---

Kit strode quickly away from the town as quickly as he could, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. His level was clearly a bit high for this area, and it showed at how fast he was able to traverse the plains. He remembered beta testing this area a few weeks ago, it was definitely a great starting area for the game. The enemies weren't too strong, but offered a decent enough challenge to learn the ins and outs of each individual class. This is where players came to develop their skills and begin their wondrous, and now horrible, journey through the game.

Nearing the tower, Kit stopped to scan the area around the suspected dungeon tower. The tower itself loomed up into the night like a beacon, high above anything else in the surrounding areas. Sam could feel a bit of the strain in Kit's neck as he stretched up trying to glimpse the top of the tower. He could only see one entrance, but the back of the tower was out of sight at the moment. He'd have to circle around for a better view.

Before he set off again, there was a noise and a Deranged critter appeared to block his way. The creatures in this area were so weak, a few of his basic attacks were all it really took to dispatch the low-leveled creature. He knew not all battles were going to be as easy as that one was in the coming future as the creature dissipated into the virtual abyss. Particularly the dungeons might prove a great deal harder than they all anticipated so far.

Moving on his way again, he wrapped himself in the shadow around him, adding to his already stealthy nature. The shadows clung and climbed up Kit's figure until he vanished to any surrounding eyes (Wraith- 5% SP Taken). Moving unseen the rest of the way, he made it easily to the entrance of the tower and circled around the base until he came a complete circle back to the entrance again. This seemed to be the only way in, and there weren't many enemies around the tower itself. At least, not in sight. Hopping up to a ledge near the entrance, he waited the rest of the time for them to catch up.

Once they came into sight, Kit heard Sieghilde begin giving a slight briefing as she stopped near the entrance. He thought it pretty smart for Mercutio to let any of the tanking fall on Sieghilde, but doubted how much the knight might actually add to their overall damage. 'Every little bit helps I guess...' He thought. The thought of himself possibly taking a few hits didn't sit well on his end, but he assumed it really couldn't be helped with the knight's low level.

Coming to the ground softly, Kit dropped the shadows around himself and reappeared as he walked up to the others. "This is the only entrance." He said confident as the last of the shadows dissipated. "Not much around the base either, seems pretty straight forward. I'm fine with taking a hit or two if I really need to, but as long as I can get behind anything we encounter, I can dish out some serious damage." Scrubbing a hand through Kit's hair, he leaned against the entrance to the inside of the tower. "In any case, I'm ready when everyone else is."

“Hihi, pixel cancer.” Amanda's comment made Break giggle and forget about her own reply to the knight. Mercutio was just one big walking source of amusement. Kana sure hoped this one stayed alive, albeit for all the wrong reasons. She took a pull from her pipe, letting the smoke overwhelm her before letting it slip from her lips. Smoking wasn't exactly a thing she could do back in the real world, which might be why it was so fascinating in game. Sieghilde though, looked so natural doing it, Kana figured she'd been at it for years.

“If he didn't want his alone-time, he should've taken someone with him.” Break shrugged. “But I suppose we'd best get to that dungeon sooner than later anyway.”

Speaking of alone time. Azuma had been taking his distance from Break since they'd arrived in Heide. Just the way she liked it. This was probably the best for him too, Kana thought, the marauder could spend some quality time with his sword before he'd have to dirty it. This might benefit them mutually. Upvote.




The trip to the tower was predictably easy. Although... It didn't appear like that for everyone. Sieghilde ended up rescuing a newbie wizard with probably more flair than was needed.

“Hey Mercutio, looks like you're the the only paladin in this party!” Break smirked and from the glimpse of an eye she saw the little wizard clamping onto their fearless leader like she was her mom. Was Sieghilde a mom? Kana wondered. Her behaviour did point towards it, despite her rather lackluster silencing methods. Stay-at-home moms often indulged in digital media as if escaping their homes. The amount of moms finding escapism in video games would strike any given person as awkward, but Kana thought it made sense from a sociological point of view.

She turned one eye to the girl in Sieghilde's arms, pointed her crossbow up at the sky and let her roar. There was a loud 'twang,' followed by a tiny, gold bird falling from the sky, skewered by a crossbow bolt, dematerialising quickly after it hit the ground.

“They yield less loot or exp than even the lowest level monsters, but if you wanna train without risking your neck, look for shiny birds.” Break suggested, although the lack of emotion in her voice made it look more like she was showing off her knowledge than showing empathy. The whimpering little girl appeared terrified. Completely understandable if you, say, believed in-game death meant real life death. Break's cold tensions crept back onto her back. The thrill of the game would soon start and Break wondered how everyone would handle under pressure. She watched the girl scurry off afterwards, without so much as receiving a reply.

“Noobs,” Break mumbled mockingly, before she strapped her crossbow back on her back and followed Sieghilde to the tower.

Kit was already there and quickly responded to the party leader's calls. Her speech started and it was all about dividing the roles. Pretty basic stuff, Break reckoned, but truth to be told this was sort of her very first serious party in Heine Online. It was probably best if she mentioned that... Even if she did know the mechanics, her instincts were more of those of a solo-player's. Plainswalker and all. “This raid is a new thing.” Break said, “But if you guys keep the heat off me, I can keep the heat off you. Consider me your friendly neighbourhood sniper, I can bring down priority targets without needing to move.” She looked at Mercutio, if he kept his nerves in check and had a provoking skill, he would be able to control mobs quite well. Kit on the other hand, mentioned something that could be problematic...

“Kit, we don't know the lay-out of the dungeon and we don't know the levels of the monsters. If you're going to play tank, don't get behind them unless it's advantageous to our position. Break their formation, not ours.”

The plainswalker liked to operate solo as well. At least, his vanishing trick and standoff attitude suggested so. Kana's mind wandered, Kit might very well be in the same boat as her. The two of them might have a hard time adapting their playstyles for this... They'd better be prepared.

Amanda's obviously sarcastic reply sounded like something to be insulted at, as nearly everything this woman said was, doubly so with her ridiculous hand gestures. Yet as insulting as she was, there was something almost light-hearted and yet frightening about bringing up The Oregon Trail, Mercutio had a smile on his face, and looked down his breastplate.

"Don't sweat the small stuff, tin man."

Kyle turned his head off to the side to look at Amanda for a moment with his naked face in an mixed expression of incredulity and surprise, as if to say, "This coming from you?", but eventually looked at the floor again. The faint hint of a smile was on his face as he ran a hand through his hair:

"Uhm, thanks." The words were of mixed concern as Mercutio equipped his helmet once more at the mention of the group moving. For what it was supposed to be, that little worry was starting to grow, and just as he turned whispered to no-one in particular but himself, "I died a lot in The Oregon Trail.



While it seemed everyone was all the more eager to get the tower, Mercutio lagged behind in the group, with the lowest speed, the heaviest armor and the most tired. It didn't help that The Whispering Plains seemed all the more beautiful under the veil of night and that it seemed he could just rest his body and just sleep.

Each clanking of his step drew just a bit farther and a stereotypical lvl 1 monster was heading towards him: Slime. They looked like a green ball of goop just hopping around in a slow pace, (after-all, no fast creature gets the name Slime), and for the most part they were harmless, the passive type of monster that doesn't attack unless it was being attacked itself. It was a good thing Mercutio figured out that he could flip up the visor of his helmet for better visibility.

So he executed it. Unsheathed his sword, the weight seemingly unfamiliar in his gauntlet, took a few moments to get the right grip, then stabbed and slashed at it. It was reduced to a puddle of goop before it could attack back and it was stabbed once more for good measure.

It got the blood rushing through his veins which was good for staving off sleep and it gave him the chance to stab something out of frustration considering he was trapped in a game in which everything could kill him with no escape but to confront everything said everything that could kill him: monsters, boss creatures, Pkers. Not to mention in the five or ten minutes of contact with Amanda, the urge to kill needed to be satisfied, somehow. He decided to look up the stats of everyone in his party while walking.

By the time Mercutio caught up, sword and shield still in hand, there was a goblin corpse on the floor, a small girl of a wizard wrapped around Sieghelde's leg, and blood running down her lance. Break and her Mongolian-wear thought it'd be a wonderful time to remind the knight he was the only paladin (of which she surely meant tank) in the group.

Of course he knew. He knew it right from the start but denied the possibility: if he was even to go through with this, he'd be the beat-up sponge taking damage for the sake of the party, each and every time there was conflict, with pain, 99.9% more real. Now with a first-hand account. Kyle replied in the only way any other knight-class in this shitty situation could reply, in a voice not boiling in anger, just simmering, mixed with fatigue and sadness.

"Fuck you too."

The knight hadn't bothered to even whisper it to her, just saying it, for her ears and anyone around him who payed attention. He watched the lvl 1 wizard run back to town, not bothering to turn around but gave Break a dirty look as she called her a noob, before turning his head back to the tower. He couldn't even see the top. So much for sleep." He thought wistfully, seeing everyone give others advice on how to proceed. Sieghelde was assured from Mercutio with a nod and Break's stare was met with his own. Kit had also rejoined them as well, talking about playing part-tank and part-thief.

"I've been in a lot of parties so with what he have, we should go in one horizontal line. Break and Azuma could flank enemies from opposing sides, cleric in the middle to keep everyone in range of spells, me and Sieghelde can act as tanks, and offense on enemies that can spawn from either side. Kit can either scout ahead with invisibility, go as a tank with us, break enemy formation or all three."

Though Mercutio didn't know whether Kit has invisibility or not, it was a reasonable guess, since the only reason anyone would be a Plainswalker is to turn invisible. The knight was used to strategy, since all the time he spent with beginners in the party needed more then just "click it until it dies" to go to more difficult areas.

After listening to Sieghilde formulate yet another plan, Kit puff his chest out, talk about how he liked to penetrate the enemies' exposed rears(snickersnicker), and Break deflate his ego with a little cold reality, Amanda turned her head as Mercutio displayed his first break from the good-guy persona and use- gasp -a SWEAR word.

"Weeell, I don't rightly remember the knights of Charlemagne using such vulgar language in the presence of a lady. Looks like our white knight is more... off-white." She spread her arms wide, staff still held in her right. "'Mercutio... the egg-shell knight'... I like it."

Planting her staff in the ground, Amanda folded her hands over the hook. "At the same time, I have to hand it to gear head, it isn't a terrible strat. Generally speaking, you want to keep your most vulnerable- and valuable -team members at the center of the formation." Cupping the back of her hand on her cheek, she lowered her voice into a mock-whisper. "That's me, by the way." Returning to her regular voice, she continued. "Part of the reason I'm the best cleric in the game is because I opted out of all my offensive spells, yanno... that means I have to trust you noobs to clear out the place while I fix your fuck-ups." She tilted her head to the side. "I mean, while I look after you... and stuff."

Amanda removes her right hand from her staff to gesture at Kit. "Also, I don't think Rikkimaru was suggesting that he would tank; you're ALL gonna take a few licks here and there, since the little-knight-who-could over here... can't. Not yet, anyway. Also, since Ninja Gaidan is kinda rogue-y, his job involves getting in behind the mobs and doing the whole sneaky sneaky stabby stabby thing." She paused for a brief moment and let out a sigh. "Which I guess I don't have a problem with, so long as he knows when to get the hell out of the line of fire without taking too much damage."

Amanda turned to look around at the group for a brief moment. "Besides, I think the baddies will have their hands full with us. They won't notice him until it's too late." She shrugged. "Or they'll tear him a new asshole. I'm a Cleric, not a fortune-teller."

After Sieghilde's speech Kit spoken about there being only one entrance to the tower. It was a little expected seeing that it was only but one tower. In older times, towers and watch towers had only one way in yet... this tower was bigger so it could turn to be a surprise. Suddenly Break commented basically giving an understandable statement. Keep mobs off her and she can deal damage without having to move. Kit had given word that he could take hits if need be yet he could dish out more damage if he were behind the target. That's quite a price.. a little less damage for extremely survival or less damage but a little more chance upon survival... The odds all depended upon the system at this point. Suddenly Break replied to his idea breaking Sieghilde's thoughts.


“Kit, we don't know the lay-out of the dungeon and we don't know the levels of the monsters. If you're going to play tank, don't get behind them unless it's advantageous to our position. Break their formation, not ours.”

“Yes... this much is true.. combat in this game is rather different to our average MMO... Yet survival wise whatever the situation – we'll always need to observe.”

"I've been in a lot of parties so with what he have, we should go in one horizontal line. Break and Azuma could flank enemies from opposing sides, cleric in the middle to keep everyone in range of spells, me and Sieghelde can act as tanks, and offense on enemies that can spawn from either side. Kit can either scout ahead with invisibility, go as a tank with us, break enemy formation or all three."

A reasonable idea which followed Amanda commenting upon it. The lancer nodded ignoring the girl's ego as she continued until the end where she snapped her fingers to Amanda like she did in Odin. The woman looked towards her and then the rest of the group before sighing. She couldn't stand her when people speak up so full of themselves yet she was correct that unlike other games... This game uses your mind deciding what abilities suit you and the girl throwing out her damaging for supporting and healing would make her most affective as a cleric of PvE. Sieghilde walked to the door and held her hand up to it. Suddenly two options appeared ( “Enter The Dungeon” and “Cancel”). Her finger then moved to “Enter The Dungeon” which suddenly a light appeared around each member of the party before suddenly doing the teleportation as the wave gate does. Sieghilde's eyes closed as she teleported away.

(The whole party has been moved into the dungeon)



When you enter the dungeon... you suddenly here a loud slam of the door behind you. Its obvious that you're in a separate zone and you figure its just game ambiance which it does for every party that joins. When your eyes open you are revealed to dark hallway at first, the ground is obviously stone as well as the walls which holds a torch every 5 foot. The hallway is about 8 foot wide yet the length that it goes to is relatively a short. At the end of the hallway you see a passage that reveals stairs that ascend. Its very quiet and a little warm inside this area. Other then a general idea... you will notices small spiders and your typical rats that scurry the floors.

As sieghilde opened her eyes she noticed a rat chirping near her foot. She only tapped it away with her foot before taking a few footsteps notcing no monsters on this floor yet... the hallway was pretty small and doesn't look as though monsters would come here... She then turned towards everyone once she noticed they were all here and nodded to them.

“Ready?”

---

'We are all going to die...'

The thought forced its way into Sam's mind as Kit stood by the rest of the group who were still flying off at the handle at each and every comment that was made. He was beginning to get beyond frustrated at this game and the players he had recently coupled himself with. It seemed like everyone had their own opinion and each mind behind their character's face was stuck in some smug and egotistic god-complex state of mind. He was beginning to contemplate what he would do if things began to head south with this group. In the game, levels were power, and he was one of the highest level players in the group. Thus, he was easily a bit stronger than most of the others. If things began to turn out as bad as he thought they were going to, only two options were really available to him: save their asses, or get the hell out of dodge...

Kit wasn't exactly being pulled toward the side of savior at the moment.

Kit let out an audible sigh as the other Plainswalker began puffing up her own ego again in pointing out what he should and shouldn't do with his class. From her explanation of his own words, it didn't sound like she had even heard what he had said before running her mouth on the flaws of his strategy. She seemed to think 'taking a few hits' meant that he was their new tank, and that his strategy while tanking would be to circle around a boss which would be focused on himself. To further this, she decided to lecture him on strategy and team dynamic. 'Thank you for the insight on how to play my character,' he wanted to say. 'Why don't we drop out of the party outside the city and I'll show you what I can really do. I'll shove that prehistoric crossbow so far up your ass you'll cough up dinosaur arrows you cocky little--'

It was the Cleric, Amanda, who actually spoke with any accuracy on what he had said. And soon after, Sieghilde laid out their strategy which pretty much allowed Kit free reign on his actions. Their train wreck of a dungeon expedition had finally begun.



When Kit's eyes opened again, he was inside the dungeon alongside the others. Stone walls with torches lighting the way straight toward a stair leading up stood before them all. From what he could see, the only way to go was forward towards the stairs. A single hallway with a creepy staircase always seemed to scream 'trap' in his mind. As Sieghilde asked if they were ready, Kit took a step in front of everyone.

"I guess that's my cue." He might as well take the lead, he was,after all, the only one able to walk right up to an enemy to poke it in the face before it realized he was there. The shadows around him twitched for a second and were pulled toward Kit's form again for a slight instant before he disappeared from sight altogether. (Wraith- 5% SP Taken)

With the shadows concealing his presence, he began down the hall toward the stairs.

Quickly making his way down the hallway, Kit paused at the base of the stairs to listen. For what, he wasn't exactly sure. Perhaps he would be able to hear something moving around at the top or anything at all, but as he stood there, all he heard was the sound of the critters in the tower itself a they moved about. Cautiously, he set his invisible foot onto the first step. Ascending the steps one at a time, and as fast as he dared go, Kit poked his head to where he could see above the top.

Not seeing any immediate danger, Kit continued and stepped away from the stairs into a conical-shaped room. He began to step into the room and suddenly froze. There was a movement not too far off. Unflinching, he scanned the room and spotted the source of the movement ahead of him. Two rather large undead soldiers stood in the path leading out of the room. That brought his thoughts racing. Undead were not a part of the Whispering Plains. They weren't in the Beta testing Guide or in any of the information brokers' manuals. There was no way around them that Kit's eyes could see, but more unsettling, was the fact that their gazes were fixed directly on Kit himself.

Impossible... He thought. At first, Sam thought he had been mistaken and the Undead were simply looking toward the stairs, but another slight movement showed what their gaze was really fixed on and he was sure it was Kit. He knew the game mechanics were designed for aggressive monsters to attack once a player was in sight range. Kit's stealth changed that slightly, adding a sort of sensing factor to the monsters. He could walk right into their sight without drawing their attention until he attacked or hit them in one way or another. Unless...

Sam knew then that the undead didn't belong in the area, or any dungeon that was supposed to be here. They must be a part of the new Patch... he thought. Which meant they may be high enough level to sense Kit, even without seeing him. Which would explain why they followed his movements without attacking.

He took a step back and then another and watched the undead turn back to their original positions. He moved quickly back down the stairs and made sure the Undead didn't follow. Upon reaching the rest of their party, he dropped his Wraith and reported what he had seen. "They must be much higher level than myself if they could sense me from that distance. I might be able to take on one, but two is a little much. There's no way around them either."

Leaning against one of the stone walls, he looked to Sieghilde, "Our tiny knight here won't be able to tank those things. What's the plan?"

Devyn laid back on an uncomfortable stone bench, her mind swimming, drowning in thoughts of the day's events. Regardless of any speculation, the only certain things were that she could not log out, and that everything around her felt disturbingly real.

Opening her eyes with a sigh, Devyn muttered to no one in particular. "There's no way I can sleep right now..." With that said she willed herself up and off the bench to her feet. Stretching, though she was certain her avatar wouldn't need to do such things, it felt comforting.

Keys... Dungeons... Even if it is a lie I don't feel comfortable leaving my fate to others but... Devyn's gaze wandered about the frightened players around her, none of them seemed to even want to try. Looks like most people are just reeling from the shock of it all, I certainly can't do these dungeons by myself but it looks like no one here's up for it... It's a long shot but... There are more people back in Heide, even if they are mostly lowbies, I've gotta start somewhere.

With a destination in mind, Devyn made way to the local wave gate, unsure if she actually believed she could find anyone in Heide or if she simply wished to distract herself. Arriving at the gate and heaving out a sigh, she spoke the words that would whisk her away to the Plains Capital.



Upon arrival, Devyn's sight was graced by an even more pitiful scene then there was in Odin. A chill ran through her spine as the souls around her looked to her, many of whom were below even level three. With a shake of her head Devyn attempted to dispel the haunting gazes of those around her, steeling herself against the eerie feelings bubbling in her heart as she pressed on, wandering about the city aimlessly in the hopes of finding a group of individuals with some spirit in them... But she would have no such luck.

Frustrated, sad, and disappointed, Devyn came to a stop near the southern gate. Gritting her teeth, she leaned back against the wall of a nearby building, eyes closed, brows furrowed in thought. This trance of thought was soon broken however by the sounds of loud footsteps and heavy breathing. A wounded and tired and level 1 Wizard had just ran into town, a small smile crept across Devyn's lips, glad to see that girl survived. Behind the girl Devyn spotted something which quickly drew her attention. A strange tower off in the distance to the south. "That's new..."

Is that one of the dungeons?... It wasn't here before the patch... So it must be. Devyn kicked herself away from the wall, a new spring in her step now as she made her way south towards the tower.



She ran as fast as her slow class would allow, and off in the distance she could see a group of people around the entrance. Someone's taking on the first dungeon already?... Her fists clenched tightly frustration, unable to move any faster despite her overwhelming to desire to catch their attention, shouting at the top of her virtual lungs towards the group to wait for just a moment. To her dismay, the words would not reach them in time, as each individual disappeared in a flash of light.

Her shoulders slumped as her quick pace slowed to a walk. With a sigh she continued on, eventually reaching the door to the tower.

"Damn..."

After everyone nodded in agreement, Kit went on ahead to scout ahead. Sieghilde waited with the group, entrusting the plainswalker to bring back some good information upon the staircase. She could help but lean against the wall sighing as she looked towards the rest of the party. She was going to speak up again but suddenly Kit came back with interesting news claiming the monsters to be a decent level for the field they were in and also claiming that there may not be a chance for Mercutio to take their hits so far. Immediately after it all fell to Sieghilde to have a plan upon this information and at that point she has yet to fail her group.

“We'll do a test... Lets march on people... due to the information... Mercutio just do your damage.. I'll be taking the hits..” She said walking towards the stairway, looking back at her group as she did so. The marauder was curious at this point as to what could be waiting. As her grieves echoed down the steps as the staircase suddenly went from being dark to light, her eyes were revealed to two giant sized skeletons.. Their heads suddenly turned yet they didn't attack... obviously waiting. Sieghilde blinked seeing the types that were present... Undead... in this dungeon? Obviously they were spawned here through the system but it was interesting seeing that the field this dungeon was based on had no undead creatures. She sighed before shaking her head to trying to make things make sense and suddenly held her hand only to make her lance appear She then turned her head back to her group.

“We'll see how strong they really are... I can't see their levels from here but I can definitely see their gouge.. they don't have too much HP but it doesn't look pretty... Lets live..” She then turned to one of the skeletons targeting them and rushed in running start before suddenly flickering with speed like before. Midway the lancer made her polearm shape towards her the undead (Die Gebühr des Drachen - 25% SP taken). Her eyes suddenly saw the monster up close and noticed it was only level 10! She didn't speak but wondered how such a level could have this much health. She Immediately thrusted her lance at the monster unsure if it would hit or not....

<Sieghilde has engaged in combat>

Walking skeletons... Weren't quite an archer's forte. Placing a bolt in the rib case of a moving target was hard, Kana's only option was to get a skull-cracking head-shot... Not that it mattered much, Sieghilde alone should be plenty to deal with for two walking piles of bones. Unless they'd revive their selves or something, not too uncommon with undead in video-games. Still. Those skeletons weren't the biggest issue; that honour went to Kit's findings... Monsters of at the very least level 16, but probably higher if Kit was to be believed.

Break shrugged as she pulled the crossbow from her back. She reveled in the darkness of the tower, like only plainswalkers would. Checking her exp bar, she might as well try to get a hit in and it sure beat sitting back and waiting. If whatever was in there had Kit scurry back with his tail between his legs, Kana didn't want to take her chances by going solo.

She readied her crossbow, mounting it on the dungeon floor below her (Roc's Stance - 20% SP taken.) The cold stone scraped against her skin on her thighs, as she precisely adjusted her aim. Sieghilde and company would keep them busy... Now it was the trick to hit the right target in the chaos of ensuing melee... Break patiently waited for an opportunity, eyes focusing on movement... Studying what was happening before her and predicting the footwork of all warriors until... Twang! A bolt was aimed straight at one of the skeleton's skulls. Break didn't waste time and reloaded her crossbow, trying to anticipate would would happen next.