“I never caught your name,” Afro tree said.
“Dustin,” I casually answered, “yours?”
“I usually go by Pa Pe Roni-” I smirked a bit, “-but with how personal everything feels going by that is a bit awkward,” he nervously laughed, “So just call me Peps.”
I raised an eyebrow, the first one was better but… “Sure then Peps,”
“So what do you plan on doing?” Peps leisurely asked.
I thought about it for a moment, “For now, checking the market,” I replied, gesturing to a hooded figure watching us intently.
Walking up to him, I cheerfully said, “Yo,” to the seller. He nodded but didn’t say a word.
I gestured to the wares laid on the blanket, “How much is all this?” Mostly consumables, few knives here and there.
“Rations go for a gold per five portions, two gold for a mana potion, one for health,” He rasped out, voice sounding unhealthily dry.
“Your throat sounds rather sore, perhaps you should take some lozenges?” Peps said, sounding genuinely worried.
The hooded seller only gave him a withering glare. “A mana potion please,” I interjected before Peps genre blindness got us banned from the only player merchant currently available.
The seller grunted as he took the money, I pocketed the potion and grabbed Peps' arm, “Let’s go,” and dragged him off.
“You’ve never met an RP’er have you?” I asked him once we were out of earshot.
He shook his head, “No, I usually don’t play RPGs,”
“What do you play then?” I asked as I checked over the mana potion. Same glowing colour and size as the last two I had, probably works.
“Mainly trading card games now,” Peps answered.
TCGs? “Like Arcanum?”
He clapped his hands, “Exactly like Arcanum!” he replied in an excited tone, “Do you play as well?”
“On and off,” I replied, storing the potion in my belt, “I tend to spend too much money on packs if I invest in one,”
Peps nodded, “I know the feeling, my kids keep telling me to stop but I have nothing to do around the house,”
“Ehh loot boxes,” I replied.
“Yeah…” he petered off, “Where are we going by the way?” he asked, gesturing to the corridor we entered.
“Grinding,” I simply replied, “What else could we be doing? It’s not like there's-”
A blurred brown dot appeared in my sight. My hours with the goblins caused me to instinctively sway to the right. Peps was a bit slower and the arrow struck his shoulder with a loud thunk.
Mana flowed into my hand as I raised it, “Grow Sporage Poison Spores-”
“WAIT!” a loud voice interrupted. A comically small looking head popped up from behind a bench. “TIS BUT A MISUNDERSTANDING! THEY ARE FELLOW TRAVELERS!” He yelled to someone out of sight.
From the distance, two glowing eyes fell from the ceiling, a figure landing lithely on the floor. That was almost fifty meters away, I didn’t even notice him until I saw his glowing eyes. Dangerous, just because this was a fantasy I shouldn’t disregard the possibility of getting sniped.
“SORRY!” I heard a high pitched voice yell in the distance. ‘Her,’ I mentally corrected. I let my arm relax and fall to my side, hand concealing the Sporage just in case.
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry…” she repeatedly said as she stumbled to us, “I’m SO SORRY! YOU GUYS JUST LOOKED A LOT LIKE MONSTERS FROM A DISTANCE!”
Hmm… Fair, I did have a jack o 'lantern for a face, and Peps did have a weird head shape. Speaking of Peps, I quickly checked on him, he fell when the arrow got him, but overall he looked fine if a bit dazed. I swapped the staff to the hand where the Sporage was, then offered my recently freed hand. “You alright?” I asked.
He gratefully took it, wincing slightly as his shoulder made a weird grinding noise.
“Ah...” Peps replied, eyes unfocused, “I have a healing spell.”
Ehh, he seems fine for a dude that just got shot. Nodding, I turned to the two who attacked us. The first was a dwarf? No, he wasn’t wide enough, and no beard. He was hairy though, long curly hair falling to his shoulders, probably just a buff gnome actually. He looked like a miniature of every gym buff, except shrunk down to about a meter tall. He was clad in a chainmail vest, with what seemed to be leather armour underneath, a short sword hung from his hip.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The second was a black-haired girl clad in leather gear. A quiver hung on her back and she was still tearfully holding the bow she shot us with. Were those cat ears on her head?
“You two are?” I cautiously asked, they were both in my range now. I could chain Sporage with an Acid Spit and theoretically get them both, however, I have no idea how much damage they’ll do to players, who presumably had higher Constitutions than tutorial goblins.
“Ah, I am Valhorn Hillblight!” The gnome theatrically yelled, “But more importantly! Are thee alright?”
Oh god, another RP’er.
Next to me, I heard Peps trying to pull out the arrow, “No no!” Valhorn yelled, “The arrowhead shape will prevent you from pulling it out, you must break the shaft and push it out, here let me help.” He said as he walked in closer.
Peps gratefully smiled as he shifted positions to facilitate the short gnome. Seeing no current threat, I plucked the Sporage and pocketed it.
“And you?” I directed to the ranger who was still wiping away tears.
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head.
“I assume you weren’t talking about your name with that one,” I said as I turned to the gnome standing on one of Peps legs. “Ok, I’m gonna push it now,” Valhorn said. Peps grit his teeth and nodded, before taking a sharp intake of breath as Valhorn pushed the arrow through his shoulder.
“That wasn’t… too bad,” Peps said with a slightly forced looking smile. Hmm, I didn’t know what race Peps was but afro tree probably meant he had a high constitution. He was barely bleeding too, only a sticky looking sap flowed from the hole, and it looked like it was clotting. “Cure Light Wounds,” Peps said with a grimace, and the wood began growing inwards at a rapid pace, quickly closing the hole and leaving a spot of slightly lighter-looking bark.
Peps flexed his shoulder experimentally, then poked the lighter spot and grimaced. “It’s a bit tender it seems,”
“Let me help,” I said as I touched his shoulder, “Balm Spores,” and white mycelium grew on him, covering the lighter spot. “It’s better than nothing,” I added as I did the other side.
“I was going to offer a potion…” The gnome said.
“Ehh, best to save stuff like that for when you really need it,” I replied.
Valhorn nodded, “Wise advice,”
“Oh don’t get me wrong, we’re still taking that potion,” I added. They did shoot us after all.
“Tis only fair-” He started before the other girl shoved him to the side and pushed a glowing red potion into Peps’ hand.
“Oh, it’s fine!” Peps said as he pushed it back.
“No no, I insist,” The girl replied with grim determination as she pushed it back.
“Oh no I’m really fine,” Peps pushed it back.
“But I shot you!” She protested as she pushed it back.
“It’s only a scratch…”
Ignoring the Canadian standoff behind me, I turned to the gnome. “You two were planning on an ambush?” I asked.
He nodded, “Yes, we had begun hunting but it was hard pickings. Most of the beasts here would run on sight, they rarely stood and fought unless cornered.”
Ah shit, that makes things more annoying. “Have you tried scouting further? We’re not that far from the spawn zone so the stuff here might be more passive. Perhaps outside the mall?”
He shook his head, “Though we are confident in our abilities, the night holds many dangers, without a proper source of light I am cautious to advance outside, where we lack the cover of this structure.” He said as he gestured around us.
“I can create something similar to a light source?” I suggested, raising a hand palm up, “Grow Sporage, Light Spores.”
Valhorn’s eyes lit up, “That would indeed do! Perhaps we should band together?”
“That would create a fairly balanced party,” I replied. “What’s your class?”
“I am a warrior, and you?”
“Fungalmancer, which is basically a mage but with a mushroom theme slapped on it. Mostly an all-rounder with a focus for AOE damage.”
“Hmm, and your tree friend can act as the healer,” he said thoughtfully.
I gestured to the standoff happening next to us, “And her the DPS?”
“Indeed,”
“I look forward to working with you then,” I said as I offered my hand.
He smiled as he shook my it, “And I do too with you,”
I smiled back, “We should probably break up those two...” I added.
He peeked behind me, “Yes… they have been going on for a while already,”
Myconid and gnome turned to the scene of carnage. Not that you would notice at first glance, they were still politely pushing the potion into each other. I was almost tempted to let them play this out for a few more moments, see how long it’ll last. Unfortunately, that notion was destroyed when the gnome loudly declared, “We’re partying up!”
Two pairs of confused eyes turned to us at the same time.
“Ehh?”
Name: Dustin
Classes: Fungalmancer Level 2
Body
Strength: 8
Agility: 7
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 18
Stamina: 10
Vitality: 12
Mind
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 17
Charisma: 6
Soul
Will: 10
Aura: 10
Perception: 10
Racials:
Superior Darkvision, Fungal Body, Sun Sickness, Mana Dependency, Pacifying Spores, Innate Magic
Class Skills:
Fungalmancer: Grow Sporage
Spells:
T0: Balm Spores, Spore Lights, Sneezing Spores, Acid Spit
T1: Mushroom Meal, Poison Spores
Available Spell Slots:
T2: 1
Equipment:
Leather Armour (Damaged) - One HP Potion - One MP Potion - Basic Wooden Staff - Two Basic Daggers - Herbalism Kit
Backpack - Tinder Box - Mess Kit - 50 days worth of rations
8 Gold Coins
Impact Points: 4
Spoiler: Spoiler
KING CRIMSON!) ...what his height is, or what his shoe size is, his favourite food, the current political climate, whether or not dabbing is still a thing... wait what was I talking about?
*squints at outline* many chapters later. I do plan on this story being rather group focused, after all, if you look at Dustin's build he's basically a support/utility mage, at least until I can come up with a fun name for a mushroom minion skill, then he'll be a conjurer/summoner with utility, though those already tend to have a lot of utility due to the variety of summons. He's still fucked if someone gets close, he has no true close combat qualities other than high HP and greater pain tolerance, but that won't stop a beheading from one-shotting him, that might tip you off to what class Matt will be, since any close combat skills Declan/Dustin has is from browsing Youtube videos of middle aged LARPERS. Though his Sun Sickness will remain rather crippling for a long while and... sorry I'm ranting. Anyways! There aren't a lot of VRMMO stories that focus on a group, even if they tend to be the main draws of an MMO and (depending on who you ask) real life in general. Most VRMMO stories tend to be wish fulfillment or poorley designed power gaming, which I get the draw of, I have Teemo on MR 7 and MR 6 Singed, point is, sometimes I just want to make other people suffer and being a horrible person is just the best ways to achieve it- wait no, scratch that, sometimes I just want to be stronger and better than everyone, thats why I spent tons of money on lootboxes in Overwatch just to get that one cool Reinhardt skin, only to realise two weeks later that all my friends have moved back to CSGO and all I get are people yelling at me in different languages - which isn't all that different from my CSGO experience actually... Sorry I'm rambling again. Point is, I'm not the type of person who believes in bad cliches. Thats more because of the weirdly romantisized view of authors having to always be innovating and do something creative. Which I get, I used to believe in it myself and thats one of the reasons one of my older stories capsized. But new doesn't always mean better, take the $999 Apple Stand, unless that shit gives me a JoJo Stand ain't no way I'm paying 1k for it! But it's more proper execution of ideas that define a good writer. Look at One Punch Man and Overlord for example, they both use the OP protangist trope and they are considered to be some of the best stories to come out of Japan, despite the fact that the trope is one of the most scorned and reviled tropes period. You could argue that OPM makes fun of the OPP trope and that's why its good but Overlord doesn't make fun of it, Overlord is getting carried along by it's stellar world building and the realistic effects of someone with that much power appearing in a stock fantasy world.(Authors note within authors note: Read the LN version of Overlord, the anime was meh but doesn't really live up to the LN or even the manga) ...where was I going with this? Oh yeah back to my novel. It's not the usage of good ideas that make a story, its the execution of ideas. Or maybe its adding more ideas and mixing them together, gods know I'm not a creative individual, the stat table I'm using was straight up stolen from HTTYP and the Myconid race came from the D&D Homebrew Wiki and I definitely wasn't the first one to come up with a magical remote detonation bomb, I just happened to be the guy who put it inside a mushroom. BUT POINT IS! Execution matters! And chances are, I would likely avoid tropes that I believe are above my level to execute in a statisfying manner. I'm very much a slow burn type of story teller, why else do you the it took 4-5 chapters to get into the damn VRMMO? And it'll likely continue, which I won't apologise for since thats just who I am as a writer, if you don't prefer that sort of thing I can only hope you find something you do prefer.
