Life After the Apocalypse

Grace replies to Raquel, "It’s not that you did anything wrong. It was self-defense and—knowing she didn’t actually die—Serena deserved it.

"It just… I couldn’t…" She hesitates a moment. "…look, there’s a reason The Three Graces broke up. A reason Belle and I broke up. It turns out wine and bong hits and living together don’t combine well.

"The 23-year-old me had never abused substances, never verbally and emotionally abused a girlfriend, never had a girlfriend." Grace’s voice chokes, but even as her eyes well, she powers through the confession. "And when I entered this game—really looking like the me from my 2001 album cover—I felt like I was in a dream I didn’t wanna wake from.

"It’s like I hacked life, and got the second chance I don’t actually deserve. I got my innocence back." A tear falls. "I was afraid. Like if I hurt a real person, I’d become the Me that I…"

She thinks about the best word to sum up how she truly feels about herself as of one year ago:

"…hate."

Raquel listens quietly to Grace’s confession. When the tear rolls down the bard’s cheek, the assassin instinctually reaches out to wipe it away. Raquel is surprised by her own impulsive gesture, and again surprised by the feel of Grace’s warm, soft cheek under her own soft finger.

"Sorry," she says quickly, turning to hide her blush. "It’s just that... We’ve all been given a second chance here, for better or for worse. Who you were before, your past actions, they don’t define you. You get to choose who you’re going to be. And I’m sure you won’t choose to become version of yourself that you don’t like.

"This time will be different. This time you have me—er, you have all of us to catch you and pull you back if you start to fall."

Raquel turns back to Grace, offering her a hopeful smile.

Grace warms up at Raquel’s touch, and the words elicit a small, ponderous smile.

"Second chances… that’s a good approach, Raquel. Maybe, if we put it that way to Serena, she’ll see we’re not enemies, but fellow prisoners in this game just trying to make the best of it."

After a pause: "I mean, if we put it that way in the No-PvP zone where she can’t shoot us in the face."

MOUND CITY
City Zone | Eusa Server
Monsters: No | PvP: No | Skill Use: Yes
Entry Restriction: none

>>>The dregs of the Adventurers were herded towards the City Gates, leaving the 'returners' and the SolverOath Brotherhood guild members out in the Dead Zone. The SOB's were busy retrieving whatever items and loot drops remained on the battlefield while their GuildMaster spoke with the 'returners'.
>>>The Status Box popped up as the group made their way slowly towards the City Gates. Grace and Raquel conversed in the lead as everyone else followed at a slower pace behind them. Music began to play as they crossed over the Zone Boundary.

---

>>>"I think we're all fine..." BradL33 answered Calamity as the group all gathered together again. He marvelled up at the giant magical redwood towering above the former battlefield. "Got close to losing a couple of us but we pulled through by the skin of our teeth. If it was just us out here, I think we woulda got picked off pretty quick. Those guys deal A LOT of damage... Thanks for checking in with us."

>>>"Bunch damned pricks..." Piphany offered, putting away her scythe. "I am DONE getting pushed around. DONE being somebody's punching bag or ashtray. That bitch got what she had comin'..." Piphany could be intense at times but still held a very pointed grudge against Serena...and probably the rest of her crew.

>>>"I couldn't tell you much about Tabitha but if she's running with Serena I'd swing clear of her outside the City." Malbraith answered Calamity frankly as she asked about the midnight colored Catfolk Sorcerer. "BradL33? No..." he looked around at those that had stayed behind to try to answer Calamity's more direct, less rhetorical question. "Don't think we've ever met before, exactly. Hard to tell, though... There's quite a few people I've run into that were logged in under Alt characters I didn't recognize right away." The concept of Identity was a little more fluid under the current circumstances. "No thanks needed for stepping in. Everything was completely out of control and that's one more thing we didn't need to add to the problems we already have. Listen, I've got to get together with some people before the meeting. It'd be helpful if you and the rest of your friends could be there. Guild Building in an hour?"" he asked as he stepped away towards some of his Guildmates as they waited nearby.

>>>"Ayoo, thanks for stepping in back there and helping us out. Solid Proper Clutch of ya, mate." Guy plopped his hand on Maximum's shoulder pauldron. "The way we were split up, there was no way I'd be able to get anywhere near those arseholes without losing most of us. Sorry about your wolfy mate, tho..."

---

>>>The girl looked troubled, wanting to help the portly Catfolk but not really knowing where to step in. " Immortal? " she said the word as if it was in a foreign language. "Well, yeah, I guess that's what we are... No real death, only pain and suffering. That's horrible." She twisted the haft of her bow in her hands anxiously. "I heard it's really bad in other player cities. PK guilds going wild, big guilds running out everyone who won't join them. Now it's starting to happen here. Wish I'd never logged in..."

---

>>>The young Druid rounded everyone together, "I'll go drop all the loot and stuff in the Bank. We can figure out what we do with it all later. I just don't feel like wandering around with all this stuff is exactly safe, even in town." he paused in case anyone had an objection or alternate idea. "Mound City isn't as big as a lot of the other player cities but it's a whole different thing navigating from eye level and without a functioning mini-map. The Guild Building contains the Bank, it's the big black glass building next to river. The Cathedral is pretty obvious, it's the giant white church looking building nearby the Guild Building. There's a giant tree with silver white colored bark at the center of town. That's the Silver Leaf Beam Tree. You can probably see at least the top of it all the way across town. Since it's really visible, let's all meet there in a bit. I think we should take this Malbraith guy up on his offer and go to that meeting. Anybody that doesn't feel like going can wait at the Tree for us and we'll find someplace to hold up for tonight. Sound good?"

"You and me both," he muttered. Even his voice sounded different, a low gravelly rumble that threatened to end every sentence. He supposed he hadn't had enough time or conversation to notice. "Frankly, I don't believe it, and I don't intend to find out."

He watched the people from the wilderness file past through the gate. He did not cut a striking figure, still awkwardly turning the staff in his hand, unable to find whatever hidden catch let it collapse down to size. They looked a little shaken, but not terribly worse for wear. Physically, anyways. He had to wonder, how had they come into being out in the wilderness?

Was there anyone who hadn't made it?

"You have friends in other cities then?"

As the dust settled, the hulking dwarf fell into line with the others. He glared at the stupid pirate for a moment, but then took a deep breath. Max had been trying to learn to deal with the stress in his real life, playing the game for a few hours was supposed to help him relax. Now the game was his life, at least for the short term, and the stress was way more than trying to figure out how to pay the rent.

He let the breath out - or did he. Max laughed, a deep rumbling laugh which in no way matched his real self. A line from the Matrix he remembered - "Do you think that's air you're breathing now?" he said quietly. Was it, probably not. He shook is massive head, his beard rippling almost like a mane as he looked around the city. "There is no spoon." Max thought that would be his life motto for a while in this new world.

Max is jarred from his own thoughts as Guy thanks him. "No problem. Never liked seeing people get pushed around. Wasn't right as a game, certainly not right now. Must say that lightning hurts a hell of a lot more than I expected it would."

He looked around at the group - "You guys spawned out there in the wilds?" he paused to consider what the past day had been like in the city. "Is it nice? Seems like maybe would be better to find an isolated place away from the city. Lower density of pricks. Hard to leave the city, if you die near by, you end up back where you started."

Grace pauses as a particularly large cat and a particularly large man voice curiosity about where she and others came from.

"Not in the wild, exactly, but outside a small town called…" She has a partly-bemused, partly-defeated look as she glances at Raquel, who now knows of the karmic coincidence: her ex and the town she spawned by share the name, "Belle.

"A lovely town—one I thought a medieval farmland. The NPCs were actually afraid of adventurers, but us… players, I guess?—we never had a thought to take advantage of being more powerful than the civilians. We ended up defeating a Level 24 monster called King Triffid. We just assumed death was permanent.

"I guess it’s for the best, since those PK mobs had to have gambled with people’s lives before having any way of knowing they’d come back."Grace has some very strong opinions about the PK’ers, but she’d rather not fuel the well-earned outrage directed at Serena and Mr. Boaty, in case there’s a change the guild meeting can calm things.

"I’m Grace, by the way." She smiles and curtsies (even though it’s obvious that the setting is post-post-apocalyptic, meaning society is more centuries away from curtsying than Real Life. It’s still probably bard-appropriate though).

"I'm Raquel," the assassin says, offering her hand to Maximum to shake. "Waking up in an isolated area gave us a bit more time to adjust to this new reality before we had to worry about everything else. So, yeah, I guess 'nice' is a good enough word for it. It seems like things are going to be a lot more complicated from here on out, though."

The big dwarf nods, extending his giant hand in response, but moving very slowly. "I'm Max... I'm still getting used to the new size. Keep accidentally knocking people over if I turn to fast. Easier to see the big character in a Raid fight, but never thought I'd be living in it. Doorways are hell..."

"Starting in the city was rough, all those people talking at once... crying... it has settled a bit, but it was driving me crazy. Might have to go looking for that town of yours."

Grace says quietly, "It’s for the best the population in Belle is strictly NPCs. PvP is allowed there. Mound City’s the first place we’ve seen that forbids it." As soon as she says ‘PvP,’ Grace realizes she left out a detail. "—and monsters." (…which, at the moment, are not as terrifying to Grace as PK’ers.)

Contemplating Max’s telling, particularly about the crying, she responds, "I don’t understand why people saw misery, and thought more misery was the answer. Did these PK’ers consider that some of the players are children? Are they children? A name like ‘Mr. Boaty’ makes this a likely scenario."

---

>>>Inside the city gates is a little less devastated than outside. Most of the buildings seem to be mostly intact, although most of them lack windows or doors, and gave only minor structural failures. The closer to the city center, and the giant tree that dominates it, the buildings are readily functional and many hold businesses, boarding houses or -rarely- residences. Old medieval style picture boards hang outside business announcing their specialty; concentrating on them for just a moment opens a Status Box detailing the name and a bit about the establishment, however.
>>>There seem to be a good number of Inns and Taverns alongside the shops. Small vendor stalls that sell cosmetic clothing items, food and other minor items line the streets near the giant Silver Leaf Beam Tree.


>>>Meant to be a central 'set-piece' for a player city by the game designers, a Silver Leaf Beam Tree sits in the center of player cities. Game graphics, while really good, could never do justice to seeing it with a (presumably real) set of eyes. Impossibly large, the tree dominates its surroundings and makes navigating the city easier with such an easily recognizable landmark visible throughout the city.
>>>To the West of the plaza around the Silver Leaf Beam Tree squats a leering building of black marble and equally smoky glass. A bit anachronistic, the Guild Hall looks far more like a modern business building than pseudo-medieval architecture. A wide boulevard connects the Guild Building with the plaza surrounding the Silver Leaf Beam Tree.


>>>The Guild Building sits near the bank of the river and has terraces that overlook the river below. Since this building houses the Bank system and Guild Halls for what used to be the game, it is rare to find the area around it deserted.


>>>Just a bit to the north of both the Guild Building and the Silver Leaf Beam Tree plaza sits the Cathedral. Almost the diametric opposite of the Guild Building, the Cathedral is a brilliant white marble structure with tall, airy spires and lots of windows that let in the natural light. The bells of the Cathedral ring every time an Adventurer revives there and today they are ringing non-stop.

---

>>>"I would say grab some food or something..." BradL33 gestured around at the vendor stalls around the Tree as they arrived. "But what's the point, right? It all tastes like crap. Anyway, I'll dump everything in my Bank and be back. Let's all meet back here in a bit in front of this melon stand?" The stand he referred to was little more than a wagon with a canopy staked out like an awning to shield customers (but more likely the melons) from the warm sun. The farm girl at the stand blushed and looked away as the Adventurers reflexively looked her way.


>>>"Lower density of pricks, sure, but there's a lower density of everything else too. Just an Apothecary and, I dunno, maybe a Blacksmith?" the orange haired Sorcerer added to the conversation between Max and Grace. "Piphany had a nickname for it... um, Mayhew? Mulberry?" he guessed.

>>>"Mayberry..." she interjected, assuming (probably correctly) that Arga was too young to even get the reference. "Eagle Scout here..." she nodded towards BradL33 "...thinks that if we stayed around one of those villages too long that we'd be drawing the monsters to it. Places like that don't seem to be able to keep out monsters like this place does."


>>>"If no one minds, I'd like to look to replacing my Tome that was destroyed in the fight with that Triffid monster." the big Sorcerer said politely. "I'll not wander far. I'm eager to hear what is to be said about what just happened." There was a good chance the big Sorcerer was also wanting to look through the faces of the Adventurers in the City hoping to find his son.


>>>The girl trailed along behind the Party, continuing to chat with the tubby Catfolk Enchanter. "Yeah. It's kinda crazy to think that you can't die. Not, like, die-die..." She hesitated a moment before continuing,"And it's hard to get hurt too. Like, bad hurt, anyway. It's so hard to believe even after you see it happen." She looked away, as if trying to shake a memory that had come to her unbidden.
>>>As if to change the subject her mind had conjured up, she summoned up enough of her courage to step up to everyone. "Excuse me but...I just wanted to say that not everyone here is terrible. Um, I'm glad you guys made it to the City." she clearly looked a little sheepish talking to everyone. "Well, that's all I guess. I just didn't want you guys thinking this place is terrible. I mean, it is. Right now, anyways but like, welcome, I guess..." The delivery was halting and awkward but heartfelt. She looked over to the rotund Catfolk beside her for some kind of reassurance.


>>>"Oh, hey. Another Enchanter..." Tina noticed Tabby beside the young archer. "Oh man, somebody else crazy enough to pick this Class!"

"Uh..." Tabby reacted with some surprise as Grace addressed him, his head lifting from his task for just a moment, just in time for her attention to turn, leaving him a bit in the lurch. He glanced back and forth between the other catfolk and the newcomers, seeing the contrail following after them.

For all his high perch, the conflict certainly seemed to have gone over his head. He had been just another talking head, shouting into the abyss. He certainly hadn't felt invited to whatever meeting the guild bigwigs were trying to arrange. But his conversation seemed to be moving. Reluctantly, his feet shuffled to follow. Not quite willing to let go of the moment of social connection.

And yet, the conversation turned... very grim. First, he had definitely been a child when he came up with the name. And second, well, he wasn't sure his thoughts on death would really add any levity to the situation. But before he could formulate a more tactful response, the conversation pivoted again. And now he was on the spot.

One meaty paw covered his face and he let out a sigh. "Yeah it's.... not my main." He shrugged, a little helplessly. "It's been a rough couple days but this is the first attempted murder as far as I know. But the guards keep things in line inside the walls."

Grace looks around. The Guild Hall looks like the EvilCo Corporate HQ. The Cathedral looks like the perfect place for a wedding.

When the adorable catgirl and catboy reply, Grace seems comforted by the fact that killing doesn’t (in fact, can’t) happen in the city. Plus, Arellia and Tabby Fatts seem nice (though being a cat-lover, Grace is biased).

"How about we take a look at the Cathedral before the meeting? It looks beautiful…"

…and she hopes to see Serena there.

"Sure, let's go check it out," Raquel says. She reaches for Grace's hand without even realizing it.

Max looked around at the main area. Having started in the city, Max had walked the entire circle around the tree a number of times, using the path to center himself. The scale of the buildings was certainly different from the perspective of the street than the normal game vantage point.

The hulking dwarf found a comfortable spot near the melon stand to wait for the others to do a little bit of exploring. He considered the comment about services at the small town. "Not sure what we need anymore, the gear grind and farming loop were developed for a game, not certain running on that cycle will be worth it if this is our life now. Guess attracting monsters to the town would suck. Must be peaceful to be an NPC with none of us around to trigger stuff to happen."

He looked over at the melon girl, "I guess I'll take a melon. Do you ever get tired of selling melons? Do you go home at night or just sell melons all the time? Where do the melons come from or do you always have plenty no matter how much you sell?"

Max was not sure if the answers mattered. Taking his melon, be sat down, broke it open with his garbage training sword, and chewed robotically through what he expected to taste like crap.

"Thank you Master Malbraith, I feel much better knowing someone like you is helping to try and make order out of all of this," Colin spreads his arms wide to encompass, well, everything. He isn't really expecting a response, and doesn't get one as the man is concentrating on staring down the PvPers; so he collects Talon from the air, smoothing down his feathers and showering him with praise before returning him to his dormant state. Then he shrugs at the others and starts heading back towards the map marker.

---

>>>Given the freedom to go their own ways, several members of the group wandered off, either alone or in pairs, to explore the area around what could be called the 'city center'. Arga and Piphany wandered off to look over the vendor stalls, Guy went in search of drinks, BradL33 headed towards the Guild Building, Fren the Fox-Tail followed along behind Grace and Raquel as they went to see the Cathedral.

---

>>>The girl blinked a couple of times, unsure whether to actually answer Max's questions or if the big Dwarf were just talking to talk. Figuring she might as well be polite to the man since he'd bought one of her melons, she spoke up. "I do have a home, you know. It's not around the City; I stay with my grandmother when I take the wagon to town. Otherwise I live at the farm where my father and brothers grow the things I sell here in the city." She hoped that might satisfy the man's curiosity. "No one's really asked about any of that before. People like you... Adventurers, I mean. You don't usually ask too many questions. Just buy things and go."
>>>The melon she hands Max has a mild, fruity and citrus-like flavor to it, unlike the weird wet-cardboard consistency most other food items have. It's not the greatest thing Max has ever tasted but by comparison it's at least palatable. "Some things, like the melons, have become very popular since yesterday. Since there were suddenly so many more of you Adventurers around. I may sell out again." It felt like maybe she was fishing for information but maybe it was just small talk..

---

>>>The inside of the Cathedral building was spectacular, if a bit overcrowded. The high ceilings made the space cool despite the number of people inside the structure. Bells pealed somewhere from above although they remained hidden from sight. Apparently, the ringing of the bells signalled the revival of an Adventurer and had been ringing for some time since the brawl out in the Dead Zone. The crowds stood deep around the rooms at the nave of the building and seemed to be where the resurrections were taking place.


>>>"Oh! You're the ones that were getting PK'd!" a voice called from nearby. "I recognize the red hair..." It was the Wolf-Fang Swashbuckler Tabitha had killed for rushing to their aid. For someone who had been recently dead, the big furball didn't seem to much the worse for wear. "I wasn't much help... Straight up noob move getting ahead of the Tank. You guys...um, come in through the Cathedral or did you make it through the battle?"

---

>>>"Well, we definitely got the short end of the stick. I don't even have a main..." the elf explained to Tabby. "I was trying to make tutorial videos for YouTube on how to play Elder Tales and picked 'Enchanter' to start with because I figured it'd get more views because it's so f'ing hard to play..." She sat down cross-legged on the ground waiting for Guy to return. "Enchanter has a pick rate of something like 0.5% so there's definitely not many around. You just get stuck in an Alt character or is there another reason you picked Hard Mode?"

Grace is blissfully holding hands with Raquel as she walks into the Cathedral…

When Brophy approaches, she replies to him, "I walked in here on my own, but it’s you I have to thank for that. The other noobs—I’m one myself so I can say it—followed your example. It’s actually Serena, the archer who started the attack, who will appear when the bell tolls. I mean, if she hasn’t appeared already."

But Serena isn’t here now, as far as Grace can see. So she asks Brophy’s perspective. "Why do you think they do it? If high-level players want action, there must be monsters that can give them whatever items and money and excitement they want.

"How are people… well… how are you dealing with… y’know, neighbors who think nothing of attacking you since you ‘don’t really die?’" Grace has some strong feelings, and Raquel can probably feel the tension in Grace’s hand as she briefly stops talking.

She tries not to ask a loaded question. She wants Brophy’s opinion, not a validation of her own. "If you don’t mind my asking, what is it like to be ‘killed?’"

Raquel is pleased when Grace doesn’t pull away from her hand. She allows herself a small smile as they enter the Cathedral together.

Since Grace has already asked some of the questions Raquel is curious about, she stays quiet for now, simply giving the bard’s hand a reassuring squeeze when she feels it tense up.

He watched the throng dissolved somewhat. He took the opportunity to rest his legs. With a grunt he pulled himself up onto a collapsed chunk of a road barrier, stretching his stubby legs. A brief self-assessment revealed only an uncomfortable crackling in his fur from the near-miss by the lightning strike. He brushed his arms and legs, jolting a bit as he tried to coax out the static electricity.

"Well, if you want to know rotations for monks specced to off-tank during the one point four point eight raid season, I'm your guy. SoxRoxxors poked their noses into some top ten lists back in the day. But the cap was, like, fifty-five back then. What is it now... ninety? Wasn't it supposed go go up with this big two-point-oh?"

"Imagine those fuckin' gankers with a seven foot tall dude ripped out of his mind and ten levels above them taking them to school." He looked down at himself. Barely half that height and, well, the only thing likely to be ripped was his pants. He sighed.

"I thought I deleted my whole account. I just... ..forgot this character even existed. I just heard there was going to be a big patch, had some free time, and wanted to poke my head in again. Dick around the old stomping ground for a few hours, look at the shiny new graphics."

He picked up a rock, balancing it in his hand, then tossed it carelessly across the road. It bounced convincingly on the broken pavement, kicking up tiny pieces of gravel before settling in an ancient pothole. "Pretty fuckin' high rez, huh. I can smell my graphics card melting."