Virtual reality is a roleplay site about, as the name suggests, a virtual universe. In the not to distant future scientists created a high tech video game called The Game. The Game was not originally called the Game, but when the war broke out, everyone forgot what the real name was, and it was referred to as the Game. Not long after they developed another version. They made it for fun, but over time it has become dangerous. The Government has banned the game from being used, except by the military for training, but a resistance has arisen and gotten possession of the game. The Rebellion is fighting the tyrannical Government to regain rights for civilians and to free the world of cruel leaders. Little does anyone know, but the game is still used for fun on another planet colonized by Earth, but has long since been forgotten. A rebellion is in its infant stages on the world of Zeme, will it be able to bring down the Vlad from its remote base, or will it fail to grow? Will the resistance be able to crush the Vlad and help the Rebellion on Earth, and free the people of Zeme of the tyrannical government? Will the people on Zeme discover the war going on in their beloved game or will they remain ignorant? Will the resistance bring down the Vlad, or will the Vlad prevail and punish the rebels and their sympathizers?
Obviously you've noticed the involuntary change pushed on us. Sadly this meant I had to rework all of the coding. That unfortunately led to us restarting out money count. There will be little change until I can figure out more about this new system. I will still manually take the money from your account when you purchase something. As of now you will only receive 1 penny from posting and exalting will give none. There is also a bank with a 1.5% interest that you can deposit money into. It is found at the bottom left of the screen. There is a stock market there temporarily, but I will likely remove it soon. There is also a possibility of us adding jobs soon with wages.
Dyer watched the cliffs as they neared. His eyes scanned every cave entrance and the ground around them. He knew it didn't really matter which cave they chose, there was a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the rocks that almost all the holes in the cliffs linked to. The problem would be finding their way out once they were inside. He didn't like to go very deep. He would much rather find an entrance as close as possible to their targets.
"Yeah. Choose a cave and start looking," he continued walking toward the cliffs as he answered his companion's question.
One cave attracted his attention as there seemed to be some evidence of activity, but there was no way the horses got into it, seeing as it was over fifty feet up the sheer rock face. Only a skilled climber could get up that route, and certainly not one with hooves. Too bad he hadn't given this character the climb ability and would be thrown off the cliff ten feet up. Stupid Game.
Lilly looked at the face of the cliff, her eyes quickly scanning over it looking for foot and handholds. Though mostly a way up. That moment made her thank the fact that she had given her character the climb ability, too bad her combat wasn't better. 'It'll have to do.' She thought the words to herself as three pathes upward stuck out to her, quickly analyzing all of them and which would be the fastest with the least amount of risk of being thrown off by some enemy. A frown crossed her face as she silently noted each path's flaws, realizing this was going to be a lot harder than scaling the wall of some building. Still, it was a challenge and right now she longed for it, looking over the pathes once more she picked one of them. "This should be interesting." She reached into her jacket and pulled a dagger out, "too bad he missed this." She pushed the scabbard into the strap on her leg and started forward.
Fortis silently drew his hand-and-half. Holding it in a ready position, he looked back towards his companions. Fortis didn't know why, but he felt uneasy, and the feeling was growing stronger. It's the thought of going into the caves and underground passages.
He knew there were too many blind corners and too many opportunities to get bushwhacked. Altogether, I wouldn't send my men in that death trap unless the entire cowardly Resistance was holed up inside. Even then, I would send combat drones in first.
"Any of y'all know anything 'bout caves?" Casually asked Fortis. "If not, then I guess we'll have to camp out here 'til those soulless ruffians poke their empty heads out. If any of you have any ideas, unless its outright crazy, I'll cover your six."
Blast. He tried not to use military jargon around civilians, instead Fortis preferred to cover his identity behind the sloppy speech of a laid back player. Hopefully his companions missed the verbal slip, but he knew that these players were experienced, they probably noticed the fault in his speech pattern. I will have to watch my back a little bit closer.
Dyer examined the cliffs, mentally marking each of the caves. He walked up to one of the caves and drew a knife. "Know anything about them? Sure. They're dark and cold." He could feel the warmth being sucked out of the air around him.
He glanced back at the burning plains, "After those fields I say that sounds good. So yeah, I have an idea." With that he walked into the cave. He made sure not to activate his Shadow Stalker ability until his companions couldn't see him anymore. He would rather nobody knew about that ability, even his General. Once he was immersed completely in shadow, rendering him almost invisible without the ability he allowed it to take over, his form melting into the darkness.
Lilly watched Dyer for a second and almost debated following him but the higher caves drew her attention once more. She took a few steps back and let her eyes scan over them once more, one finger tapping the side of her leg. As Fortis' speech slipped, she made a mental note but otherwise didn't acknowledge it. She sought out her path again and traced it once before moving back to the face of the cliff and pulled herself onto the beginning of her climb. Lilly's hands and feet found holds almost as if they were pulled together by some other force. Only once did she slip, when one of her footholds gave out suddenly and her hand almost left its place. She cursed loudly, pushing her body tighter against the rock as her foot searched blindly for a new perch. A few panicked seconds later, she was steady again, continuing upward.
Lilly pulled herself onto a small ledge, hardly enough to stand on and twisted around to look out over the plains. "Looks almost nice from here." She spoke aloud, not really caring who heard as she glanced down once more. "Thirty five." She turned and looked at the cave nearest to her, "and it wouldn't hurt to try." She pulled her knife from the scabbard on her leg and entered the darkness.
Fortis watched in disbelief as his comrades disappeared into their own personal caves. "Blast," he muttered under his breath. He knew he shouldn't be so frustrated, the alliances ware temporary anyway. The band had to dissolve at the one place I hate, underground.
Sliding his sword into its sheath, Fortis drew his knives and slowly advanced into the nearest tunnel. The darkness swallowed his body, almost suffocating him. He stopped, only a few dozen yards into the depths of the earth, but already Fortis couldn't see the daylight behind him. A few mere rays of light trickled through blackness. After taking several deep breaths to clear his mind and to allow his eyes to adjust to the dark, Fortis bravely pushed on.
Dyer listened to his footsteps faintly echo through the tunnel. Too bad his skills didn't make him silent in shadows as well. He strained to make out the walls ahead of him. The ground sloped gently upward, leading him to where he hoped his targets were hiding. Hopefully they would be the only hostile player or creature he ran into. He didn't really fancy getting into a fight with night-vision capable goblins or, especially, a fire breathing dragon. His abilities and talents wouldn't help him then. Like his footsteps, they couldn't hide his scent.
Lilly couldn't help but to feel like the walls of the cave were closing in on her along with the darkness, she stopped as the light behind her disappeared. She blinked a couple times, waiting for her eyes to at least adjust to the darkness a little before she continued forward. As she walked Lilly twirled the knife slowly in her hand, trying to keep aware of her surroundings. She stopped again and closed her eyes, trying to make her breathing slow down as she did. Come on Lilly, calm down. There's nothing in here that can murder you... Except orcs... And a dragon... Shaking her head sharply, Lilly forced her eyes open and continued walking, listening to he footsteps echo off the walls around her. The slope of the ground beneath her started to fall and she found herself being more and more weary as to not fall off some sudden drop off in the ground.
General Fortis trod lightly though the dim tunnels, ready for a fight. It was about time for some action, he hated all this tracking and sneaking around. Fortis almost wanted to yell so some goblins or some other scum would find him in this dark, endless maze, but he knew better. It would only accomplish getting him killed, and that was always a painful way to exit the Game, not to mention expensive.
After 10 more minutes of annoying sneaking, Fortis heard a faint sound. It was the distinctive noise of a rowdy celebration. Fortis had been around the Game enough to to know that this was a camp. He carefully walked towards the sound, presently, he could see firelight and the oversized jumping and jagged silhouettes that always accompanied the warm, orange light. Maybe it's those blasted gangsters. Fortis could see the sentry, it had its back to him.
Fortis snuck up on it. Through training and experience, Fortis could be quiet when needed, it was among the few skills that the Game couldn't control. Now up close, Fortis recognized the small, pointy and misshaped form of a Goblin. It was roaring its approval to something. Expertly, he grabbed the creature and stabbed a knife into its neck. The noisy partying Goblins in the main room room of the cavern never noticed.
Fortis dragged the corpse back into the tunnel. After drawing his remaining sword and a knife, Fortis peaked around the corner. His blood chilled. It wasn't horde the dancing goblins that worried him, nor the giant cave troll chained to the wall, but a smooth, blue oblong-shaped orb in the middle of the room, glowing in the light. A dragon egg. Fortis groaned in horror, he didn't know how the goblins had seized the egg, nor did he want to. Dragons guarded their young with a bloody vengeance, it would be here soon. Suddenly, a cry rang out and a goblin pointed towards Fortis. All the goblins turned to face the unexpected guest, the one must have heard his gasp. No use hiding. He stepped out, grinning while he brandished his weapons. He yelled and charged.
Dyer strained his ears to hear what was ahead of him in the caverns. The faint dripping of water rippled through the darkness, the only sound in the deafening shadows aside from his footsteps. At least that meant he wasn't about to be attacked. Not that he was worried.
Almost ten minutes later he felt something small hit his foot and a metallic clanging echoed through the tunnel. Dyer froze. If his quiet footsteps didn't warn the beasts in the cave of his presence then that did. Good thing he was trained as an assassin, he knew how to stay perfectly still for hours. And stay perfectly still he did. For five minutes the only muscles he moved were to blink. Silence answered his declaration. Finally he let out his breath and looked down to see what he kicked.
Still unused to not being able to see himself it took a moment to figure out where he was standing and where the metal object may have ended up. When he found it he almost cursed. A gold coin. While it is possible some adventurer dropped it or it was left behind when goblins killed a player, it was most likely from a dragon hoard.
He decided not to jump to conclusions and to wait to see if he found more to determine if it was a dragon's. He continued down the tunnel, his eyes fixed on the ground. Ten feet later a ruby perched on the top of a rock. Another five feet two coins had found their way into a crack. Five feet after that the air felt lighter, the tunnel grew. Dyer had no doubt it was now large enough to house all but the biggest of dragons. Wonderful.
He immediately began searching for an offshoot from the tunnel that would lead him away from the dragon.
Lilly tried to keep her breath steady as she continued through the darkness, straining her ears as she tried to notice trouble before it noticed her. So desperately did she want to light a torch and open the way in front of her to the light of fire. The woman stopped as she realized that her breath was shaking in her throat and lungs, she took a moment to calm herself and rubbed a hand across her face.
Lilly's head came up as an echo sounded in the passage in front of her, cursing under her breath she slipped into a crouch and pushed herself against the wall, hoping whatever it was wouldn't notice her. Closing her eyes, Lilly let out her breath and didn't draw another back in. Opening her eyes Lilly faintly made out the shape of a goblin. Pulling a dagger from its oiled sheath soundlessly she shifted her grip on the handle before leaping forward impaling the beast through the leg, cringing as its howls echoed loudly through the caves. She gritted her teeth as something sharp raked across her cheek and her knife cut deep into the goblin's throat.
Wiping the blood off her cheek Lilly pulled the knife free and stood, listening as she did. Hearing the sound of goblins in the distance she groaned and took off in the other direction. As she ran, Lilly kept on hand brushing against the wall trying to find an off passage where she hadn't looked for one before to hopefully aid her escape. When her hand hit air Lilly stopped, looking into the darkness before stepping into it. Her feet met nothing but air and gravity. Not able to stop the short startled scream that left her, Lilly tumbled down, righting herself after falling and hitting rock for what seemed like over one hundred feet. As she stopped the young woman didn't even try to get up, only rolled onto her back and made she that she was intact.
Only after making sure that she had no obviously broken bones did Lilly stand, groaning and leaning heavily on the cave wall for support. Forcing a deep breath into her lungs and grimacing at the burning pain she looked around and started down the passage, hoping the goblins wouldn't find her. She had no idea how far she had fallen or how far up she was now compared to the ground.
Last Edit: May 12, 2014 22:26:14 GMT -7 by Lillyfer
Fortis slew the first one with a sword slash across the chest. Quickly, before it could react, Fortis felled the second goblin with his hunting knife. Most of the two dozen remaining beasts fled, screeching as they ran in circles. Now and then a goblin stood its ground, but was outmatched by the tall, lethal and experienced warrior. Fortis dispatched them in with skillful blows in quick succession, though he recoiled at the ease that he slaughtered the monsters. I can't believe that I was worried about them, this is just too easy. But the seasoned General knew that if the goblins had swarmed him, he would have been all to easily overwhelmed. Plus he hadn't fought the cave troll yet.
Slowly, but surely, the little green beasts were regrouping. They were putting up a tougher fight now. Unfortunately for the once-partying goblins, there were less then 10 left alive now to resist. Fortis slashed, parried, and stabbed. His blades flashed wickedly in the firelight. Screeches and other cries of terrified horror filled the cavern. Soon little green bodies covered the ground. Yet despite the only 20-odd goblins that Fortis originally counted, for every threat that was neutralized, another goblin took its place. Suddenly, as quickly as it began, the fight at the goblin camp was over.
A low roar rumbled the floor, Fortis turned to face this new threat. It was the cave troll. How could I forget such a dangerous foe as this? Fortis knew that in the real world, a mistake like this would get him killed, as it was, the mistake was certainly going to be painful. Fortis rolled his shoulders, and charged the massive monster. It was lethargic uncaring of the fight around it, but it wanted fresh meat, so the troll lumbered towards the newcomer. But with the first wound, a stab to the knee, it grew mercilessly enraged. The monster went berserks and almost crushed the tiny enemy. Fortis dodged its colossal hands and stabbed his sword into the beast's stomach. It roared in pain. Lashing out, it grabbed knocked away Fortis' sword and pushed the General to the ground. It stepped on him, Fortis yelped. Bending over, the troll examined it prize with a dark twinkle in its eye.
Dyer dragged his hand against the wall and soon found a different tunnel. Without hesitation he dodged down it. As he entered the new passage he felt rock scrape his head. No way a dragon could follow him in here. A few feet in his new direction the howl of a goblin ricocheted through the black, hitting his ears and pushing him up against the wall. From his hidden place against the rock he tried to make out where the sound came from. More than likely one of his companions was the cause. Who let it scream? On the bright side, they were drawing the goblins away from him.
Or not. A rock bounced by him on the ground. Multiple footsteps reverberated through the cave system, stretching out toward the dragon, enticing it to wake up. Dyer clenched his teeth and slowly drew a knife. He knew he had to wait for the right moment to attack, for the moment he did he would become visible. Three more steps. Two. One.
He spun around and jabbed out with the knife, catching the first of the newcomers in the chest. As the blade broke flesh his became visible in the gloom, torchlight glinting off of his eyes. The human stared down at the knife in his chest, then looked up at Dyer, confusion clouding his fading eyes. He uttered three word before collapsing and being disconnected from the game: "What. The. Hell?"
Dyer watched the character fall to the ground and cursed, obviously these were not goblins. And the other three did not look happy. He quickly assessed the situation and drew another knife. One of the others had a short sword, another a claymore and the last a long bow. The one with the short sword was the only one he had to worry about in these closed quarters.
Naturally it was the one with the claymore that attacked first. Dyer didn't even raise his knives to defend himself. The attacker promptly hit the ceiling with the tip of his sword. Dyer rolled his eyes and thrust both blades into the man's chest. As the other man fell an arrow hit the wall to his right. Another soon his the wall on his left. The archer clearly couldn't see anything. Instead of rushing right at him Dyer took a couple steps back and let his ability take over. Invisible, he snuck up to the archer and grabbed his bow. He pulled it down, revealing himself. The archer's eyes widened, then went dark as one of his own arrows was slipped between his ribs.
Dyer turned toward the last player. The man frantically tried to escape, but the assassin was on him before he could turn around. The fight only lasted a few seconds, though the short sword-wielder managed to break the skin on Dyer's arm.
He wiped the blood away and searched the bodies for any useful items. He decided to take the short sword and a pouch of gold, but left the rest of the equipment for the next person to stumble into the caves. With a curse he let the ability take back over. Revealed both abilities in one day. And got wounded. Sloppy.
Lilly coughed slightly before closing her eyes, when she opened them again. Her eyes had shifted to the golden amber color of her wolf's eyes. The darkness of the cave seemed to be lit up more than it had been previously. The grin that crossed Lilly's face was disturbingly wolfish as the rest of her body started to follow suit with the transformation into the beast.
Even though she was used to it, Lilly gritted her teeth from pain as her bones started to reshape and move, forcing everything inside her to rearrange. The fur that sprouted across her body was as silver as the moon, ticked with black and blue throughout.
Lilly let out a short growl as she lowered herself to four feet, her eyes scanning the walls of the cave before starting forward. She tried not to move too quickly, as was instinct but the wolf wanted it. It wanted to run free. Find blood. Lilly pulled a deep breath in through her nose, bringing all the scents of the area around her with it. The scent of blood nearly drove her over the edge as she darted forward, short growls vibrating from her chest and echoing off the walls as she ran.
The wolf snarled as she reached an open space within the caves, the place full of goblins and two other players that were desperately trying to fight the horde off. With a roarlike snarl Lilly leapt toward the goblins, which e scattered while shrieking. The players turned on Lilly, fearing for their lives and one made the fatal mistake for the two of them as he fired his crossbow and the bolt drove home into her shoulder. Lilly snarled, charging the two men. As she reached them, she tackled the man with the crossbow and tore into his shoulder, nearly severing his arm from his body before ranking claws across his face and leaping as his companion as he lay there screaming. The other man's throat was torn from his body before the wolf turned on the goblins.
The horde had regroup when Lilly's attentions had been turned on the men. Lilly let the wolfish grin cross her face again. The wolf's bloodlust was about to be sated. As her teeth clamped down on the first goblin, Lilly recoiled, repulsed by the vile taste of the creature's blood and settled with lashing out with one paw to break the thing's neck. Growling she leaped at another and collapsed its chest as she landed on it. It took a moment for the goblins to realize that they far outnumbered the animal that was attacking them. They screeched and hollered at each other as they made a crude circle around Lilly, few of them willing to meet a snarling face and lashing claws.
Last Edit: May 15, 2014 19:46:22 GMT -7 by Lillyfer
Fortis grinned. He didn't enjoy the crushing weight of the troll that was stepping on him, but smiling in the face on death always calmed his mind. The troll was looking at him with a evil twinkle in its eye, like it was trying to decide on the best way to kill and eat Fortis. Gotta get going now. He tried to move his right arm, it was pinned. His legs were also useless. Even his left arm was caught, but just barely. Quickly, Fortis managed to wiggle his left arm free. But even as the General looked through the dim light, he knew his options were few. His sword lie just three feet out of reach. And Fortis couldn't pummel the monstrous beast with his fists! Then it hit him. My knives!
Forts managed to yank one of his hunting knives from its sheath and in one swift stroke, Fortis stabbed down onto the monster's sensitive foot. It roared in pain, the hungry look in it's face replaced by one of pure hatred. The knife went skidding away. Fortis didn't wait, he rolled to his feet, and after dodging several powerful blows, sprinted to his sword. The tides have turned. Fortis spun and sliced off a few fingers of the troll's left hand. Another roar. Suddenly, the right hand grabbed him and lifted Fortis into the air. He dropped the sword and drew his remaining knife and stabbed it into the beast's forearm. He was dropped. Fortis almost twisted his ankle on the his sword's hilt. Reaching down, Fortis grabbed his sword and threw as hard as he could. Accurately it spun, once, twice and into the beast the blade went. The shining metal stabbed into the troll's throat. Stupidly, it touched the handle, before in moaned and slumped to its knees. With a surprised look on its face, the troll fell backwards and stayed still.
Fortis scooped up his knife and carefully approached the monster. Upon confirming its death, he recovered his weapons from the beast and cleaned them before sitting down. He looked down and saw blood on his chest. Promptly, he put pressure on the wound, but to his joy, discovered that the gore on his chest was nothing more them the result from stabbing the troll in the foot. He chuckled to himself as he stood and expertly searched the room for loot. He recovered a few moderate pouches of gold coins and several gems. As he put the goods away, Fortis became aware of the sphere in the room. It was most definitely a dragon egg. Fortis guessed the goblins had been celebrating a successful raid on a dragon's hoard. He approached the egg and gazed into the shiny, mesmerizing shell. On impulse, he grabbed the egg and stuffed it into his pack before Turing and choosing a tunnel. As he ran down the tunnel, he hoped he wouldn't run into the egg's mother.