The first thing people would see as they signed in...was a bright light. And with that bright light, hundreds, thousands, of other lights swam in an inky black expanse, not unlike a star sitting amidst the sky.

The player, for lack of subtlety, was that star.

After focusing on it, as the game loaded up the world around it, the light would suddenly start to spin, and then bring it down onto the world around it, followed by a shower of other stars to show the other players currently loading it.

And then, they would find themselves in Mystra, the main hub world of the entire game. The starting point for all players. The beginning.

(Of course, they had a choice to load there, or where their character was last, but for lack of a better term Mystra was just an easier place to load in).

Loading in from the main capital building, the Church of Lorak (The "In-game" god of Magic) opened from a massive, blue portal of swirling energy. Led out into a hallway of bright white, flawless pearl pillars and huge archways, of which several statues could be seen.

THESE statues were some of the more important, lively, and influential players in the game. One such, a Dwarven Fighter/Barbarian who managed to discover, fight, and clear the entire underground nation of Bilkak, which, once upon a time was a monster-infested swamp that even the creator almost thought too much, was now a thriving mining village where the entire continent got their rare and magical metals for trade and smelting. Another, a pure-blood Paladin, who managed to defeat the seemingly unstoppable "Broken one" in a literal two-day long battle that, after his defeat, conquered the first layer of the Hell Layers for safe player travel, and for grinding.

Such as the true exploits the players in this game could achieve.

Stepping out they would be met with the thriving city of Mystra, where magic, technology, and old-fashioned hard work blended together in perfect harmony. Floating zeppelins, held together by machines and steam, propelled by magic, and manned by human hand, flew through the air at quick, yet contained, speeds. Carriages run by metal horses zipped through the streets for players to use to get to locations even easier than simply walking.

The market side was lined with both NP Cs and Player characters, the NP Cs selling the most basic equipment for the players that need something quick or simple, and everyone needs a basic sword at some point right? Even if you can make potions that heal all your health, those potions are still needed for the base after all.

The player characters, however...

"Rare orc drop, tusk tooths! Got them for 21 gold, an absolute steal! By two, get both for 35 gold!"

"POWERFUL DROP OF MINOTAUR BOSS ON 22ND LEVEL OF TOWER, NEED TO BE PART FIGHTER TO USE, 300 GOLD PIECES!"

"GET YOUR MEGA POTIONS! MEGA POTIONS, DIRT CHEAP! DON'T ASK WHERE I GOT EM, AIN'T IMPORTANT!"

It was still a video game after all. And from Video Games...

Well, the internet lovingly dubbed them "R-Tubers."

"Hey! What is UP, my fellow Ragnarockers!? This is ya girl, Tiffy-Z-" Started the girl with bleach blonde hair, bright green eyes, huge angelic wings that spread out a good three feet off her body, wearing bright silver armor with glowing runes embedded in it, a flaming sword at her side.

"And Zelda-K-" Came to another voice from the side, another female but this one with an entire snake lower body, bright red eyes, even darker red hair, wearing bracelets of multiple colors, and holding a staff with a bright red orb on the top of it, held between two bright white arches.

"Coming at you with some RAGNAROK NEWS!" They both cheered, as the people in the game politely gave them a wide berth to walk around.

"In today's update folks looks like our great and lovely AI in the Sky, Aie, has deemed the eastern forests a "No Fly" zone, by which I mean no players are allowed in! Apparently, due to an attempt of mixing a few potions, a few players ended up making a bit of a...well, new monster race."

"But don't you worry, players! Those'll be ready in a few days! She just needs to stat them is all!" Zelda-K pipped up with a laugh.

"Speaking of AI, did you get your news in the Inventory? Check it if you can! It's a free one-time attempt at the Tower of Pillars!"

"How fun! Maybe a bustling place! Remember, only proper team and squadmates allowed!"

"No randos in Ragnarok!" They both chorused, waving their fingers disapprovingly.

"In addition, drop rates are hot, hot, hot for the Flare Hounds in the south! Do you need something for your potions, weapons, or something like that? Now's the time, rockers!"

"Now onto the Gossip side!" Tiffy began, pulling out a pair of glasses and slipping them on her nose, pulling up a digital board from her wrist. "Ooo! This one is good! There may be information that the guild called "The Brilliant Aces"-"

"That's one of the oldest guilds in the entire game for all you newbies out there-" Zelda pipped up, sticking her head into the shot only for Tiffy to push her away.

"May have been located in the West and North West? Apparently, a pair of players known as-" She looked at the names. "Harly Queen and Zelphie, are on their way to what they assume to be..." She gasped. "One of their god weapons! OH, how exciting! We'll keep you updated on either their bright, shining victory-"

"Or their utter, crushing defeat!"

"That's all for the Ragnarok News!"

"See you tomorrow!"

"TTFN!"

"Tata for now!"

And they quickly logged out of the game.

Such was the life in Ragnarok Online.

Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?

MarchHare

March logged onto Ragnarok Online at the exact time that she always does. Like clockwork, she logs in to her Avatar and starts off her time in the game doing the same old daily quests. She gathered materials, killed some mobs, and talked to certain NPCs, all for the same quest rewards that she'd get on every other day.

A lot of people hated the grind, but March found that its a good time to relax and let her conditioned reflexes do the rest. Still, as she wandered around Mystra getting her errands done, she kept an ear out for any new developments in the game.

You never knew where opportunity would come from, after all!

Edited by drearyArchon on Aug 15th 2022 at 8:57:07 PM

Everyone's just doing the best that they can.

VoR0N: Mystra

Although it was the starting hub, Mystra was Voron's favourite place to load into. Due to their gameplay style being so tense and dangerous, what with them focusing entirely on sneaking around enemies or dispatching them without being seen, it was nice to unwind in a safe zone where they knew they didn't have to worry about getting aggro'd so easily. Mystra's forgiving nature had made it Voron's home in the game, and she'd even claimed a small apartment near the outskirts where she could easily travel to and from the city. As of right now, she was repairing her gear at a blacksmith's, along with considering some aesthetic changes.

After some consideration, she decided to break up her character's all-black colour scheme with some reddish-browns in the hood and the cape, as well as add some more minor details and textures to her outfit in general. She also altered her character's hairstyle from a short pixie cut to a longer length with some braids, which she felt made the hair more visible and interesting to look at.

It was mostly for herself, at the end of the day. She was somewhat shy around people in the game, even though she remained thoroughly in-character for the most part. Having the excuse of being an aloof rogue didn't make the awkward parts of social interaction any less real, however. She was glad she was able to hide behind her character, though. It made things feel more... right. Not just her being weird in real life. It had a justified reason in her game persona too.

Still, she wondered if she should get involved with a guild sometime. It could be fun to feel part of a group. She could actually get friends and stuff. But that'd require making conversation with someone. She knew she wasn't one to initiate interaction with other players. Maybe someone could initiate it with her. But that felt farfetched.

She'd hoped that perhaps by playing well and with her own niche in sneaking she could get a reputation for being a decent stealth player. But though she did feel somewhat respected in a broad sense, she hadn't heard many people talking about her. Maybe she needed to work harder to break into the higher social rankings.

Maybe a guild was what she needed to get there. Not the other way around, like she'd been trying to do this whole time.

Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 24th 2022 at 7:05:11 PM

bork

Runicas fan Raem - Logged In

Starting in Mystra was nothing new for Runi, in fact he preferred it.

Every day, he’d take his time walking through the portal, taking in the delicate textures of the church, then to the hallway lined with statue.

And every day, he’s say the same thing.

“One day, my statue will be here. Look out, Mystra! Here comes your hero!”

He knew he drew a few looks and laughs from players new and those wizened to his antics.

“Runicas fan Raem, setting out!”

---

Similarly, he didn’t know why he bothered with some R-Tubers, but hey, free news is free news.

And a free attempt at the Tower? Sounds right up his alley! (Never mind he usually ran out of steam three floors in)

Runi takes to the streets, trying to find willing participants.

The Crimson Idiot

Star spawns in...and promptly combusts into flames as his protection isn't covering him up.

   "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"   

Quickly reaching behind him, he flips his protective cloth over his head, shielding him as the fire is put out in an instant and he starts to regenerate. "Damn game, ADD A TARP OVER SPAWN WHY DON'T YOU!?" He grumbles as he makes his way over to the quest board, looking for anything that would suit his expertise. He needs a lot of money to complete his personal goal of finally conquering the sun, so then he can conquer the sun!...that is, he wants to stop burning up in the sun so he can do badass things in the day. If only there were some way to make fat stacks of cash and materials...maybe he could party? But then they'd just laugh at him for being a sheet ghost again. Each time he logs in he's tempted to just make a new character, but now the only thing keeping him going is spite. Spite for the players who laugh at him each time he spawns in. Spite for the fools he believe he'll fail. He'll show them, or he isn't Star the Bloodlord, champion of red, the ruler of the world! Hehehehehe, hehehahahahahaha!!!

And then he caught on fire again because someone flipped up his protection. More screaming ensued before he was back on his way.

Is it really a hammerspace if it doesn't have a hammer?

Mystra

It had been a long hard road from the tutorial area but now she was here in the main hub zone. The city of Mystra, capital of whatever the fictional government of the game world was and now an elf whose roleplay profile said was a dragon was here! She stumbled into the city because the tutorials had been an exhausting slog, wandering past the statues of players that she hadn't bothered to check the stories of and attuning to the central travel whatsit by just pressing her head against it and emitting a low tired groan.

The tutorial was hellish, a long sequence of fights where she blew up herself a few times, figured out her tanking ability rooted her movement and her skeletons were of very little help. But she got through it! Now she could... She looked around, trying to figure out which of the numerous figures was supposed to give the main story quest. None of them were really standing out, might be time to ask.

"Hey where's the quest guy?" the elf spoke, voice clipping a little and buzzing with what was either terrible mic quality or some manner of pitch alteration software.

It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.

And so as the people of Mystra began their day, the grind, as it was so eloquently called, very few noticed the young man who less "walked" in and more "skulked" in from the portal.

His hair a jet black, his eyes a dull grey, his clothing just as dark and seemed to almost fragment and flicker off him like it was some kind of living flames. A flaming halo over his head of black flames. His right hand was covered in a thicker, more menacing-looking glove, marked with claws at the end of it, looking less like a glove and more like a detached demon's paw.

He idly pressed the air in front of him as a screen popped up, then he pressed the "NEW MESSAGES!" notification in the corner. In it, a video popped up of a girl with bright pink hair, bright blue eyes and a white flowing gown. She grinned and waved at the screen.

"Hello...um..." She pulled up a piece of paper. "...Lord Necross...? Alright yeah that's your name! Just wanted to send you a message and let you know, your temporary ban is not officially lifted! Hooray!" She gestured and confetti fell from the top of the screen. "Now we've kept an eye on your particular class combination and we can tell you now, you've been nerfed to prevent you from breaking the game like it again! So play fair, and play safe, and we hope you can continue to play Ragnarok Online!"

Necross sneered a little bit and rolled his eyes, swiping his hand through the air and breaking the screen. "Yeah, right. Now I can at least get back to work."

The paw on his hand began to glow and he looked through the swaths of new players, old and new. He scanned the higher-ranked players before his eyes fell onto a younger player with extremely simple items. Perfect. Just low enough for him to...

He reached up and gestured with his hand to the young man. Who blinked in surprise and looked down...

"Ah, not a bad set of stats...but...that class I could definitely use..."

He pulled his hand back, and the young man gasped as he fell to his knees, holding his chest. Out of his back came a swirling blue orb about the size of a baseball, and it floated quickly over to Necross' hand, which he smirked and nodded.

"People will pay good money for a Wizard class." He smirked, and started to stuff it into his pocket-

"Hey!"

His eyes went wide, and he looked over his shoulder at an orc standing a bit away, talking to one of his other guild mates and narrowing his eyes.

"What did you just take from him!?"

The entire church was silent, as Necross looked over his shoulder and around slowly-

And then he ran.

"HEY!" The orc shouted. "SOMEONE STOP HIM! THIEF! HE JUST STOLE SOMETHING FROM A NEW PLAYER!"

Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?

VoR0N: Mystra

It was difficult not to hear the orc player's screaming, and as Voron glanced over to check what was going on her brows furrowed and her lips pressed tightly together. Was that... normal? She didn't remember any game mechanics that allowed the capture of weaker players' classes. Was this guy an exploiter? Hacker? Or was she simply out of touch with the game...?

Either way, this was meant to be a starting zone, so that was a pretty dickish move. Nevermind that she was pretty sure it was also a protected zone, so how had the guy even one that...? Regardless, Voron dropped what she was doing and ran at full sprint after the guy, pushing past some of the other players as she pulled out her knife and began to charge it with ki. If she could get a backstab on this idiot, it'd be a hell of an initial crit hit. If not, well. She had high agility, hopefully she could outpace the guy.

Unless he was already specced into sneaking and acrobatics. In which case, if he'd multiclassed into something stronger than her, she was probably screwed. But as much as she played up the whole lone wolf thing, she couldn't exactly ignore someone basically getting their account stolen. That somewhat transcended the whole RP thing.

Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 24th 2022 at 7:04:57 PM

bork

=MarchHare=

March was turning in a quest into one head priest in the church when it happened. What sort of asshole stole from newbie players?

Thinking quickly, March activated one of her Time Domain abilities, trying to slow down the thief before he could get away. The thief probably had pretty high DEX if he had a Rogue class like that, but March's own DEX is nothing to scoff at, and she had plenty of practice using her Domain powers against agile enemies.

Everyone's just doing the best that they can.

Mystra was for losers. That was what Dzordzea Velks would always have told you. She'd have said so back when her chosen spawning-in point was the central atrium of Triple F's vast guild hall, and even now, with her connection to Triple F long severed, she would say so. Mystra was a newbie's paradise, but it held nothing for one as experienced as herself. Even if she was newbie-tier in terms of level now.

And yet, here she was, staring down the vast shadow of the Church of Lorak from afar. She had originally intended to lie low in the wilds of the beginner's continent, scavenge a little, maybe do an odd job here and there if she could be sure the questgiver wasn't in league with Triple F. She would rather Fosca not be alerted to her continued existence. But as it turned out, the area's sparseness made living rough unfeasible. Maybe she could have gotten away with it in higher-level, more resource-rich areas, but here, she had a choice between swallowing her pride and going to Mystra or dying. Having died once, she wasn't keen on trying it again.

The best she could hope for was that everyone there was too new to recognise her. If she was recognised, maybe Fosca wouldn't see Mystra as worth his time... but with an ego like his, she doubted it. She was threatening the noobs just by being here. The thought sent a slight pang through her cold undead heart.

So, the plan was simple. Don't hang around, get only what she needed, skedaddle quick. Try not to draw any attention to herself - which, in a world as weird as Ragnarok, was easier than you'd think for a raggedy masked undead. Easy enough, right? It was just Mystra...

be nice to benjamin it's not his fault he got beat up by a microbe

Mystra - The Thief Of Classes

Strun was waiting for a reply to her question when suddenly things got loud after some edgelordy-looking player wandered into the city and uh... Stole something off of them?

"Hey hold up! What did you just do?"

Strun started running, trying to chase the guy. She was probably incredibly out of her depths both statistically any also because this guy might be able to steal metaphysical game concepts like classes, but like hell was she going to let someone steal something and maybe hack the game without at least getting a good enough look at his username.

"How do I report a player for noob stealing and possibly cheating!?"

However, people with much better Dex were already in pursuit and kind of outpacing Strun quite a bit...

It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.

Necross - Mystra

Necross dashed as quickly down the bustling street as possible, his eyes focused forward as he pushed over PC and NPC alike, panting as he did. This was fine. This was all totally fine. All he needed to do was get out of the confines of Mystra, and get to this...ahem, special location, no one seemed to have found that yet and drop off the class, and the claw. Once he did that, well, it didn't matter if he got banned, he could make a new account, collect the glove, collect the class and get back into the business of-

Wait, why was he slowing down?

The blue aura of the Slow debuff had swallowed him and his movement had dropped down to a damn near crawl. Once his foot hit the ground, he'd need to activate one of his abilities to remove any debuff from his person and get back to work-

"OH MOTHERFU-"

Until a dagger drove directly into his back, Ki was empowered and everything. His eyes went wide and his vision went white, as that one attack damn near dropped him to half his health! Heart hammering and adrenaline pumping, he gestured behind him and attempted to use-

Soul Rip: A Necromancer Thief with this ability can make a Magical Attack on a player currently engaged in combat and deal Spiritual Damage to them. Heal for half Damage inflicted on enemies. (Cooldown: 25 Seconds).

Necross wasn't meant for one on one combat. He was a hit-and-run thief who stole the spoils of war when no one was looking, so the fact someone was ABLE to get a hold of him was very, very bad. He needed to get out of there, and FAST. But given that not only was someone on him, but someone was slowing him down, this had turned very, very troublesome indeed.

Is it selfish that I'm happy as we pass the setting sun?

Skuller_B0nes

She was busy selling dead wolf fur to one of the NPC, she has logged into the hub for some time to grind in some levels and gold maybe the next level could make her leech move heal her more even if it is just a bit, as she turns back to take the gold from the NPC's hands and pocketing them, she takes her staff off her back, the said staff was just any other wooden staff with some golden rings on them.

So what's the next tool for her necromancer class, she thinks to herself looking around for something to buy or trade, she puts the staff back on her back and walks away to see if she has any out-of-game luck to find one before some black haired guy pushed her, as she falls to the ground, she yells out shaking her fist "Watch it asshole!" she yells out before seeing another player's running after the man, see this and the XP she could get from this PVP, she runs along with the others before stopping to see someone taking a hit from the man as well as the said man has slowed down and has fallen with a dagger in his back, she just stands there looking down at the man.

"You don't mind if I just..." she says before her right hand begins to glow with darkness and aims at the man "Leech that little bit off you mate," she says laughing a bit before seeing the others running in "Yo," she says waving her left hand at the others as her right as still aiming at the fallen man.

Edited by This on Aug 24th 2022 at 12:26:27 PM

I don’t want to hear anything. I don’t want to see anything, or speak anything…

VoR0N: Mystra

Ah, crap. Counterattack. She'd gotten the backstab off at least, so she couldn't help but grin a little. Alas her HP was pathetic, so the Soul Rip knocked her down to under half health due to her brief sneak attack defense penalty. Her delight in minmaxing, even if it meant taking on certain perks with health drawbacks, had backfired at this point. She'd probably swap it out later on, sacrificing crit damage for a more stable healthbar. Oh, well.

She retreated. What else? Other players had rushed in, and she wasn't going to risk a death right now. So she allowed the others to swarm the guy, and popped a health potion just in case. So this was some kind of hacker, or exploiter. Figures...

"You're pawning this off, huh...?" she questioned the hacker in a husky tone, her voice sounding somewhat gravelly and mildly pitch-shifted. "Mr. 'OH MOTHERFU-'? Jeez, that's dumb. Hey, you think if we kill his avatar he'll lose that class he stole?"

Voron had parroted the guy as she quoted his exclamation, using his brief voice clip against him as humiliation. It was her favourite feature of the chirrup race, and she grinned slightly afterwards. Huh. It felt kinda... good to gang up on someone. Okay, not the someone part, but more the gang part...

"Maybe I do need a guild..." she muttered aloud, tapping her foot idly as she considered it.

Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 27th 2022 at 5:57:25 PM

bork

Runi - Let’s fight a man!

Oh boy was today getting interesting.

Nobody wanted to join him for a tower run, but now a thief was running about?

By the time Runicas arrived at the scene, the thief had been attacked and had begun a counterattack!

“You know, I would have said something about taking this outside of town, but it seems you all started the fun without me.”

The red clad warrior shrugs, chuckling, before hefting the massive steel blade from his back.

“Now then, let me show you what happens when a Hero gets involved!”

Runi rushes forward, starting a two hit combo of a shoulder barge into a vertical slash with his weapon.

MarchHare

March kept up debuffing the thief, slowing them down as much as she could. In between debuff cycles, she activates the other half of her Domain and grants buffs to the other players.

Accelerado to speed up the DPS and help them dodge attacks and Time Heals All Wounds to give regeneration to those wounded.

Everyone's just doing the best that they can.

Dzordzea had hoped the clanging and shouting she heard as she approached Mystra's central district wasn't what she thought it was. Alas, it was. So much for popping in and out without any fuss. And apparently this edgelord-looking fuck was a class-stealing hacker too? Great. This wasn't just any fight, it was a fight she had a moral obligation to take part in - both as the in-character enemy of those who exploited the weak, and as a real person with a dim view of those who broke her immersion by cheating.

Her speed and stealth... they weren't as bad as they could have been. Still, one DEX wasn't much better than zero DEX. With the miscreant slowed down as much as he was, though, a Malvincian slime turtle could've caught up to him. The eerie-looking masked figure strides out of the shadowed alleys, plants the fingertips of her right hand on Necross's forehead and, with what can only be described as a flash of darkness, her Death's Touch fires off.

be nice to benjamin it's not his fault he got beat up by a microbe

Mystra - Pile On!

Strun managed to catch up the ongoing brawl and kind of lingered at the edge, watching the ongoing fight. This was high-level player versus player combat going on here and she really did not feel confident running in there just in case this thief guy had some kind of area damage ability and of course breaking out her ranged option would just cause damage to everyone because she had no clue how to invite everyone except the thief to a party.

"Woo! Go, beat up that guy! Uh... If that counts as abusive language then sorry!"

It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.