You Thinking What I'm Thinking

    The Alne bar is a fairly active bar. Adventurers come and they go. Many just trying to relax, others going over tactical ideas on how to tackle quests or every day operations.

There are even some notices that get left about by those wanting to hire some assistant for a mission, job, quest or whatever. Today, it was overcast outside, threatening to rain, and a few people were hanging out for the sake of hanging out inside.

    One such person who could be found in the bar was Xander, at his normal spot in the corner. His feet were up on the table like always, his hands resting on the belt around his waist, and his eyes closed.

His chair balancing back on its two back legs, with the head resting against the wall. One could swear the dark scaled Salamander was taking a nap, but any time a floor panel creaked or the door swung open, one of his fiery, golden draconic eyes would open; Ever so slightly.

    There was even a rumor starting to go around with normal bar folks that the man never actually slept and that he one time tossed some patron on the floor for sitting in that very corner. But you know, rumors. Who knows if they are ever true or not.

Stepping into the inn was one Nevarri, the Explorer's Guide to ETO, yawning as she makes her way to the bar and slumps against it as she takes a seat. "I'll take a frut plate and water please... Also Carrots. I need the Karotene." Nevarri mumbles as she sighs in exasperation, before throwing her head back and crying out.

"SUSHIIIIIII!" And not quite bawling but it's evidently the despair of someone who just misses the food they love.

She's not quite aware of Xander's presence, she just needed some food.

    The cry of sushi probably the want by many others in that bar. Their was many adventurers in that very room who understood that cry and a probably a few who hung their heads in respect to the food they too so badly missed.

Though Nevarri's cry was not missed by Xander. He watched her come in, he watched her sit down, her order, and her cry. Slowly he moved his feet off the table, sat the seat in its correct matter with a 'thump' as the two front seat of the chair met the wood floor and then gave Nevarri a smile.

"Nevarri, right?" He called over to her. "Good to see you here, can we talk once you get your plate of food?"

The Elementalist is finished crying about Sushi and rubs her eyes dry, taking a moment to pluck her glasses from her face and clean them up some. "Mff, sorry... Was just wallowing in the despair caused by this sushi deprived existence..." She sighs and pushe sit back onto her nose and looks up.

"Yep. Your Explorer's Guide to Yamato, at your service." 'I'm Watching You' Emote, in as far as its an emote by technicality, is done on reflex, but she's got a bit smile. The Plate of fruit arrives along with water and carrots, the last of which she just grabs and proceeds to chomp on.

"Mmff.. Flavor... So good..." She looks up, "So what's up..? Xander, right?"

    Some folks probably pat her on the shoulder in understanding, cause seriously, it is a curse. Praise be the one who solves the riddle to cooking food.

Xander rests his hands on the table, clasped together. "Yep, Xander." He says with a soft smile. "I wanted to talk to you some more about that compass, what you might not about the hows of that... as in the midst of a fight, hard to keep all the juicy bits in the noggin'," He wiggles his fingers a little, "... And another topic you and I might share interest in."

The Salamander speaks more softly, glancing side to side to see if there was any 'Landers' he had to be worried about. "... The intelligence of the NPCs and their possible growth."

Nevarri hrmms a little as she leans back, "Well, as far as the compass business is concerned, I don't really know what else to tell you that I hadn't already mentioned." She raises a finger up, "The other day, my friend, Jazuhanzu, she just magnetized a needle, with the Zap spell, apparently, stuck it in a cork, and let it float in water. The end result is a Westward pointing water compass, which is already weird enough."

She leans back and begins to flick with her menu, staring at the crafting UI. "Jazz made the compass without using the crafting menu largely because she didn't know she wasn't supposed to be able to, being a complete newbie... But when you think about it, this is already kinda in line with our being able to use our class abilities without needing to access the menu either, it just comes natural."

    Xander listens and hrms softly. His brows furrow gently as he pulls up the menu as well. His eyes though do look where the logout button is supposed to be, before he flips through a few tabs.

"Makes it feel like the newbies have the advantage over us older players huh? They don't know better, so they don't fall on old habits." He closes the menu. "Kind of like I used Earth Pillar magic to create steps during the Tower battle on Floor 1 when we went to claim that town... but soon as I switch to normal gameplay tactics.."

The Salamander closes his eyes as his tail tip sways gently. "Has anyone else tried anything? That you have heard of?" His eyes open as he looks at her, "Like tried anything else without the menu?"

Nevarri shakes her head, "I haven't really heard. I certainly haven't tried... But even if I did, would it make a big difference from just using the menu? Does changing the input ultimately change the output? The ingame compasses point North, this has always been true, but then Jazz crafts a compass that points West."

Nevarri pulls her own vendor purchased compass out from her inventory and hrms, "Did the pole change during the patch, or was it always like that and the compass she crafted revealed the truth of matter?"

    "Well, there are many things we /don't/ know, but what we think we know." Xander says in thought. "Its like when your dealing with a hacker. They sometimes will give a false reading. Make you look somewhere, but in truth, it's the actual other way you need to be looking."

The Salamander looks to Nevarri, "Or another example, magicians. They want you, the viewer to focus on something, while they do the mechanics to the trick without you noticing it. Slight of hand stuff."

    He goes to rest his nose gently against his finger's knuckle as he thinks this over a little before he continues to speak, "So... maybe the menu, was the magician. It is where we were /suppose/ to look, but the actual mechanic is not depending on the menu... as it might be the lie to hide the truth. We believe it to be true, but... It never was?"

Xander then goes to rest his head back. "... I hate this crap sometimes. Why can't it just stay nice and straight forward."

"I guess I get what you mean..." Nevarri hrms and leans back again, taking another chomp from the carrot she'd been eating before tapping it upon her chin, "It's really quite the conundrum... I don't really care enough about Crafting to keep trying, but maybe if I try actually hand drawing maps, my Cartography Skill might kick in and something interesting might happen... Who knows...?"

She then shrugs, "Let's table that for the moment... I'm not an expert really... There's still my theory about the Landers, right?"

    Xander nods his head gently as he listens. "Its-- a curious thought for sure, but like you, I never cared really till I started to realize that we might have to start depend on those skills to get by."

He then sits up straight and looks at her dead on, "And yeah, I wanted to hear your theory. I have my own ideas, but, you are the first person that seems to show either a concern or at least an observation about them. So, I'd like to hear it!"

"Ah yes, well." Nevarri takes a drink of water for a moment, before starting with a fresh breath, "So, you heard how the Ezzo Refugees were lead by this big name NPC called the Bandit King, right?" She pushes her glasses up her face a bit as she thinks, "If it was all part of a scripted event, it would be the sort of thing you can't really interact with in any meaningful way. You just followed along and followed instructions. Because it was a game."

She looks about, "But the Landers don't behave in the usual scripted way, I don't think..."

She glances to the Lander Barkeep... "It's something that will take a bit more observervation before I can confirm much more than them being just being extra chaty."

    Xander keeps his voice down low as well. "I heard some rumors that the NPCs might be evolving, learning, but I haven't proved it either." He glances at the barkeep, before back to Nevarri. "I /do/ have some tests I want to do. It could get me in trouble with these... Landers... but if I am successful, I might be able to test not only their intelligence, but also their own self-awareness."

The Salamander's tail twitches gently as he looks around once more. "I think with the two of us working together, maybe sharing notes as we figure things out, maybe we can figure out the answer. Are these things actually becoming living things we serious need to start to worry about.. or are they a non-threat."

Xander looks at one of the adventurer's getting ready to leave, before back to Nevarri once more. "Because if the Lander NPCs are evolving, this means the monsters, even maybe the animal life, could start to evolve as well... and that could have even great repercussions if it isn't caught soon enough."

"I've been thinking for a while now, but I don't know if anyone has really said the words out loud, and I don't believe I'm the only one thinking it. That we might not be stuck in 'just a game' after all."

Nevarri blinks a bit as she eyes the Lander Barkeep, before Xander's specific choice of words snaps her back to attention, "Hang on, what do you mean 'Worry about'?" The implication only just setting in.

"If it turns out that the Landers are more than just NPCs, that they're 'people', that means we have to treat them the same way as we do as any other human being. They don't have to be our enemies."

She turns to face Xander more head on, eyes narrowed, "The Landers can be our friends just as easily, our first instinct shouldn't be to consider them a threat before we even have a chance to make peace with them. They could be valuable allies."

    "I'm not disagreeing with that." Xander says bluntly, then goes to put his voice back down. "But there are implications that if they are becoming more like us, they also may not be so trusting, just as /we/ are not as trusting as people."

"The bigger problem is that if the Landers are learning, so are the Goblins, Crocmen, Merfolk, and the list goes on. It may not just be the NPCs... but /everything/." He emphasis hard on that last part. "/THAT/," he pauses and quiets down again. "Is my concern."

"We have a tower to tackle, lives that go in that tower, and if the monsters are starting to become more than just simple attack behaviors and preprogrammed scripted behavior... Then we could have a serious problem on our hands."