no one is normal and sane here

[dissimulative]

Who • Oriade, Vogel, 0koto
What • Dungeon run!
When • August 26
Where • Great Superior Night Moon
Content Warnings • None for now. Will be updated later if there's any.

Your party heads off to Great Superior Night Moon in search of treasure and adventure. You gate in and find yourself in a snowy tundra stretching as far as the eye can see. Located within the heart of the field is a forest dungeon lush with treasure and crawling with monsters.

On your adventure, you encounter several strong foes, Sky Fish, Mugai Wyverns and Smiley Rays among them.

After carving a path through your foes, you finally make your way into the dungeon.

The dungeon run seems to be progressing quite smoothly. As you reach the end of your adventure, you hear a gentle, quiet voice whisper to you... "Welcome, weary traveler. Allow me to bless you before you depart."

The disembodied voice has blessed you! A pair of wings sprouts from your back! You'll enjoy the freedom of flight and be able to get to places in Areas and towns that no one else can. This blessing will wear off after 24 hours.

Comments

[dissimulative]

[ Oria catches the fish... with his face.

He screams again. ]

[insinning]

[...

He squelches out of the water, looking sulky. Maybe a little pouty]

You did that on purpose.

[Don't send his fish back into the water, Oria.

It's too cold...]

[worldbent]

[Matoba splashes back out of the water in about 15 seconds, shaking algae off with a grumble, but clutching his slimy wooden duck.]

[And this time, he's holding onto it.]

Just what is the problem? [He complains to Oria, who is screaming again. You're going to attract the monsters!!]

[Wading back to the shoreline again, Matoba sloshes out, a massive, wet mess of dark robes and hair, and grumbles as he flops into the snow and starts to squeeze his robes out. This was a terrible idea.]

[dissimulative]

[ He makes a face as he finally stops screaming and just... holds the fish by the tail. ]

That [ He points to the duck. ] was slimy and this [ He holds up the fish. ] is scaly and hit my face.

[ He's the one slightly pouting now, but Sinclair continues to be right. Oria can eat a lot of things but handling live fish? Sticky stuff? He hates it. At least Matoba can jot down notes for his vengeance plot. ]

There is absolutely no good reason for this to feel real.

[insinning]

...you deserved that one.

[For someone who is bothered by slimy and scaly things, Oria sure is holding up that fish pretty well. Sinclair will not feel guilt. He'll feel a tiny bit of guilt

Sinclair continues to be pouty as he works on squeezing the water out of his tunic. Ugh, does he have to remove his armor pieces again? He doesn't want to do that in the middle of a dungeon]

Doesn't it break immersion for it to not feel real?

[He'll hold his hands out for the fish - give it back so he can put it in his inventory for later cooking]

[worldbent]

[Oh, don't worry, Oria.... He will remember this.]

[And he'll remember you abandoned his DUCK.]

Man up, [Matoba grumbles, squeezing water out of one sleeve and conspicuously not the other. He glances around to see if there's any dry wood that they could use to start a fire and warm up... And finds a stump that's been left by their earlier escapades. He sets it aflame with a Givak Kruz and holds his arms out.]

Come over here, you two, before you freeze.

[dissimulative]

[ :T But it's true, he deserved it. When Matoba calls them over, Oria goes to warm up. He wasn't the one who went diving, but he's still cold. Brrrrr.

Once Sinclair comes up to the spot as well, Oria returns the fish. ]

Why did you two go diving when it's freezing outside?

[insinning]

[Putting the fish back in his inventory as he warms himself by the fire. Brrr indeed]

I just wanted to try the stew.

[Also, taking out his wooden duck to dry. Ehehe.

the poor thing will disappear when they leave the dungeon but they don't know that yet]

[worldbent]

I was just following him in. I've never tried diving in one of these Areas before.

[Matoba grins, watching Sinclair warm up his duck.] The stew wasn't bad. Did you make it?

.... That reminds me. What was the recipe? I think I'd like to take it diving elsewhere.

[dissimulative]

There really isn't a recipe, but you have to go to the Twilight Shoreline and find this pot to dump ingredients in. The ingredients are limited to that Area too, so we can't really make them wherever we want.

[ Some special pot or something. ]

[insinning]

[ still defrosting with his duck. He nods at Oria's explanation]

You can put in whatever you find in that area and it'll turn out the same way. It's a little strange.

[worldbent]

Oh? That is the beach area that was unlocked recently, is it not?

[He hasn't visited it yet, but that seems like something he'd like to try! And that way, he can test out his dabbling with Alchemy abilities, too....]

[He's never been a big fan of crafting and cooking mechanics in his dungeon battle games, buuuut... in an immersive sim like this, perhaps it's fine.]

I do hope that everything is fleshed out well enough by the time of launch, but it's fun to test these new mechanics, isn't it? [He brushes some drying algae off his duck.]

[dissimulative]

Yeah.

[ Says the profession maniac. He huddles a bit closer to the fire, but not too close. ]

It can even make the wildest dreams come true, like cooking decent food.

[insinning]

[Eyeing Oria. He's learned not to question people's ability to completely fail at cooking after an incident he doesn't care to recall at all (trauma)]

I'm more surprised meals made out of monster parts taste so...normal.

[worldbent]

[Sorry, Oria, Matoba can't help the sudden snort of a laugh that escaped him there.]

Wildest dreams, huh? [He raises an eyebrow.] That bad?

[Judging by Sinclair's expression: yes.]

It's only a simulation, after all. The devs can't make up flavor profiles out of nowhere.... Speaking of which, do either of you intend to partake in the little cooking contest?

[dissimulative]

Yup, that bad.

[ He'll own up to it. The two will also know to never let Oria actually cook anything other than game recipes. ]

I feel like if I entered, I'm basically begging to feel the Head Admin's wrath. It looks like it has to be based on creativity, and not just off game recipes. I only eat, not cook.

[ Shameless. ]

I'm not too big on having a pet anyway. Though...

[ Looks at Sinclair. ]

[insinning]

[ Yeah, he wont question Oria's cooking at all considering how confident he is about everything else.

He doesn't want to know!!

Also he's feeling called out here]

... the pomchi is really cute, okay...

[Mumbling. He's been practising. Just for the pomchi]

[worldbent]

I would really prefer if it were a cat.

[Matoba says simply, and keeps the other half of his thoughts to himself.]

I don't have any intentions of entering, but I think it will be fun to watch others struggle, [Matoba grins, eye landing on Sinclair. That's right. They'd had an interesting looking relationship- he'd grilled Sinclair about it a little before.] .....Don't worry, I'm sure he won't murder you in cold blood for serving him something a little bland.

...

Probably. [He tucks his duck away into his inventory! Ready to adventure when you are, guys! :)]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria looks at how Matoba is looking specifically at Sinclair and raises an eyebrow while getting up. They need to move on, but also: ]

Did the Head Admin threaten you??

[ Not Matoba. Sinclair. ]

[insinning]

Huh? [He glances between Matoba and Oria in confusion. Threatening? Hien? ]

...no. He's always been nice to me. He just wants people to enjoy themselves in the game.

[Taught him a therapy technique and everything]

[worldbent]

[He was going to have some teasing remark about how Hien's 'always been nice' to Sinclair, but.]

[Snrrrrk. Pffffttttt--]

[Matoba can't hold it in, sorry. He's laughing out loud.]

[The boys are free to stare, or ignore him. He's coming, he's coming....]

[dissimulative]

[ Oria stops when he hears Matoba laugh so hard, and he's definitely one that's staring at him. He doesn't think he's ever heard him that loud? For anything? ]

You guys friends or something?

[ re: matoba and hien ]

[insinning]

Um...

[Sinclair is concerned. Did he say something weird? That is what Hien told him after the incident with the mirrors after all...]

[worldbent]

Ahahaha.....

Oh... [To Sinclair] Please don't concern yourself. I'm sure if he had any ill intent towards you, you would know it. It's just so funny to hear someone say that about Hien-kun with genuine feeling.

[The glance he passes over towards Oria has the brimming mischief of a cat.]

[Well.]

"Friends"? You have a funny way of interpreting things, Oriade-san. What about us seemed "friendly" when he came to fix that player glitch, hm?

[dissimulative]

I don't know?! I mean, I can believe you have friendships too, Koto, even if they're weird.

[ He's not going to bring up "friends with benefits" out loud either, if Matoba doesn't actually have friends. ]