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Lilian Rook     The oddity of this game, it starts to sink in, is that there is almost no point to logging off anyways, save that you have real lives to attend to. Retiring for the night, there's barely time for a smoke in a Watchtower back room before the in-game clock has ticked right over, according to the server monitoring personnel on site in both locations. Then, by the next in-game dawn, time reduces back to a four to one rate. As Elites reconnect, time climbs to five, six, seven to one, and as they disconnect, it winds as well. However, the staff note two specific occurrences in particular.

    When Rita disconnects, time compression nearly stops. When Lilian disconnects, time compression becomes time dilation, increasing as Elites disconnect instead. The process is fluid and instantaneous. And the message is clear to any seasoned investigator. The orchestrator is algorithmically altering the game's flow of time so that invasive Elites miss very little, and spend the bulk of the game's time logged in, and has placed enormous priority on Prime and Potential Prime players being there, as a matter of special interest.

    Monitoring staff still can't confirm any direct observation of them in-game, though the effect is especially pronounced overnight. It's an incidental mercy that the rate of deaths, trickling in at a slow and merciless pace, dramatically decreases while players are logged out; otherwise it might be hard for certain types to even go about their day. But it's a little worrying that retiring to an inn at Yono, and sleeping in plushy wool beds with the sound of the lake and the woodlands by the light of stars and candles for a whopping fifteen real life minutes leaves you woken feeling so deeply rested. A Paladins assistant jokes that if the mastermind just sold this as a sleep aid, they'd make billions, after reading your brainwave charts.

    The dawn in Yono is foggy and cool, and punctured with the sounds of crickets and frogs. Every Dissonance you'd previously mapped is nowhere to be found, and new ones lurk in the reeds and groves. A new wave of battered and bloodied parties limps in from Derivation Bridge all day, only a handful jubilant, five times as many gloomy with their first taste of death along the way. The storm on the other side of the Split continues unabated throughout the day, limiting the usefulness of survey to nil. There are no reported 'bandit' attacks since the arrival of Elites, but Ishirou's monitoring of the Split-side campsite finds that it's been repaired once between his scans, somehow.

    An entire day passes in the time of a full three hour class. Tamamo and Lilian spend much of it 'level grinding' out in the foggy meadows and forests, but mainly it's used teaching Tamamo how to use the combat system further. Without any opportunity to survey, Ishirou is left to wander around town and see what World skills he can raise. The NPCs here teach Salvage as a reward for beating Derivation Bridge, allowing return to scrape the ruins for valuables, or diving in the new area with Athletics as well, and a rugged old man who claims to be a former pilgrim himself teaches Scouting, which apparently has something to do with mapping. The training costs a lot of money compared to what he has now, and burns through his Vitality to simulate the fatigue of long hours of construction, so he can only handle one. Meandering around town is uncomfortable. The way people glance away, bristle uncomfortably, or leave when he arrives. His 'stare', as they put it, feels invasive and intense. For once, he is treated as a potential threat.
Lilian Rook     Eryl is left to the morning hours out in the fields, clearcutting grass and breaking stones a little ways down from Yono's crescent around the Ancient Lake. A little trial and error finds that a sickle is needed to actually leave dirt terrain, rather than simply 'damage' the grass, and a pickaxe is needed to properly break the rocks, but he makes some money back after buying them in town from random herbs and trace ores. By midday, he is joined by wandering volunteers from Derivation Bridge, whom he can clearly tell are trying to put their mind to anything than whoever they saw die, or lost personally, and he is able to move on to crafting with the uncanny feeling of not sweating or aching a drop for his labours gnawing at his stomach. The fact he hasn't drank in all that time creeps up on him, and fills him with a false sense of something gross and sticky.

    Bercilak is given the opportunity to act as a real woodsman, exploring the forests, grappling with vicious walking fish, killer birds, and fog-stalking miniboss wildcats, and chopping vast quantities of hard and softwood. The quest for the rare bark lasts most of the day, until he and Phreak fight their way into a secret grove through a narrow crevice, and have all they need for the summoning ritual. The NPC who told him the folk tale spreads it around town, where it becomes a sort of organic, player-made news. The AI gossips so naturally.

    He also has ample excess to give Eryl. Phreak's teleport skill is able to bring people from Clef directly, mentioned on Eryl's sprawling friend list as having the right craft skills, but at withering expense. A hunting party of Yono's prior player-inhabitants sortie out at midday, and return by evening with reasonable quantities of leathers. Soon, the clearing is filled with a score of two and four man tents, arranged around a few shared tier 1 cooking stations (glorified fire pits) and repair and maintenance kits donated from other players. Most of the new arrivals take to it; the labourers demand a wage for it, and stay at inns.

    Phreak also has spare material to work on traps for their eventual sting, but nobody is particularly matched to constructing them. Bercilak is able to recruit other players to aid in constructing snares, caltrops, and pits, and experience the heart pangs of conversing so casually with people just like him, bullshitting about movies and games and favourite drinks and loved ones over handiwork. It's enough to cover a relatively wide field, fairly loosely.

    Friz has to live without coffee for a little while longer. This would normally be incredibly dire, but her body is caffeinated in real life, and the cravings oddly sublimate in-game. Being surrounded by nature, calm, open space, friendly faces (AI or Weird), clear things to do and cooperative co-workers, ample free time and greenery, and the mythical refreshing sleep, makes it hard to even want to log out. She's able to gather some of her Volunteer Group with Phreak's aid, but barely enough to help out around time.

    There's little to learn about ranged combat as she hoped, save from Yono's NPC hunters (who use bows). Mainly, they explain stealth takedowns in a strange way, as if they are somewhat aware of Clarity. Dropping their own defenses to focus on piercing the enemy, waiting for opportune exposed weak spots, getting as close as possible without being detected, and the importance of quality shots over quantity. She learns the minimum cooldown on switching Tunings is pretty dire if a shooter gets jumped or charged.

    Nobody has any familiar with Prime roles at all. Nobody reports 'potential' either. Most haven't even heard the 'administrator' voice after day one. However, browsing the rolled up scrolls and field manuals out in the dry townhouse, she learns that certain books automatically fill in her journal with new hooks and quest steps as she internalizes their information.
Lilian Rook     When Tamamo returns, Rita has had the whole morning to solicit the locals for basic fishing gear, by fishing with her own starter gear and selling her catch at undercut prices back to the fishermen who have rods and nets and traps to spare. The two have time together to engage in their promised fishing time, learning the ins and outs of the subtle minigame --that the line visibly 'heats up' with a yellow-orange-red glow as it strains, and controlling the catch variably wears on the tool's durability and so on-- and that their codexes have a fishing record book, because of course. It's awkward, not being able to just dive into the water and skewer hundreds of fish in minutes, but by the end, the glow of satisfaction begins to settle in. What her life on a ship could have actually been like, fileting catches and drying kelp and talking to the townsfolk who dote on her.

    The dishes Tamamo can make are relatively useful already, in terms of either pre-battle buffs with short timers, or exploration buffs with long timers of various resistances and anti-attrition benefits. It's a bit discouraging, to see women shoo their children away from her occupying the community kitchens, given her appearance, even if they aren't real. It's the older folk and the men who approach her easily, who remark frequently on her ring and sometimes flirt despite it. Still, retiring to the inn feels strangely comfortable. Nostalgic, bordering on homesickness.

    When Lilian returns, and finally runs a sell for them, she learns, and relays, that the prices she gets are literally triple what everyone else does. Probably thanks to her Trade skill. Her sell limits are higher and her purchase prices are lower, and bulk doesn't upset the market as much. She simulates haggling, and it works. But differently between each NPC. They have preferences. Much to her discomfort, one responds to her jokingly asking about her grandson with a ten minute story and a discount.

    Rita, and by extension the Watch, have ample time to speak to Elym and Fucil as well, once they return from aiding the hunt. They steer clear of Eryl especially, but pass time leatherworking, foraging, and making medicine with their own wisely chosen skills. The two are both somewhat reserved about anything that isn't strictly Watch business at first, but begin talking about the plan to rush the next area to open up the shortcut from Beachhead by the end, volunteering to help, and agreeing on its importance. They, of course, are eager to help with the 'bandit' situation too.

    One more night passes in the blink of an eye. Early morning is the ideal time for the Velvet Ghost quest to finally be completed. It's also the time that pilgrims will start coming through Derivation Bridge, in a few hours, and likely when Lavis and Vermilion will be active. The storm is starting to subside within the Split too. It's all such auspicious timing, after everyone was forced to spend a day in nothing but downtime.
Ishirou Ishirou has...well SOME problems.  The eyes are starting to push people away from him, which causes him some mild distress.  Then again, it's like when people realize they can see through a lot of things, which is always a bit of...adjustment.  Though this is the first time they've realized it without him getting to know them first.  

People really do fear...stuff they don't get.  

Ishirou decides to go scouting, but the price is /steep/.  So Ishirou attempts to try and see if he can haggle the price down.  Then he attempts to see if there is any way to get a discount.  Or do a quest...

Then if all of this fails, he tries to wait for the guy to be alone and biohack a solution.  Attempting to drop the price to reasonable.  He tries to not brute force it if he can...buuuut...

When the day turns over after spending his downtime resting and learning the chosen skill, he notices that the storm is gone.  "I think...that I want to check that out."
Friz Savvy: We should probably log out soon.
Grit: There's a monster outside there, one that can't come here.
Moxie: Oh, wow, we should definitely not go near that.
Dirt: Everything here looks more worth focusing on, chief.
Savvy: It *looks* that way because it's high-resolution sensory data. It's not real dirt and grass, you're all just feeling weird after so long of not being in nature. Dirt, how long has it been since we saw a sunrise with greenery and more than fifty people around?
Dirt: Little over ten years, chief.
Grit: A different monster is here now that you remembered that.
Moxie: Maybe we should focus on work. I don't like thinking about this.

    Friz focuses on learning, and eventually, on her volunteerism. A Volunteer Department has a highly specific mechanism and it requires constant, active work to prevent its stagnation. The concept, as she explains to those who have joined her, is this:

    "Now, most people in a disaster want to help each other. There's a lot of reasons for this, but the most important one is, everyone has a good idea of what everyone else needs (because everyone needs the same thing), so they're all really willing to help. In a big, long drain like this though, with all these factors, it's harder to keep that up. The natural state of things is to contract and de-elevate into a way of being you can sustain better, but that doesn't help *surviving*. Everyone in the Volunteer Department has one thing they need to do that's *most important*, and it's making as many people as possible actually open up and tell you what they need. Because if you do that, you can go to other people and tell them how many people they can help, and you can know how many, too."

    The Volunteer Department, if she can get any traction here, is primarily about rendering the basic aid they can give, and also about firmly and deliberately nudging people to open up and ask for the help they *can't* get, and then bringing that information all around, posting it up, and otherwise keeping everyone aware of the broader needs that would go under the radar.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      Following a night's rest at the inn, Phreak finds himself doing some 'early-morning' calisthenics, with a surprised expression on his face. A few stretches, a few bends at the knees. A hop. A run up the side of the wall into a backflip that has him squarely on his feet again. "Hhhuh." It feels... great. Alien, almost--as someone who seldom sleeps at an appropriate time, for an appropriate length of time.

     "Bro, you ready to get at those WOODS?!" Bercilak bellows, barreling into the room and scaring the opifex near to falling over, but for his uncanny sense of balance. He casts a reproachful glance at the Green Knight. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry," Bercilak offers back in infamous cadence.

     "You've *gotta* stop watching those videos, man. But yeah. Eryl's gonna be busy with his thing anyway, so we might as well."

     A short trek later, the two of them are in the forest. There is much complaining from Phreak, who is assuredly not even half the woodsman that Bercilak is, and is mostly only useful in the sense of having extra eyes and weapons for dangerous wildlife. As is their usual for the game when it's just the two of them, Bercilak demands attention by way of the oppressive reach of his axe and his imposing frame, while Phreak opens up with a hard-hitting 'alpha strike' and whittles enemies down between Bercilak's impactful swings. When it comes to the birds and the wildcats, Phreak is called upon in a more active sense, better able to deal with fliers and keep up with agile enemies than the knight.

     When they return to town, with most of the day behind them, the two split up. Phreak brings excess raw materials from the forest to Eryl. The matter of cost is solved by that timeless classic, crowdfunding. Ruinous though it might be for him individually, Phreak canvasses the crafters Eryl is working with, for a little here and a little there, prioritizing those on Eryl's friends list with the most direly needed skills, then accessing his Traits. Notes - Courier allows him to blow most of his money (blunted however slightly by the nickels and dimes scraped together from the crafters already present and working with Eryl) on ferrying a select few of them back to assist.

     Bercilak, in the meantime, stays on with the crafters throughout the rest of the first day, working with them and using spare material traded from Phreak to construct those survivalist traps. His hearty laughter is a regular sound in the field, and in between the work there are plenty of hearty back-slaps to go along with spirited discussions of favorite pastimes and libations. He even roasts a particularly hearty bird slain and brought from the woods for them, as his way of keeping spirits up and giving thanks for hard work. 'Pangs' is the right word--Bladecraft is one of very few places where he can be around people who don't need him to repeat himself, or rephrase, or even really give him funny looks. Talking in this way is, to him, like exercising a new sense he'd never before noticed.

     With the next night done, the two of them remain split up--Phreak sticking with Eryl for the go-ahead on the sting, and Bercilak off about town, to hunt down the NPC he'd spoken with before about the ghost. He maintains his friendly, jovial attitude now, not as an act but as something that comes more easily to him after so much time in good company the day before.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      "Hey! Remember me from a few days ago?" The woodsmanly figure grins wide. "I've got everything I need to summon the Velvet Ghost and make my wish, but I'm light on details for actually, like, doing that. Is there an order I do it in? A place? A time?" Bercilak looks up at the sky--then over to the Split. Now honestly seems like a good time, if there was going to be one... "You guys have a village elder I can hit up? Do I just head over to the Split, burn the wood, crush the pearls and the fragment and blow 'em into the fire?" He's hoping yes.
Rita Ma      The fishing 'minigame', such as it is, isn't exactly like the real experience. But it's close enough for Rita's expertise to apply, and she soon ends up totally engrossed in it.

     After a few hours of fishing, cleaning, chatting, and bartering, she's almost forgotten it's a game. This is a life she could have had, she realizes on some deep level. A life she almost did. She starts talking to the NPCs as casually and in-depth as if they were real people.

     She's practically glowing with contentment by the end. The only thing that jars her out of it comes later: when she brings some fish to Tamamo and sees mothers ushering their children away from her.

     "I'm sorry, Ms. Tamamo," she murmurs morosely, putting her basket of cleaned fish down nearby. "They'd like you if they knew you better. You're still the same good person, aren't you? It isn't fair when that happens."
Kirishima The temptation to come back to this place time and time again just to catch up on sleep is rather tempting for Kirishima. The assistant's joke probably doesn't land quite as intended, as the ninja's a little too quick to nod and bounce that around in her head to the point that she'll leave it in a suggestion box somewhere once this situation is finally resolved.

Instead, she's opted to spend her time acting as the gofer for everyone's extra supplies and miscellaneous stuff when they might be too busy working to make a trip back to town. Ishirou gets extra food and drinks to go with his training sessions, along with eye drops in case that's actually a simulated thing in this game. Eryl is brought extra pickaxes and sickles to replace those that get worn down, and Kirishima can even haul some stuff back and forth if there's a particularly valuable node to convert into usable funding.

Bercilak and Phreak mostly get help with hauling things, but the former might get a hand with punching out the local fauna every now and then when the timing lines up right between her trips back and forth between everyone. Friz's studies, too, get a little extra help from Kirishima in the form of food and drink bought from other players, both to keep the flow of money going and also to try and stave off the risk of being bored of food. Tamamo and Lilian could even get her to help with kiting random mobs back to them if they need a little variety in targets for that combat training.

On the fateful day of the ghost summoning, Kirsihima's looking just a little tired from all that running around, but none the worse for wear. She joins Bercilak and Phreak in town, still checking over her gear once more before taking out that strange bone fragment with the Split-colored light marking. "We'll need this, I assume. We won't need anything special to crush or grind this up, will we? Or some special words to utter?"
Eryl Fairfax     Once proper tools are in hand, Eryl works and works and works. Clearing a sizable patch of land and breaking up rocks on it, selling what herbs and ores he can to continue to fund the endeavour. With the help of others, particularly Bercilak delivering materials, and those who arrive from the Bridge, he's cleared out a sizeable field and begins constructing tents, passing on the knowledge to others. Along with a DM for those who lost someone in the journey, offering a sympathetic ear within the game, and information on a Paladins helpline once they're out.

    He does pay out to those who help with what he made from selling what he found. The money isn't a concern for him, but he does begin to worry. Eventually, he'll have to move on, but without an immediate payout, would people be willing to continue to expand the camp in his absence? Hearing people on the radio chatter about Trade skills, he wonders if something could be done with those herbs and scraps to make something that sells for more. Maybe that would drive more interest? He'll have to ask one of the crafters.

    He worries too about the bandits. As more people arrive, the campgrounds may become a tempting target. The tents are simple, and not easy to secure. Hopefully people will have the good sense to keep valuables on them, but an open flap may tempt, and a fight could break out if they're discovered. Honestly, it might not even be the bandits themselves, just another camper...

    It is with these worries in his mind that Phreak finds Eryl. Frankly, even though his in-game avatar is far more obviously mechanical than he is in the real world, the Grandmaster looks exhausted and stressed. "Ah, thank you. I'm sure several people are running low. I just... need a moment. Excuse me."

    A brief walk to the lake later, Eryl is kneeling at the shore, washing his face with handfuls of water in between drinking it, and rinsing his mouth. It really has been so long since he's felt thirsty. Implants in his lungs strip moisture from the air he breaths to maintain hydration, but here... this is his locked low CON score working against him, clearly. But he still can't figure out the point of it."
Lilian Rook     Ishirou, sadly, is already price adjusted for the twink Charisma he has. Levelling skills without Doing is pricey, and his existing Scouting skill is already pretty okay. Doing a little more research, it translates to map filling radius, spot checks on enemies and gathering points, making Dissonances slightly more visible to him, and giving him an intuitive prickle-on-the-neck sense of powerful foes.

    Biohacking, once again, works to force a fake Charisma score, but gives him a second warning pop-up, annoyingly obscuring his center vision, that he is using a hostile power in time, and may be reported for crimes. Thanks tooltips.

    Friz's explanation as to the actual 'why' of volunteer work and long-term crisis resolution is absorbed with rapt attention. Actually, a lot more attention and faith than she's used to getting. It's kind of like being popular, actually. Lowkey adored in a slightly tribal way. Even with fellow players. Soon, messages are flying back and forth about creating a symbol that they can wear or display to denote association with the organization forming. They seem to believe that this will help spread a reputation and make people more ready to come to them. There's talk of keeping it a separate guild than the Grandmaster's, once that becomes available.

    Bercilak is greeted familiarly and by name, by the NPC he'd spoken to before. He insists that Bercilak stick around to pass some time on his workshop's steps, drinking hearty liquor with a mild burn and reminiscing on the old stories he'd heard; that the Ghost has helped children return from the fog and wreaked terrible revenge on arrogant hunters, discovered lost items and occasionally killed monsters that wander near its grove. It's said to go in and out of the Split freely, but not live there.

    Bercilak's intuition. When his artificial friend wanders to the how, thirty minutes of watching birds catch frogs in, he is told that the ingredients are reduced to a powder, pressed into incense, and then burnt. It's relatively simple, doable as a Tier 0 recipe for ease. However, it seems the incense summons the Ghost to it, meaning he has to pick a location where he thinks he can tame it.
Haseo      Grind. Grind. More grind. Grinding combat stats. Grinding physical attributes. Grinding basic materials from the monsters he's killing to sell off later. It's what Haseo's used to, being accustomed to MMO gameplay, but the more he does it, the more he feels like it's a bit of a waste. If he could carry some of the experience he gained here elsewhere, maybe he wouldn't have that nagging voice in the back of his head telling him he's letting his limited time just swirl down the drain. But as far as he's been able to gather, he can't, so it's here to stay.

     While he can't escape said voice, he can definitely do something else so it isn't so blaringly loud. Enter his friends list. A very convenient thing that allows you to bother people to see if they're doing more interesting things than yourself. Normally, where he's from, he'd have to log out of the game to do anything more advanced than a whisper, but that's not the case here. He considers for a moment just who exactly he is going to bother, before recalling the large lumberjack guy. Bercilak, if he remembers correctly. He seemed pretty loud and bombastic, so he's probably the best bet.

     After shooting him an IM, Haseo joined in on his quest to summon the Velvet Ghost. Well, it's not killing, though honestly anything outside of burying a sword in something's skull is a bit outside of his skillset... Then again, he honestly doubts Berc's better off than him in that regard either. Push comes to shove, he supposes they can just bully the poor ghost with their combined bronze. That'd probably work.

     "You're really going to ask just like that, huh? Shouldn't we be a little bit less or something? What if they freak out?"

     Haseo's tone is kind of hushed as he speaks to Berc. However, even though he's trying to suggest to the knight to be a bit less open about their goals, there is a hidden truth. Haseo would also have just openly asked what he needed to do. The only difference is, he wouldn't have been as nice. But somebody has to play the role of... Whatever it is he's doing.
Rita Ma      While she's there in the communal kitchens watching Tamamo cook, Rita brings up a UI window with a little gesture, now that her contented immersion's been jarred a little.

[Friend request sent - Fucil]
[Friend request sent - Elym]
[To: Fucil, Elym] Rita Ma: Hi! ^^
Rita Ma: I'm really sorry to bother you if you're busy.
Rita Ma: I heard about you from Mr. Phreak. I'm a friend of his, too.
Rita Ma: Me and a few others are going to try and find the bandits soon.
Rita Ma: Lavis and Vermilion, I mean.
Rita Ma: I was wondering if you'd be okay helping us! (^^;)
Rita Ma: Mr. Eryl will be there, though. So just act normal.
Rita Ma: And a lot of people suspect that I'm with our mutual friends.
Rita Ma: So it's best if you don't act like we're too close, either.
Rita Ma: When I write that out, it sounds like kind of a lot to ask...
Rita Ma: But I really think it'll help people. I do.
Lilian Rook     The NPCs just love Rita. Not just for her social stats or seeming normality, but for terribly human things, like her stature and looks and sunny attitude. It's hard to tell whether it's just a sincere dedication to simulationism, something meant to keep the experience relatively immersive to what people are used to, or a help mechanism for younger or less assertive players. The fact that it feels so nice, so natural, only makes it more questionable. What purpose does improvising backstories for each NPC serve? How long did it take to write that much idea capital? Or an algorithm? The story of a sleepy fishing village founded by pilgrims who found themselves drawn to the lake and had flourished under successive guardian land deities and weathered several little disasters is a strangely compelling one.

    Crafting skills, Eryl finds, are unfortunately pretty woeful in the party. Most people came into this game with conceptions of establishing a life role, while the Elites had been cheated in with their career skills, and not many of them even really lead civilian lives at all.

    Tamamo's cooking, Lilian's so far unused Alchemy skill, Kirishima's basic ability to put together munitions, and Rita's repairs, are the most sustainable attributes they have between them. Rita, Bercilak, and Lilian have useful harvesting skills between them, but finished products represent time and stamina investments and skill point sinks, and sell for much higher. At least lead, iron, and copper can be forged into ammunition.

    The tents are registered as 'home' areas when all beds are claimed. This theoretically makes them possible to 'lock' (as silly as this is with no real doors) and stake claim on items within, but it's not as if they're especially durable, or secure against stealth skills (though who would use them against PCs is a matter of speculation). Going down to the lake is almost annoyingly refreshing. Cold water hits him somewhere that is hard to describe, invigorating and relieving at the same time, yet having no effect on his Vitality, as in real life.
Lilian Rook     Haseo on his own is subject to less XP splitting, but eventually, begrudgingly, finds that it's actually sort of less efficient to grind solo. Monsters take a little while to kill, and without someone else's tracking skills, they aren't super easy to find quickly. He can only kill one at a time, obviously, and gains less materials for it with a Discovery rating of 1.0, so they sell for less and allow him to buy less training. Of course, his stats are already jacked, but in the first place, it feels like . . . like . . .

    Like the mastermind really thought the idea of solo players who run off as lone wolves and become ungodly powerful with no-life grinding and tryhard smarts was fucking stupid. It's like the creator is saying 'even if you became him, girls would never talk to that individual; get real'.
Friz Dirt: Oh!
Dirt: Thank god for food, boss, you getting this?
Grit: I'm getting this. Less monster right now.
Savvy: Okay, well, glad you're feeling that way I guess.
Savvy: Wow, though, these guys really took to the idea.
Moxie: Quests.
Savvy: What?
Moxie: This is just quests again.
Moxie: We're trying to build a parallel quest ecosystem.

Grit: This has been the way of things long before games.
Grit: It was the way of things when bonfires were the centerpiece of a tribe.
Grit: When the event comes and passes, and sweeps everything away, ending the blip of depersonalized need and derealized fulfillment, this will be the way of things again.
Dirt: Boss, if you ask me, not that deep.
Dirt: People like being listened to.
Dirt: And that's in a real short supply these days.

    With that being done, she's focusing a lot on info-gathering. The Volunteer Department is getting an active, independent spirit, and she's decided to infuse what she can into that. The book-gathering approach is a really effective way of rapidly summarizing and infusing information into them. And if she can make sure that they all know what she's looking for, not just the in-game hooks but the potential, the administrator alerts, the prime roles, then she can lay the groundwork for a system that could get her big returns in leads later. At the end of the day, leads are what she needs most in this massive mystery of a game.

    Of course, she struggles with the sort of hand-on-hot-stove feeling of pride. Doing good? Having positive results? Making a group happy, in some way that hopefully makes even more people happy in the future? She's going to take that symbol as her own, though, and see if she can have it appended to her badge. It's gotta have a decals system, right? Undoubtedly a stylized "V" would be suited, in her opinion, but she lets the movement define it.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants >We won't need anything special to grind this up, will we?

     Bercilak laughs, head thrown back, red-lantern eyes shut in an expression of mirth as his plated gauntlet pats twice, gently, against her head. "That's what these hands are for, sib," he says, mussing her hair. "Thanks again for all the help, by the way. You too, big man," he says, clapping Haseo on the shoulder.

     >Stick around and have a few drinks

     "Nobody's freaking out, sib," he says, wrapping an arm around Haseo's shoulder. "See? Our guy here even wants to drink a little! Here, take a swig. You look like you could use it." It isn't hard at all to convince Bercilak to do this. Though his speech here is much more intelligible, though he understands the urgency of this situation in an abstract sense, his foibles with time management remain. He even ropes Haseo and Kirishima into it, too, or at least tries to. Whether they intend to drink and bullshit or not, he's going to--and that's how he discovers just what's necessary for summoning the Ghost. Hearty liquor has to contend with an equally hearty constitution--but Bercilak appreciates the burn, the stories and the counsel. He even shares a few stories of his own: the story of a knight he once did battle with, and her immense personal strength; a beautiful serpent who stole his heart with her overwhelming force of will, and a place older than words, split in two by the folly of mortals.

     When the time comes for stories to be over, Bercilak does exactly what he told Kirishima he'd do--crush the ingredients and press them together with his bare hands, rolling them into a rod of incense. The workman is given a fond farewell and a promise to return for a final drink, before his travels take him elsewhere.

>Finding a place to summon

     "Back to the forest, sibs," Bercilak says with firm certainty to Kirishima and Haseo. "The Ghost is a thing of the forest. It *protects* the Split but it doesn't live there. This is the kind of wish you can't ask anywhere other than where the granter is... most comfortable. If you guys would cover me while I talk to it--keep the other things that live there clear of us, I'd really appreciate it." He is dead-set to such an extent that he is already heading back in the direction of the forest by the time he's finished making his request.

>Eryl Needs a Minute "Take your time," Phreak says. "But don't wander too far off. I need you in earshot if those two giamokes show their faces." Eryl is left to his own devices to get a drink. Phreak, for his part, paces anxiously. There are a lot of frowning faces, as of late. Those two probably feel like they're being merciful, but he especially knows that's cold comfort for people in a hostile environment who suddenly find themselves with nothing. His mechanical hand clenches as he finds his thoughts given over to anger, aggression, and hostility, golden eyes scanning the horizon of the campground.
Tamamo     Tamamo couldn't possibly avoid enjoying her time here. Not when she's spending most of the day and night with Lilian, between eating and sleeping in town and heading out into the foggy wilderness to practice new skills together. She takes to the combat training with focus and determination, spending plenty of time experimenting with her floating shield, and how to use it together with Lilian to set up strikes from either of them, rather than merely defend and push.

    The time is by no means spent in silence. Lilian is subjected to all her observations on the colorfulness or freshness of the world, the small observations she makes of each opponent they encounter, soft but low-burning praise for her own swordwork and talents, and happy musing by Tamamo that she might, at least in this game, if not outside it, let Lilian feel something like "protected by a knight," a feeling Tamamo implicitly takes as a wonderful thing to experience. She assumes that Lilian hasn't ever had the chance.

    The combat experience is not completely dissimilar from how Tamamo approaches many other things that are new to her, cooking included. She sees it, it's fun, she wants to become good at it, and there's regular opportunity for her to share it and request feedback on her progress.

    Cooking is still, of course, something she's better at, by this point, merely as an inevitable matter of the weight of years of relevant experience. She has a good time with Rita covering for her own surprise inability to effectively gather from the waters, and isn't sparing with her gratitude. The only reason for her not to say "good girl" a dozen times is the knowledge that Rita is, in fact, twenty... -one.

    Well, no, there are multiple reasons, but that's the clearest. It's harder to explain just why she believes Rita would better appreciate the sort of praise given to an adult's competence, as in, "Most glad am I to have a fisherwoman of experience, here, Ms. Rita. I would be quite put out without your aid." In any case, that's more the tone she takes, without dwelling on the fact that none of her own ability with fishing has translated to the game.

    Likewise, her usual state of drawing others into warm orbits hasn't really gone through. On the contrary, she has to deal with the constant inclusion of her halo, the fiery tipes on her furred features, and worst of all, the signs of her trait, Inordinator. She can't see her own fangs without purposefully using her mirror, but her nails are easy to spot. Long and claw-like, almost a nuisance to fine work, though she's used to being careful with her nails in the kitchen, anyway.

    She holds up one hand to look at them, now, when Rita says that, and gives her a smile. It's not a truly happy one. "I am certain they would, were they to know me, but to come to know another can present its own dangers, can it not? To come close to another is to show vulnerability. Mothers ill wish for such, with children in tow. Their husbands are more brave, if also foolish. It is natural for humans to hold little wish to come close to claws with no leash in hand... is it not so?"

    It almost sounds like she's trying to convince herself of something. Like it can't be helped.

    Tamamo slides the knife through the catch, flipping the filet over with the flat. "They cannot see me as like themselves, though some will take the risk of approaching, that I might become, perhaps, one day included within the 'us,' the group they call 'we.' It might be different, I suppose, had I children of my own. A mother can better understand another, I think. It is natural to wish to see that a stranger holds the same motivations as oneself, for that makes them understandable, knowable... predictable, and safe."
Ishirou Ishirou, tired, feeling some form of isolation, and also tired of the pop-up warning in the middle of his screen takes advantage of his fake charisma score to get his training.  He'll take advantage of it as much as he can, though he also wonders if the game is aggressive about this /because/ it allows him to get around needing other people.  He'll have to see if he can work with someone with more haggling skills next time...

Well, too late now, but FOR now he'll focus on trying to rank up the skill and see how far he can push it without further training...and whatever else he can get with it.  

The next day, he's gathering people up to go to the Split, with the storm clearing up it's a very good chance to see what's there, and without being irradiated to hell.  
Lilian Rook Fucil: It's really no problem!
Elym: We're busy with the same thing you are anyways.
Fucil: I thought it might be something like that.
Elym: I can do that. But I've got something important to ask you. Or maybe just remind you of.
Fucil: ?
Elym: Those guys are with the Paladins. These people have technically killed others. If your friends don't just kill the both of them, they'll probably be tried as criminals.
Fucil: Ah. Yeah. I heard from some of the victims about some of the stuff they said.
Elym: Yeah?
Fucil: Apparently, those two don't believe anyone has died at all. They think it's all made up for tension's sake. For the story.
Elym: I'd like to believe that. But that sounds like a cope.
Fucil: Or a lie.
Eryl Fairfax     The water deeply hits the spot, in a way Eryl hasn't felt in over a hundred years. He stares down at his reflection, distorted to mere silhouette by the halo behind him. Was it simply just for this? To remind him of human things he lost so long ago? Briefly, his mind wanders to Tamamo's community kitchens, and ponders dropping by...

    But no. He needs to be on standby in case the bandits strike. Running his wet hands through his hair to dampen it against the day's heat, he returns to the camp. "Apologies for the wait," he says to Phreak with a smile. "I understand you've been preparing your traps in anticipation of the bandits. Mind walking me through what you've set up? I'd hate to blunder into them."
Kirishima "Our reasons for being here should be clear enough by now. We're still on something of a time limit, so we might as well be straightforward when we can afford to." Kirishima tries to reassure Haseo , keeping her voice down as well for his sake.

Despite claiming a time limit, though, she is absolutely going to join on in drinking and bullshitting. Boring office stories are shared along with occasional after-work substory-quality shenanigans, and the stories get just a little less believable the more she drinks. Once it's time to finally get to work, though, Kirishima downs an entire jug of water to clear her head.

"We've got you covered. Between the three of us, I'd be surprised if anyone could actually sneak up on us. Anything that doesn't sneak..." She punches her fist into her palm confidently, then gestures at Haseo with her head. "I'm sure we'll be able to handle them, too. Just in case, though... I've heard dry leaves are pretty good for making noise if anything goes over them. Haseo and I could set up a perimeter to scare off animals that might wander by, or even alert us to less visible foes."
Rita Ma      Rita, sitting atop a counter, kicks her legs giddily and looks up from her chat UI to beam at Tamamo. She seems almost startled, in a happy way: 'good girl' is closer to what she's accustomed to. This is less familiar, and all the more flattering for it. Maybe it is even better.

     "Thanks, Ms. Tamamo! It makes me really happy to be a help, you know." And, implicitly, even happier to be a help in normal ways. "And thank you! I'm really looking forward to getting to try your cooking. I think..."

     She looks off to the side, smiling in bittersweet shyness. "I think it'll taste even better in the game. You know?"

     Rita's shy smile fades for a slightly queasy resolve, legs crossed and arms held over her stomach, when the subject changes. "You're right," she says, her voice quiet. "That's the way it is. But it's..."

     Rita trails off, her eyes landing on the filleted fish on the counter. "Even if you can't blame them. Even if you can't ask them to do anything different. It's still not fair. Nobody likes being seen as a danger, especially for doing nothing wrong. It's an awful feeling."

     "I think Ms. Rook understands that. And you've known it before, too. Haven't you?"
Lilian Rook     When Friz has transcribed a few small guides (really, just compiled investigative info and funny red strings) she is approached by Fucil in town. The girl waves her down with that sky blue semitranslucent hand to get her attention, and asks what she's up to, only then to take great interest in the bookkeeping, and volunteer to use her own crafting skill to replicate them (apparently, book binding being under the same umbrella as leatherwork). She chats animatedly about buying one of the small, uninhabitable buildings in town, and making a library and repository there. A community aid box and shelves of knowledge for newbies coming through.

    Her mood waxes strange and moody by the end of it though. She falls into watching the water and examining where her nails are barely silhouetted. Eventually, she speaks up to ask "Hey. Thanks for being here. But . . . isn't there anything you miss? Anything that bugs you about this?"

    Tamamo's combat level gain is relatively rapid, for possessing nothing much in the way of them prior, and thus beginning at low level, and this being the second area. Lilian herself, as is her usual way, is already grindmaxxing in the exact way the game seems to be built to hate, with her relative omnipresence and extra time, but their work in the woods and fields and wetlands is doubly efficient shared between them. And for once, she's tryharding to help someone else.

    Fishing is tough to get the hang of at first, but once Tamamo is used to its idiosynchrasies, her own memory of actual fishing in real life lends itself well to long combos of successful catches in a row, building up a multiplier and rapidly gaining levels in that too. Lilian, selling and running errands for her, having never touched a (fishing) rod in her life, is not without odd treatment from the NPCs, but those close to her react in slightly spellbound over-cooperativeness, while those afar view her with suspicion.

    "Isn't it only going to get more pronounced as the game goes on?" Lilian eventually asks Tamamo. "I mean, we're more representative of late game players, but sooner or later, everyone else will have accumulated these Traits, and the NPCs will probably still be regular people. That divide will grow for everyone." She watches Rita cleaning fish in blank and mild fascination, waiting for a new haul. "Maybe that's the point. Power that alienates you. The lack of it that brings you together." she says.

    Realizing that she isn't helping the mood, Lilian adds, "Well, if the problem is a lack of leash, we can work on that." whilst she has relative privacy with only Rita as audience, whom she is pretty sure won't get it. "Apologies, but a lack of children might take a little longer to resolve." Slightly smug grin.

    What she has not told anyone is that she has been brutally haggling other players for Tamamo's buff food, taking advantage of their uncertainty at the new area to charge absurd prices for potentially life-saving and actually tasty comfort items.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants >Give Eryl the lay of the ambush arena

     "That was mostly Berc," explains Phreak. "I don't really know a whole lot about that shit. But, he gave me a general idea. So..."

     The layout is comprised of snares, caltrops, and pits, each hidden in a near-circle around the area. The exception to this is a narrow wedge, wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The idea is that Phreak enters the makeshift arena through this wedge, with the two bandits in tow. Once they're inside the ring, he'll turn and begin the fight, at which point Eryl, Rita, and anyone else coming along to help out will file in. Ideally, at least two people will remain in that wedge, to herd the bandits away from a potentially safe escape.

     The traps themselves are as tightly clustered as Bercilak and the crafters could manage, while still allowing enough room for mid-fight footwork and pursuit as necessary.

     "The later they find out about it, the better. We want 'em desperate and scared from the ambush, and double that when they found out we did our homework."
Rita Ma      The scroll of new messages in the window nags at Rita's attention, until she finally pulls her eyes away from the fillet to tap-type at it absentmindedly. That melancholy expression doesn't leave her face.

Rita Ma: Mr. Eryl can decide what he wants.
Rita Ma: If I don't like it, once they've been defeated, I can just
Rita Ma:

     Rita bites her lower lip. Oh. Right.

Rita Ma: Never mind
Rita Ma: But I don't think that'll be a problem.
Rita Ma: We have important questions to ask them, I think. He knows that.
Rita Ma: And...
Rita Ma: It's not about what the people who hurt others deserve.
Rita Ma: It's just about what will get them to stop.
Haseo      "Eh, yeah. Alright, fair enough."

     Haseo doesn't push it, because he doesn't believe his own shit he's saying. When Berc tries to offer him a drink, however, he awkwardly refuses. He may technically be of age to touch that shit now, but it just feels weird. Also, he really doesn't want to end up like the weird drunk guy who spends all his time in the PVP arena. He's pretty sure this is how that sort of mindset gets started. Maybe. He doesn't want to find out! So he'll just stick with water, since asking for milk would definitely make him look more like a little bitch.

     "Protect your back? Yeah, I can do that. Just don't mess it up on your end and it should be pretty easy." Haseo's got his weapon thrown over his shoulder, fully ready to deal with everything, at least, as far as he's concerned. When Kirishima mentions laying traps, he just sort of tilts his head at her like she's speaking some sort of alien language. "Seems kind of pointless when we can just run around in circles and smack whatever comes, but uh, sure? If you feel safer with a bunch of leaf traps, I guess we can burn some time on that."
Friz Moxie: Missing is a type of yearning. Am I supposed to be yearning here?
Grit: This is a death game. Yearn for safety.
Savvy: I mean, is the real world more safe? You don't get respawns.
Moxie: Dirt, pull up something I can yearn about.
Dirt: There's some good friends out there.
Moxie: There's some good friends in here, probably. Anything else?
Dirt: Honestly? Not much, bud.
Savvy: The body's gonna wither away if we just stay logged in forever.
Grit: I can't see that predator.
Savvy: Well, trust me, pal, it's there.

    Between sessions of bookbinding, Friz scratches her head uneasily, making a habitual motion of pushing up glasses she no longer has and then groaning. "Well..." She starts, before she puts her face in her hands a bit. "Body's out there (my physical body, in the real world), you know? Not just mine, everyone else's. People need to be able to take care of that, medical beds don't last forever." There's a long, heavy sigh before she pulls her face out of her hands and looks Fucil dead on.

    "But there's not much for me to miss. It's been at least ten years since I saw a real sunrise (while standing outside on a planet's surface without a mask) and the fake is really appealing. I'm lucky I have a couple plants in my station. All of this is..." She makes a weird, uneasy noise. "It's hard to pull away from (and try to get everyone else away from), you know?"

    "Plenty bugs me though." She goes back to her transcribing, page by page. "All of this is *deliberate*, and it looks like it's set up to use hundreds of thousands of people to do something to maybe a dozen. It's a deliberate thing that hurts so many people to do... something I don't understand, to very few. Either the motivations are unhinged or they're a lot worse than just the deaths are implying." She looks to Fucil, tilting her head and looking hopeful. "You understand what I mean, right? That just can't be how things go, we have to prioritize keeping people safe and then getting them free no matter what is or isn't being 'missed'."
Tamamo     As for the mechanical effects of the dishes Tamamo is making, they continue to be essentially random, as she spends more time experimenting with the variety she can make than in any sort of focus. With Rita's help, she has a much bigger pile of distinct ingredients, which means more things to try, and she simply has to try them all. This only changes if anyone approaches her with a request, and only then does she scan through her growing recipe list and find buffs relevant to whatever it is they want to do -- or, if it's a request for food for the sake of food, she intuits the 'right' dish to prepare to sate them. She needs no menu to help with that. It's a matter of taste and ingredient balances.

    Since she's making things primarily for experimenation purposes, she might as well hand all over them over to Lilian, to use for... whatever purpose Lilian is using them for. Tamamo doesn't ask about the reselling, nor even think about it.

    It's convenient, having a ring, even if she's not the one who consciously put it there. Tamamo's friendly with those who approach, and her reactions to flirting are on the teasing side of chiding, encouraging the men to tend to their own loves without chastising them for their interest too harshly. The elderly who approach her she makes sure to ask, politely, if there's anything they'd like her to make. She's already cooking, and she has this great, big haul, so it's no problem at all. They might even tell her of anything else troubling them.

    'I think it'll taste even better in the game. You know?'

    "It might," Tamamo says. "To not know just what will happen... that is part of the fun, no? The joy of exploration can be found, even in things as small as this." 'This' being Tamamo's latest attempt at making batter-fried fish balls to pass off to Rita. It's street food, neither her usual nor difficult to make, and like most street food, it's best eaten hot.

    She's not yet quite sure how food ages, in the game, but assumes freshness to be important.

    'And you've known it before, too. Haven't you?'

    Ah. "I have, at that, known such feelings. It was... terrible, to take that blame." The rest of what she could say sticks in her throat. It won't come out. If she started talking about those times, it would be hard to stop. And it's not like Rita needs to know. She'll surely never have to experience something like that.

    Tamamo pushes the thoughts out by focusing on the fire. "Might we need a greater cooking station, do you suppose? I wonder what would be necessary for such to be made."

    'Maybe that's the point. Power that alienates you. The lack of it that brings you together.'

    "Perhaps it is, but if one sees the changes happen in a person, there within their own life, those changes become a part of their world. The veteran who returns from war to tend his farm as a changed man is an unknown, a mystery, and a danger, for those to whom he returns know not of those things that changed him. The one who lives by the lake and so loves to swim as to gain fins is a neighbor, with cause and meaning understood. It is not power itself that alienates, but distance. Ah... perhaps. I suppose that I do not know."

    ...whilst she has relative privacy with only Rita as audience, whom she is pretty sure won't get it.

    Tamamo certainly does get it, and gives Lilian a wry smile and a pinch to match her smugness. "One of those might yet give a different impression than intended... than I intended, at the least."
Lilian Rook     The workman takes Bercilak's decision with some surprise; summoning the Velvet Ghost on its own terms seems more than a bit foolhardy, after all, but ends with cryptic approval and a promise to drink later, in a way that feels so oddly heartwarming.

    Trudging off into the woods the way he came means Bercilak knows exactly what spots to avoid and where to go by the trail of split wood and dead monsters, the oldest corpses already starting to magically dissolve into bones as their harvesting timer runs out. Eventually, he finds the special grove from before, and with his starter tinderbox from the tutorial and a ceramic holder given to him by his NPC buddy, he lights the incense, and he, Haseo, and Kirishima, are enveloped by a scent like sweet orange, patchouli, lathed iron, and a tiny bit like old blood-stained stone. The smoke fills the grove surprisingly fast, replicating the fog thickest near the edges of the Ancient Lake area.

    It obscures the arrival (spawn-in?) of the monster too. Its ghostly appearance causes it to all but phase out of the silvery incense mist. A ghostly pale stag, slightly see-through, as if made of fogged glass, filled with silver swirling threads near the surface in place of visible veins, with enormous velvet-covered white antlers, fractally forked instead of grown as proper tines, and eyes that shine faded yellow. It trots fearlessly up to Bercilak, enormous enough to be like a large horse even to the Green Knight.

    Readying his taming Trait causes a name bar to appear. The Velvet Ghost rates a solid orange bordering on red in terms of its level being above his, with no less than four health bars, technically making it a boss. His odds of success with each attempt are pretty low.

    That, and the immediate problem that Kirishima and Haseo aren't part of the quest and don't have their own incense. It turns around from him immediately. Reflected light gathers out of the silvering mist, and streaks in towards a single point between its curled antlers, coalescing into a searing orb of charged up energy with a deep, ominous whine, and then releasing as a seemingly hitscan beam that explodes on impact, dealing a fearsome amount of radiant damage and scouring them with a rapid ticking DoT called Solar Fire, gold icon flashing on their HUD. It seems to burn off a percent of their current HP. And after firing, the ghost disappears. They can only tell it's teleported behind them by the crunch of hooves on the dry leaves they'd left out.
Lilian Rook Elym: Well, it's not like there's any proof they killed for real.
Fucil: I know some people disagree, but come on. People have disappeared between Derivation Bridge and here. Who do you think it is?
Elym: It's possible they just ran out of the boss and got killed by mobs. Why leave players alive all the other times?
Fucil: Just be careful. And assume the worst.
Elym: And hey. Rita. If the Grandmaster gives you any trouble, you can rely on us.
Fucil: Haha, yeah, remember we're Watch in real life too! The two of us are partners, even!
Elym: This kind of world is unfairly fair. There's no way we'd have a shot in meatspace, but here, we've worked pretty hard to get the strength we have.
Eryl Fairfax     Eryl pours over the layout carefully, taking in the positions of each kind of trap, especially the caltrops. In a pinch, being able to grab something sharp would come in handy. "It's a good setup. But now let's talk positions." He indicates the arena ringed with traps and says, "Four people in there is going to be a nightmare. The bandits are likely used to co-ordinating. We are not. And as more people pour in, it'll only get worse."

    He moves his hand now, indicating the areas beyond the ring of traps and continues. "So I suggest one of us is in the arena, and the other harasses them from outside it. Split their attention to create openings for each other."

    He pauses, for a long moment, and looks to be struggling with what he's about to say. Eventually it comes out like a held breath, a gasp inherent in the words.

    "Are you willing to take the inside?" Quickly he continues, explaining why he's asking. "I'm starting to realize my capped CON is handicapping me. If the fight is prolonged, I'm afraid they may get the better of me. Then I'd be a hostage at best. With my sling, I can support you from outside. What do you think?"
Rita Ma      Rita gasps softly when she's passed the fish balls. She pops the first one in her mouth whole and crunches down, immediately overtaken by brilliantly sunny joy. "Mmmmm!" Her little legs kick in irrepressible glee; her eyes are smiled shut. "Thank you so much, Ms. Tamamo! You're the best."

     "It was... terrible, to take that blame."

     Rita, about to bite into her second fish ball, dims slightly in her joy. There's a sympathetic grimace; a glance off to the side. But she takes the swerve in topic adroitly.

     "Mmmm. I'm not sure! It already looks as good as anything I'd used back home. The appliances Ms. Grier has would be even better, but... I don't know how you'd even start to make those. Maybe Mr. Bercilak would know about things in between? He seems like he would."

     A pause passes as she finishes off the second. Then, shyly, she works up the courage to ask: "Ms. Tamamo? Could you do a grilled whole fish? That was always my favorite, but... I haven't had it in a long, long time."

     "Sooner or later, everyone else will have accumulated these Traits..."

     "I don't think everyone, Ms. Rook," Rita insists. "Some people have a picture of themselves they don't want to change that much. But... it does feel like you're tempted away from it." She chews her lip, uneasy with a thought. "Maybe that's the point? Seeing how much temptation people take to change."

     ... whom she is pretty sure won't get it.

     Rita, disastrously, gets it even less than hoped. Casually, between bites of deep-fried fish, she asks: "Ms. Rook? What's a leash?"

     Nobody keeps pets on a boat.
Kirishima "A little pointless, but it couldn't hurt." Kirishima comments to Haseo with a light shrug in return, laughing after a few moments. "Besides, it might be a while before anything actually shows up. It's something to do with our hands besides playing with our ph..."

Right. They don't have their phones here. "... It'll give us something to do until the ritual's done." It's a pleasant smelling ritual, at least, although somewhat odd when Kirishima starts to smell iron and... Blood? It's an ominous sight, to say the least, but she's keeping her eyes peeled even with so much fog while scattering those leaves all over the place.

That ghostly stag does appear soon enough, though, and its appearance is certainly something that catches Kirishima off guard with its freaky antlers and eyes that leave her speechless. She holds her position as it approaches him, only glancing towards Haseo briefly to see what he's doing before observing the creature('s ghost) once again.

When it turns to face her and Haseo, though, Kirishima brings up her lightly armored fists in front of herself on reflex. It won't help her much when the Velvet Ghost fires off that burning DOT-hell beam at them, though, and even getting glanced by it gives the ninja-bandit-office worker some nasty burns.

More concerning, though, is the percentage based damage. "Dammit... Alright, tanking this isn't an option. We'll have to focus on evasion while Bercilak handles the taming. Ears open, Haseo, and... This way." Kirishima turns slowly when she hears the crackle of those leaves behind her, then gestures at Haseo to follow her before moving towards Bercilak, then past him to try and draw the Velvet Ghost his way.
Lilian Rook     At least the gains from training are not insignificant. It's a 'free' level, in something that would only very slowly trickle upwards throughout the game. The fog of war on Ishirou's map expands by a few percentage points. Dumping money into Scouting would become extremely advantageous in the long run, simply having full maps of areas he enters.

    Unfortunately, nobody really wants to go near the Split. Alas, he does not benefit from Watch contacts here either; the Paladins benefit is Eryl's organizational credit. The players here are more experienced than in Clef, but not hardened Elites, and have no wish to go near the optional hyperchallenge area to gamble with their lives for curiosity's sake, and he can't pay them enough. Being a support twink with no civilian skills is rough.

    Still, he already knows the early area is safe; around that warding(?) stone at least. It's easy for him to sneak in and intensely scan the surrounding warped mirror of the Ancient Lake, without the exoplanet-like storm surrounding him.

    He's barely inside when he detects sound from the camp. Life signs, too. It's not exactly rocket science to simply hide behind a wall, and be thankful that the Split works like a door and not a flashy teleporter.

    He can hear crackling fire. Scraping metal. Closer than the haunting croons and crackling thunder far off in the distance. Two voices, one femine, sharp, vocal fry, one more masculine, soft, varying in pitch. Obviously conversing. With his scanner abilities, he is in his element eavesdropping.

"They're not going to move out any time soon . . ."
"So? It's not as if we have to charge into town."
"They're going to come looking."
"And? I told you. Don't let the Traits fool you! They're cheating. We already verified they looked that way in Clef on week one!"
"I still think we should go back to Beachhead though. Even if there's less to get, we'll actually be safer in a huge crowd like that. They're investigating, I'm sure. The regular players already set up a guard."
"You know I hate crowds."
"You hate people."
"Don't you?"
"Not as much as you do."
"Well, whatever. We're not real bandits or anything. It's not as if we're going to starve. This is all to get ahead and stay ahead, and progress the quest everyone is too scared to touch!"
"I think we're already at the lead of the pack though?"
"Exactly! This is a videogame. Even if they are Paladins, and they're used to fighting in real life, here, the rules say we have as much power as they do. We don't have to target them. We're sticking around here until they move on to the next main dungeon. Then we can wait on the other side there too."
"Still . . ."
"Don't worry. I won't make you fight them."
"But I can't let you go alone."
"Relax! I'm just checking out the rumour."
"You want to meet the special character."
"She has eyes like mine, right? She must be connected to the Everse plotline."
"You want to know if she's like you."
"Maybe. If she's even a PC."
Lilian Rook     Fucil makes a noncommittal noise when Friz mentions her body, and a harder noise, accompanied by a grimace, at the mention of her circumstances. "I'm sorry to hear that." she says, and she sounds like she means it. "These games attract people like that, though. People who are focused on what they're going to do tomorrow aren't attracted to what they can do in a fictional space. It's people like you who do. Bad homes, hospitals, pit stop towns, places where nobody understands them or they can't go far. Or people who don't like their bodies. Where they can't go anywhere, or can't be happy."

    "It's not like there's no benefit to being here." Fucil reluctantly agrees. "But I worry about that too. About the plan for all of us. And . . ." She sighs. "You know, I got this Trait from pulling Elym out of a Dissonance. A really nasty one, in the next dungeon; we barely got into it. I've had it for a little while, and in some ways, it's great. My hand doesn't shake or sweat on the gun. I can open chests and doors with ease. I can touch Dissonances without anything happening. But it's like . . . I want to make it sound mystical, but people live like this in real life, don't they? People we don't think about or talk to. People who live with the feeling of something being 'missing', and don't get any cool powers to make up for it."

    "I wonder, if these things keep happening, if I need these powers, if I'll still be the same person when I get back. That's what bugs me more."
Tamamo     "You are most kind to say so, Ms. Rita," Tamamo says, in response to the praise. It's her smile and her relaxed tone that communicates that she's accepted the compliment, and not deflected it, rather than the words, themselves.

    "Grilled whole, is it? Why, of course, how could I not? You might even choose the type, for yourself. Surely we have enough remaining... and if we do not, we can always go to the lake and catch some more, no? It is wide enough that I do not think we shall lack for..."

    Tamamo trails off, then puts two fingers to her chin. "Do you suppose that it is not possible to overfish a lake, within the game? Will the creatures all return, no matter our hunting, so long as we do not hold its depths within our sight? I understand this to be a thing true of such games, and yet, it is somewhat foreign to my own thoughts, and I have wondered which expectation should be correct. When many more have arrived in this land... ah, it would be terrible were they to find waters run dry and soil overtaxed, but such has not occurred in the previous area, by the city of Clef, and so, I expect that it is a needless worry."

    Whatever Rita chooses, Tamamo sets it to grill, taking care only to keep its heating mostly even. So long as you don't burn it, it's no big deal to grill anything whole. More interesting is whether she has anything appropriate in the way of spices, but they haven't been spending time in the forests, so she's not sure what's locally harvestable.

    'Ms. Rook? What's a...'

    Tamamo's hands pause for just a moment, mid-preparation, as she glances toward Lilian.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants >Forest Gang

     "Oh, good idea. Once you guys get a circle around us, I'll light this thing up," says Bercilak. His lantern eyes at least serve as a decent way of spotting where he is, in the gloom of the forest. "Don't stray too far. It's more dangerous here after dark."

     He lights the incense in a clearing, once Kirishima and Haseo have established that perimeter of dried leaves. Two burning red eyes peer out into the forest, waiting for the appearance of the Velvet Ghost. It doesn't disappoint.

     His hand outstretches, readying his taming trait--only to be slapped for percent damage by a punishing damage-over-time. His absurd regenerative capabilities can see him through it, but Kirishima and Haseo only receive a portion of that assistance, substantial though it might be.

     Despite the alarming amount of damage, Bercilak holds out a palm to Kirishima and Haseo both. "Don't. The only thing I want it 'drawn' by is what I have to say. If that isn't enough, we failed. This isn't something that will tolerate being cheated or manipulated. That was setting terms, just now. It gets done the Ghost's way, or not at all. Let me *talk* to it. No tricks. Otherwise, it's going to hurt the both of you faster than I can keep you up."

     He looks out into the mist, and calls, his voice booming with the authority of a far-off guardian of the forest. "Spirit," he calls, turning a 180 even as his health yo-yos. "Venerable Velvet Ghost, guardian of the Split. Before you leave this place, hear me, Bercilak of the High Wasteland, half of man and half of the forest." He isn't thinking about it in terms of 'a quest in a game,' but thinking of it as it's presented before him--a mythical creature he's gravely offended.

     "You're known to punish arrogant hunters, and so am I, among other things. I could have called you anywhere, but I called you here, in the place you were most comfortable, so that you could hear me in the truest sense. For me to appear before you alone would be the same as saying I gathered your offerings alone. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for these two. They have no wishes to ask of you--they only wanted to support me in mine. Before you leave us, *please* listen to what I have to say. "

     Bercilak's clarity dips to zero to keep Kirishima and Haseo safe, his health still erratically bouncing up and down.

     "The world of men and the world of the forest is connected." Bercilak remains within the circle of leaves, thickly made arm outstretched to bid Haseo and Kirishima's patience. "You know this, because yours is to live in the forest and guard the Split from the predations of men. When men fall upon lean times, the forest suffers, too, and has need of your protection. When the desperate become thieves, sacred places become targets. The world of men is, right now, poised for more desperate times than the days when your stranded forefathers walked among the living. My wish, as one eternal creature to the other, is that you join me as my steed, because I can bear neither the prolonged suffering of mortal hearts nor the ruination of old and sacred places where people once lived and laughed, nor the destruction of the place you call your home, which will all come to pass if you and I don't form this accord."
Kirishima When Bercilak explains his process, however, Kirishima stops. There's some hesitation evident in her eyes alone even though her mask obscures the rest of her face, but she relents with a slow nod. "... Understood. I'll trust in your ability, then."

She nods towards Haseo, then stops moving. It takes a bit longer for her to lower her arms to her sides and to let Bercilak's protection handle the rest, as the concern is kind of hard to hide. Still, he made his case, and the ninja isn't one to deny the Green Knight when he's so willing to put himself in that sort of danger to see this through.

She looks like she wants to say something to the Ghost, too, but she keeps quiet there as well. Best not to distract Bercilak or the Velvet Ghost, especially if it might still be on a hair trigger around people that aren't the quest taker.
Ishirou Ishirou sighs...nobody wants to come to dangerous places and look into the secrets of the game.  It's probably his eyes, he thinks, not the inherent danger or anything like that.  It's clearly him looking scary, and nothing else.  Clearly /this right here is the problem/.  The others with him have their own things.  

The Green Knight and his quest, he's sure that Phreak hates him...  Lilian, Tamamo, and Rita look so happy with their things, and he couldn't bring himself to bother him over this.  Friz and The Grandmaster are focused on the bandits...

Oh well, he'll have to do this on his own.  Getting into the area again, he hears voices almost immediately and dives into hiding.  He makes sure to keep himself out of sight as he focuses on his hearing.  Getting their conversation, he takes what he hears and leaks it over the radio after getting their attention.

Right now he'll have to coordinate with the others, there is no way he could do this on his own...though he looks around.  What could he do to try and get them to go outside again..?  
Rubi-Kan Vagrants >Eryl: Are you willing to take the inside?

     "You got it, chief," says Phreak with absolute confidence. Dancing through tightly clustered fuckfests of danger is a specialty for limber DEX builds like him, especially with his Wraith skill.

     "That--" It might be best not to insult Ishirou in front of the guy who probably hired him. Phreak runs his organic hand through his hair. "*Ishirou* is saying he can lure 'em out, maybe. So I'll chill out here and make sure he knows to stay out of the circle once I have 'em."
Rita Ma Rita Ma: Thank you so much! ^^
Rita Ma: Both of you! I really mean it.
Rita Ma: The same way, I'm
Rita Ma: used to being a lot stronger in real life, than I am here.
Rita Ma: So I'm sorry I can't be as much of help to you. v_v
Rita Ma: We'll talk to Lavis and Vermillion. We have to. I promise that.
Rita Ma: I think Mr. Eryl already made plans for how to catch them.
Rita Ma: We'll be moving out soon, so make any preparations you need to!

     With that, Rita hops down from the counter, her giddiness fully topped off by Tamamo's acceptance, and sorts through the unfamiliar freshwater fish for something that most resembles the sea bass with which she's familiar. Finding something that looks appropriate, she hands it off to Tamamo with reverence. "Here you go! I always just had it with salt, Ms. Tamamo, but if you think of anything that might be good with it, I'm happy to try!"

     'Overfishing' is a term that's visibly unfamiliar to her. She chews on it as she hops back up onto her tabletop seat. "You mean, you wonder if things will just run out? The scrap piles near the dungeon did, but they came back after a while. I feel like the fish will work the same way."
Lilian Rook     Batter isn't hard to get. Flour is easy here, vegetable oil is frequently used, and given the large birds, eggs can be sourced with a bit of effort. Tamamo finds food freshness buried in the item info as a small timer, where it degrades in quality over time unless properly packed and stored. The best she has access to at this time is some fancy wax paper substitute with insulative properties like foil, which cuts down spoilage from the average of 'most of a day' to 'several days', but given that it has a tier, there is implicitly better. Some foods obviously last much longer, and tend to have weaker and longer-lasting buffs. Trail food, sort of. Ingredients, oddly, don't spoil, but they're weight-inefficient to carry in-inventory (not being entirely realistic), and setting up cooking stations isn't viable in most dangerous places. An oddity is that food remains piping hot for its entire first, freshest stage of spoilage, which can last for a slightly silly length of time.

    "Probably higher grade metals, and a higher grade fuel source." says Lilian. "It doesn't seem to actually consume fuel, but it's represented in the crafting recipe. That, and metal quality, are part of cookware, right? If only we had any mining or forging in this party, I swear." She grumbles something about 'weirdos living in closets'.

    "Maybe. But aren't we going to be strangers to each new place we reach?" she says, to the following topic. "Either way, the players are strangers this, both the situation and in the game's universe." She then makes a little noise at the pinch. "H-hey!"

    She looks to Rita with a slightly uneasy, if sincere, half-smile. "Maybe. I don't know what it's like for most people. How they'd react to changing things like that. How they'd live with it. What would get to them and what wouldn't." She gently touches her little antlers, frowns, and then smiles in a strange way, lowering her hand to examine the holographic ring. "I think I don't mind this too much. It's a bit strange, but in a pretty way. And it doesn't feel uncomfortable."

    She then chokes at the question. Nobody keeps pets on a boat.

    "It's . . . something people use to lead domestic animals around." she says, evasively. "I was joking. Obviously. Tamamo isn't a pet or an animal. She was talking about people being afraid of claws if the animal isn't domesticated. That's why it's funny." Her tone is sweaty.

    She tries to brush it off by continuing to talk to Tamamo. "That's how it is. Humans can't be trusted not to ruin their environment in real life, so they certainly can't be trusted in a game. And if people naturally make a game un-fun, it won't be a very good game." She tilts her chin with a fingertip thoughtfully. "I think it's supposed to represent how fish and trees renew themselves in nature, more simplistically. And it simply assumes players are gathering them in sustainable equilibrium, by not letting them gather past a certain amount for a while." she says, interpreting the concept of grind and time gating very, very charitably. "Honestly though, I like this place. More than Clef. If we had to choose, I'd rather we set up base here. It's not even far from the Waycadence."
Haseo      Berc explains what he wants to do, and Haseo just nods. Not his quest, so that just means he needs to follow orders. It's a nice change of pace honestly to not be the one who's asked to come up with a gameplan.

     When the ghost deer arrives, everything seems to be going well? At least, he kind of assumed it was, up until the thing fires an extremely oppressive debuff. Haseo's not Berc, but the power of his verse Terror helps when it comes to dealing with the DoT, even if he didn't have assistance. Most notably, the DoT's timer on him seems to be expiring way faster than it should, the timer visibly going down at an alarming rate despite the damage ticking as it should. Doesn't make it any less annoying to deal with, however, and a situation he doesn't want to be in even if his health bar is doing a pretty decent job at just refusing to move. He really doesn't want to test the limits of his bullshit and where they stop.

     "Look. I know our health bars are a bit jank, but if you don't sweet talk this thing soon, well..."

     He's gonna start slashing at the thing. He's not dying to a freaking ghost deer. He'd rather not die at all, really! As he says this, he turns around to where he heard the leaves crinkle, his hand on the hilt of his weapon as he prepares himself, though he still hasn't fully drawn it.
Friz Savvy: Moxie, give me what you've got. You're the yearner.
Moxie: It's hard to want to be something new.
Moxie: It's hard to want to become different.
Moxie: It's hard to yearn for a change.
Dirt: I guess that means it's hard to perceive all the good things that come after change.
Grit: You must endure to see.

    "I think... yeah. I don't think I can tell you something that'll make it sound good to change like that." Friz slumps very slightly, resting her chin on folded arms. "This is a disaster, and disasters change people. 'The same person' (that is, a total continuity of self or aspects of the self) I think is always sort of a tenuous idea. It's never clear, and I think, it never can be. I think a person is not a thing, but a motion. That saying about the river (how you can't step in the same river twice (because of the water always being different)) feels like the right idea. Change was already happening and you already knew how to endure it while staying the same person... right?"

    She pops her head up, uneasily tilting her head. "Right? I'm, uh, I'm not actually sure about this. I have to kind of guess. You've changed more than me, do you still think you're the same person? Did it just... erode the riverbank wider? Or did the stream shift a bit? Or does that just not fit at all...?"

    She puts a hand to her ear, an instinctive action that doesn't fit the game's actual voice chat. "Oh, they're... they're going after the bandits soon. I should be there, I need to help out." She stands from where they were working, grabbing up her gun and focusing on her new Piercing technique. She'll need to go coordinate with Phreak to find a space to do her hunting-style ambush...
Lilian Rook     The mean thing about percent damage is that Bercilak's regeneration essentially equalizes with it at a point. The higher his HP, the more severe the DoT, whilst his regeneration is a static value. It may as well be greying out a chunk of his max health. Which is nasty, but at least can't actually kill him by itself. It seems a dev already prepared for regen tanks to exist, though. Haseo and Kirishima soon find out that it has another attack besides the beam: lethal hoof strikes and charging antler gores, both of which are relatively predictable, but fast and difficult to avoid.

    They have just enough penetration to render their light armour basically useless; clearly this is the one-two punch it uses; powerful DoT to keep players at low health, then knock them out with a fast, linear, armour penetrating attack to chunk off the bottom portion of their bar. Haseo actually attacking it focuses aggro on him. Annoyingly, it seems to have enormous resistance to physical damage, as his blades mostly pass through it. It has a pattern, but it's a rough one; a brief charge, a powerful hitscan attack with a large blast and DoT, then a teleport, a charge or strike, another teleport, another charge or strike, and then one or two more, followed by another teleport and another beam. Without scouting or sensory skills, it's hard to keep track of, and difficult to dodge already.

    Strangely, as Bercilak talks, he sees his success rate indicator crackle with pixellated distortion, then begin to rapidly climb. 2.1%. 3.8%. 5.9%. 8.6%. 13.4%. It doesn't seem natural, yet it doesn't seem unintentional.

    With Haseo and Kirishima on defense, it's only a matter of time. With the entire party wavering on low health, bouncing up and down with nerve-wracking severity, his final taming attempt works, and the monster's name turns green. The creature ceases attacking, and its health bars smoothly collapse down. It turns and slowly trops to Bercilak, lowers its head, and then between its antlers, where the attack previously formed, a bright light materializes a spinning trinket. A totem, of some sort, made of braided vine rope and bone and bead and onyx. It scans as Proof of Bond - Velvet Ghost - Tier 6. A summoning item. Or, a 'pact', as the lore description states. It costs Clarity to summon the mount. A lot. But the abilities he sees are already disgusting. Speed: 60kph HP: 42,000 CL: 10,000 Desummon: 50% at 75% Attacks: Solar Rebuke, Phantom Step, Air Step, Diamond Gore, Trample, Kick.

    Something else appears too. The crackling static fizzles into his center vision, and the hissing notification clicks out, one character at a time, as if being typed: NEW PRIME ASSESSMENT: D+
Rita Ma      "I don't think 'normal' people would take it that well," Rita says, her gaze drifting past Lilian out towards the NPCs in the communal kitchen. The final fried fish ball is nibbled on slowly, keeping a little smile on her face. "Somebody who's never felt that kind of thing... I guess it wouldn't be built up so big in their heads. But they wouldn't be used to it at all, either."

     Then she glances back, tilts her head, and beams. "The nubblies really do suit you, Ms. Rook. But I'm not sure there's anything I'd like, like that. Being just like this is perfect for me. Even this..." She looks down at her chest and taps on the tiny spark of light visible within it, her sole evident Trait. "It's not bad. But I'd rather not have it."

     "It's... something people use to lead domestic animals around."
     "Mmmm. I get it! She's definitely not an animal, but Ms. Tamamo is really domestic, right?" Rita draws her shoulders in and smiles with a little giggle. It's hard to imagine she meant it as anything but a compliment.

     "... I like it here, too, though. Even if I think we could do more good in Clef, this feels nicer. Like..." Rita drums her fingers on the countertop, glancing back out at the village. She seems a little pensive, again. "I don't know. Something I was missing."
Kirishima Although the physical danger is great, Kirishima's opted to place her faith in Bercilak's efforts. Even when she sees those beams coming and those charging attacks flying right at her, she holds her ground and trusts in the Green Knight's ability to take it all even with her instincts screaming at her to try shoving him out of the way, to drag him to safety, to fight back against the Velvet Ghost.

Against all odds, Bercilak's efforts succeed. Tired and battered, Kirishima's almost considering getting her fists up to do the logical thing Haseo had suggested, but it works! She eyes the totem, stepping forward to get a better look at it before grinning at both Bercilak and Haseo from behind her mask.

"Good work, Bercilak. Haseo. I've still got plenty to learn, it looks like." She chuckles lightly and claps the former on the shoulder gently with one hand while digging out a few healing potions out of her bag to offer to the two. "It'd probably be more cost effective not to use these, but... Just in case?"

She won't force them to take these things, but the offer is certainly there. "Do you think this... Er. The Velvet Ghost. Would it be a bad idea to summon this in town, or.. Might it be useful for reassuring everyone in town?"
Ishirou Ishirou, after hearing what they were talking about, and planning with the others has a plan.  He waits for the others to gather at the point right outside of their camp, and the door.  It would take some maneuvering, so while he waits he starts plotting a course.  He also takes time to optimize alternative courses, and ways to swamp from one to the other should things not go to plan.  

He shoots these out toward Phreak, checking with him and coordinating.  

Once he has word that they're ready for the ambush, he gets up and takes a breath.  He has POD float out and hang near some of the supplies a bit back from their camp, so he can make an ambush of his own.  It isn't about stopping them, but both making them angry and to get them to focus on him.

Then he draws his rapier and places a jaunty hat on his head.  To do this he has to max out his toxicity rating as well as look as smug as he possibly can.  He also remembers all of the times people have called him smug and then remembers the files he has on Kale.  Alright, he's got a plan.  

He purposely kicks over a barrel and makes it look like an accident.  Part of it is to look stupid, but also act like you're overconfident.  He lets out a small curse and then speaks up.  "You hate people because you're not a people person.  Obviously, you just need to get better at talking to people, like I am.  I am the best at talking to people, like you.  You're people, right?"

He coughs, "Regardless, you have fallen into my trap.  Peacefully follow me out to the exit here and quietly put your hands out.  I'll have to get the rope that exists on the other side of the portal!" Then, he throws a hand out, aiming to try and weaken their stats with a weak biohacking attempt.  He'll pause, and then a moment later, runs like hell toward the portal.  Making it look like he realized he messed up and failed instead of trying to simply make it easier to run from them.

The moment they get close enough, POD fires a beam of energy to try and throw smoke up, make things harder to see, and then recall it to himself.  He runs through the portal and gets far enough away to keep within range of them...then starts leading them toward Phreaks' trap, and the ambush party.

"You can't catch me, because I too am blessed by Everse!" Ishirou says a complete lie, but trying to bait them along...or just really make them mad.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      Never is Bercilak more reminded of mortal frailty than when he is called upon to defend it. Even then, however, he can be certain that they'll be fine in the long term, so long as he's present. Here, fighting and living by the rules of an unknown architect, the luxury of that certainty is gone.

     Haseo has his own means of counteracting the debuff--but even so, the Green Knight called upon him and Kirishima both for their help, and is thus responsible for making sure they come out okay against an enemy that is powerful enough to push either of them past the threshold his nanites could keep them fighting. There is the matter of the compact he struck with all the players here--which, theoretically, might save either of them--but he doesn't know and doesn't care to find out.

    It is a unique kind of precarious position, a fear which he is unused to feeling even during his most hard-fought battles. An equally overwhelming relief washes out the fear in great, crashing waves, once the fight is over with and the Velvet Ghost bows its head.

    He reaches out and takes the totem, turning the proof of their pact over in his hand. "Thank you," he says softly. "It's a beautiful thing. It's mine to make pacts--but I've never held one in my hand before," says the Green Knight, gently running a gauntleted hand along the Ghost's pelt, petting it in slow, soothing motions. "I like it a lot."

    His burning red eyes squint in mild confusion, focusing in on the hissing notification in his center of vision. 'Prime Assessment' may as well be another language to him. He shrugs, and ferrets the totem away in his inventory.

>Kirishima: Would it be a bad idea to summon this in town?

    "The foundation of a relationship between rider and steed is one of respect and understanding," Bercilak says, turning to Kirishima to place a gauntlet lightly upon her shoulder. "If I call upon it, then I'm making a call for my partner to help me, not for a badge to wave around. " That statement may provoke some thought about his riding skills outside of the game, and the attitude he brings to the craft.

     The offer of a potion is received with a warm smile and a shake of his head. "Thanks, Kirishima--but you should hold onto it. My Endless trait and Haseo's Terror should keep us topped off. Besides, it's good to have those as an oh-shit, in case he or I can't get to you."

     Bercilak wraps his thickly corded arms around both Haseo and Kirishima, bringing them in for a surprise bear hug, and lifting each of them off the ground ever so slightly. "Couldn't have done it without you guys. Let's get back to town--the others'll be working on those bandits, and I wanna be around to hear what they have to say."
Tamamo     'Humans can't be trusted not to ruin their environment in real life, so they certainly can't be trusted in a game.'

    "Though there are some as I would trust, there is great effort required, and enforcement of laws is... hardly something with which one should be preoccupied in play, no?" Tamamo isn't actually well-versed in the kind of social dynamics that sometimes arise in long-term multiplayer games.

    'If we had to choose, I'd rather we set up base here.'

    "It is rather pleasant, I think. It is a bit more dangerous, perhaps, but not to a degree that should dissuade us. I would only worry that the landscape changes should it become too crowded."

    '...but Ms. Tamamo is really domestic, right?'

    "...yes, just so, Ms. Rita."

    Tamamo thinks for a moment.

    "A leash is one mark of ownership, to distinguish the dangerous animal from one that remains with humans, whether as part of their family or by some other arrangement. Humans, as well, have similar marks, for similar purposes."

    She leaves that hanging to give Rita her grilled !bass, before it's time for them to go.