Post by The Big Cheese on Oct 13, 2015 10:37:12 GMT -6
This tree, revered by its people, is called Yggdrasil. I stand once again, here at the forest entrance looking up into the sky, though the impenetrable branches obscure my view. As the legend goes, you see, the Earth was once flooded beneath the ocean. The people of the five continents, seeking an escape from the deluge, took to a castle in the sky and awaited the flood's recession to return here to their homeland. Though nobody's ever seen it, the people of High Lagaard believe themselves the direct descendants of the people who descended this floating castle.
And so, they turned to Yggdrasil. From deep within its roots to the heights of its branches, there they uncovered a Labyrinth. Inside of that Labyrinth, was monsters. To defeat these monsters and uncover the truth of the floating castle, the Duke issued a decree; together with the city, explorers from across the land would be welcomed into the city, with promises of fame and fortune therein.
Forming Explorers' Guilds, many brave adventurers attempted to reach the labyrinth's heights, and to this day none have succeeded. I try not to ask myself why I bother trying, either; I don't know. But something about the mysteries of the floating castle compel me... and hopefully they compel my good friends, too.
With a deep breath, I head back into town. Today's the day...
It appears that the animated city is full of explorers... fortunately, they all seem to clear out of my way. Probably because of my loyal bear companion. Already a bit late, I rush to the Explorer's Guild, where my companions await.
Inside, I arrive just in the nick of time. The woman inside with the terrifying armour is Marion, the Guildmaster. She's actually quite a dear, as long as you don't get on her bad side. I can feel the disapproval from underneath her helmet as her head shifts slightly to watch me step in. She's already talking to my comrades and doesn't allow for any breaks in the conversation.
"If you wish to become an explorer, you must first establish a guild. A guild exists as a group of comrades that aid each other through the perilous Labyrinth. So how about it, explorers...? Well, it's the first day of the new year. Shall we commemorate it with a new guild?"
We all raise our hands high, expressing our eagerness to get started. Beaming with pride and sounding like he's choking back tears, our leader waits until we settle down to give a reply.
"I know what I have to do, and so does the rest of my guild! We can't let the monsters take away what progress we've made!" He declares.
"Good enthusiasm. That's what I like to see, explorer." Marion replies. "Just write the desired name for your guild on this line. I'm sure that many in this city will welcome a new guild with open arms."
I can't see what our leader wrote on the page, but it doesn't take Marion's acknowledgement for me to get the gist of it. We had to be united be something, after all...
"Guild 'CYOAverse,' huh...? I've never heard of that name before. Is it some foreign tongue, perhaps...? Regardless, it has a nice ring to it." Marion seems to cast any line of questioning she might have pursued aside, giving us all a briefing on what to expect. "...Well, that aside, it's time for you to register explorers with your guild. You can also register yourself, and personally explore the Labyrinth alongside your allies, if you wish. ...But as the head of the Explorers Guild, I will give you one piece of advice. Choose your members wisely, as you may only register up to 25 members with your guild."
I shiver a little bit. We don't even have that, but if we did... we'd need every one. After all, the rules of the labyrinth... are as follow...
- Classic/Expert
- A guild member who is knocked unconscious will remain in that state for one ingame hour.
- If a guild member cannot be revived within that hour, they are considered dead and can't be resuscitated.
- In the event of a party wipe, all current party members are considered dead on reload and their equipment can't be salvaged as they are lost to the Labyrinth.
- Cross-class Grimoire stones can't be used to give one member the abilities of a different class. However, in-class Grimoire stones can be used to bring skills beyond level 10.
- Absolutely no use of the floor jump feature.
- A guild member who is knocked unconscious will remain in that state for one ingame hour.
- If a guild member cannot be revived within that hour, they are considered dead and can't be resuscitated.
- In the event of a party wipe, all current party members are considered dead on reload and their equipment can't be salvaged as they are lost to the Labyrinth.
- Cross-class Grimoire stones can't be used to give one member the abilities of a different class. However, in-class Grimoire stones can be used to bring skills beyond level 10.
- Absolutely no use of the floor jump feature.
I'm awakened from my reverie when our leader calls out to me.
"Hey, Cheese! Come get signed up already!"
This is me. And my pet bear, BigCheese. I don't remember much about who we are or where we came from, all I know is that we were both found unconscious in the Labyrinth, with the only hint about our identities being an insignia of the knights of Caledonia I wore. Maybe BigCheese remembers something... he's pretty loyal and all, but we can't get much out of him seeing as how he's a bear.
The others in the guild say I'm the laziest person in it... and they'd probably be right. But I am taking the effort of recording our journey. Let's take it from the top...
This is Neo, our guild leader. He's a giant among men and a bit like a father to us, not least of all since he'd give his life to keep us safe. He used to be a town guard here in High Lagaard, but he retired after his patrol was routed by monsters in the second stratum. He decided to take on the Labyrinth again, after hearing that an especially powerful monster has been blocking entrance to the floor where he lost his friends.
If I had any complaints... he does occasionally take his mystification over dragons a bit far.
This is SMEXy. She's pretty much Neo's right hand m--er... woman, and a master of swordplay. A wandering mercenary, she was already aventuring with Neo when I was found. We've become fast friends since.
Even though we flirt a lot... I don't really see her as a girl, for some reason.
Crow here is a real miracle worker. He can save lives and bash in heads with equal efficiency, and I'd feel a lot less enthused about joining this guild if he wasn't with us. He can be a bit morbid, but I guess that comes with the territory of being in medicine. He'll probably save my life someday.
That is, if he's not in some foreign headspace birdwatching while we explore.
The power couple are GX and Golurk respectively. It's really hard to take these two separately and I think I'd rather not try. They came from a land across the sees called Etria, hoping to make a living somewhere with a less thoroughly explored Yggdrasil Labyrinth.
Their respective skill sets seem to be giving monsters tummyaches and striking flamboyant poses. I guess GX is some kind of medic too...?
Oh, Mister X. I love this friggin' guy. He's happy to take on the role of comic relief any time and his good natured, spry persona makes him seem more youthful than he really is. He spent a long time as a drifter and a gatherer before reaching High Lagaard.
He's normally pretty tame, but when somebody gets hurt HE HAS FURY!
Emppy, a lovable sarcastic jerk who bugs me about my inactivity more than any other. He's always the first to make his difficulties with others known, but I can tell it's just because he wants things resolved and held together. I'm not sure where he came from or how he learned to use a whip like that, but I ain't complaining...
He seems to think GX is a witch, for some reason. I haven't the slightest clue where he got that idea...
HHD is our local hyper nerd. And I mean that in the most reverent sense possible! She's got a superior attitude and lack of expressed care for the rest of us which I must admit I find tantalizing. I can only assume she's with us because there's a soft spot in there somewhere.
I don't think she'd mind if someone confused some aspect of her personhood. She'd probably find it irrelevant.
Percifen's a funny guy. He's always so serious that we can never tell when he actually is joking! Still, though, he's a solid combatant even if he tends to take on as glorious a title as he can make up on the spot.
Now if only I could remember which one he's going by now...
Digi is the youngest member of our guild, but far from helpless. He strongly looks up to Neo and his positive, aspiring attitude raises all of our morale. He's apparently in quite a high standing elsewhere, but he chooses to be here with us instead.
Probably the most active member of the guild, I could stand to learn a thing or two.
Forty is one of the more popular members of our guild outside of the guild. Although his personality is quite charming, it does seem to earn him Almost as many enemies as it does friends. I don't really get it, myself.
The story behind his name is... interesting, to say the least.
Last but not least, we have Grayjack. She hasn't got as strong a presence as the others, but she's a helpful member of the guild and synergises well with most of us, although she may even be less active than myself.
She's oddly protective over her cute navel, but it really just gives the impression that she's more into it than any of the rest of us.
With sign-ups out of our way, we all say our farewells to Marion for now, who recommends we keep a minimal formation for exploring. Neo chooses to take SMEXy, HHD, Crow and I as the first team. Although Marion recommends that we get to know the other townsfolk before heading into the Labyrinth. We're on our way to do so, but damn is recording this hard work. And I can only take up to 30 pictures a day! So I think I'll have a break...
