so she ends up outpacing many of her fans without realizing.
Xander
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

    Apparently Uta accepted the emote, she was now in Xander's arms and he stared at her before going, "Hello there." In normal Japanese, though when she speaks British he chuckles a little and gives her a wink. <"Secret."> He says in English. His was more American, kind of southern really; Though it was very light.

"And no. I think its a bug or some GM's... urm... Game Master's laugh before the expansion comes online." Xander then grins to her, "Either way, its pretty great!"

    Then Xander gets an idea, as he goes to kick another chicken to a guard, while holding Uta like a pro raider that he is. "Reika!" He yells over to her, "Reika!" He was trying to not slur or lisp, but it was getting a little tricky, so a lisp might kick up as he explains to the rest, "Chicken dance! See if the chickens will dance with you!"

Why not right??

Though it seems like Merek was already on the problem and fixing it. Good ol' brand new GMs!
Merek
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

    Merek looks to the people, and nods a bit, while he thinks about it. "Congratulations, you all did wonderful," he offers, like it was all part of the game. The man then takes a moment to look to that sky, "Well, it's about time to debug before the patch. You all be well, Reika, if you're free, we'd like to have you perform for folk in the city," he adds.
Reika
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Reika tilts her head as Xander suggests something. Well, the power and dance and song is never to be underestimated!

And she really doesn't know anything about the game. Maybe emotes really do work. So why not.

Reika hops near the chickens that haven't been erased yet, and takes a flamboyant pose "Let's go for the Chicken Dance!" She's a show off, even if it would be a little silly normally, she's used to it. She even was on a TV show where they do silly things. Japan TV is weird. So there she is, happily making a show to players and chickens alike, of singing and dancing to the tune of "Chicken Dance" in the middle of Root Town. Does it make the chickens dance with her?
Uta
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Uta frowns at Xander. "This game is getting more and more complicated as time passes." She just listens and nods at Xander's explanations. "GM is not a brand of cars, but a gaming term for a Game Master. Understood.", she says. And she grins back. "It's amazing!" And after Xander's request for a chicken dance, she goes dead serious. She does not say one word, but anyone able to read the nuances of Japanese facial expressions, would be able to detect a hint of "...where did he get such a ridiculous idea." And finally, as Uta hears Merek's suggestion about Reika perform again for townsfolk, she adds. "Hopefully in /this/ city! I want to see moore! I've never been to a live concert! This is the closest I'll ever get to such an experience! I want to cherish it!" Suddenly turning back to Xander, she asks, "...by the way, how do I get down?"
Xander
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

    Reika dances with the chickens as the vanish. Xander put together that Merek was a GM in hiding, which did explain his cloths and Uta was having the time of her life it seems!

The male Salamander grins and smiles gently as he says softly, "Wait till after the expansion tonight. Big things are coming with it. Its going to be a blast and hey! Maybe if you get high enough level, I can show you some awesome dungeons! Even some crazy raids."

He then throws his head back slightly, to move his bangs to the side, "One of the top raiders after all!" He then ahs, "Raiders are-- those of us who focus on Raiding, which is dealing with really tough game content. Hard dungeons, hard bosses, best loot."

    When Uta asks how to get down he goes, "Oh! Right! You uh, click the cancel button." Which he does for her and like that she gets gently placed back down her feet. "Ta-da!!" Then he does little jazz hand wave. "Anyways, I should get going."
Uta
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Uta replies, "Oh. Top raiders? Awesome! I keep meeting celebrities! Can I have an autogr- no. No. Sorry, forgot about that," she corrects herself, shaking her head. "No autographs. I'm new but I'm learning." She clears her throat. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I am not sure raiding is my style... but... hey, we can always give it a whirl after the update, right? After all, we're not really going to be in actual danger!" She breathes in, holds her breath, and then exhales, in a slowl, drawn out emission of breath. "After all, wooooow," she says in a low, deferential tone. "It's easy to forget that this is just a game. It feels so... /real/", she says, looking around, and tapping the floor with one shoe, multiple times, slowly, each attempt eliciting a click. Suddenly realizing she got distracted again, she snaps back to attention, and looks around, "Wait, what? Oh!", and that said, she notices. She tries to repeat the jazz hand wave, but it comes off as a bit clumsier. "...bye!", she says. And then mutters to herself, "I wonder if jazz hands have some sort of hidden meaning in the game..." And then she shakes her head. "...naaaah. I'm sure they'll never come up again, ever."
Reika
Carmina Gadelica - Main Square

Reika makes the last chickens dance until they disappear. Apparently it did work. Somehow. Reika seems excited that her dance make the last chickens vanish at least! She ends the dance with a flourish, and with the handclapping of people that enjoyed the performance, as silly as it was. It's probably going to be on the VTube somewhere too later, but for now, Reika goes back to entertaining the players, as per her contract. She enjoys her work though!