.cal//sign

[Gwen Ryuunami]

Notes: aaaah, I don't know if anybody here has seen .hack//sign. I stole their title. But that's because I couldn't think of a good one.........

If any of the society names are repeated by accident, I apologize. except for famous names like Neverdie I'm trying to make up ones not in existance on the game.

Oh! I should mention, I'm writing anime style its the only one I know. I even picked a fic themsong........ (steals from Code Geass) Kaidoku Funou

Summary: Enrik was always a sickly young man, after being bedridden on his 18th birthday, he picks up an innocent game called Entropia, and gets more than he bargained for when he's sucked in! Now he needs help from local society Calypso Dragons to effect an escape!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We think a flower on a cliff is beautiful, because we stop our feet at the cliff's edge, unable to step out into the sky, like that fearless flower. --- Flower on the Precipice, Tite Kubo

Its dark, its dark and tingling. And there are lights, green like the binary code on a computer.......... slow, why is my mind so slow... its like I'm dreaming.......

Location: Port Atlantis

The woman was bored..........

Oh yeah very.

About average avatar height, she'd picked a hairstyle normally worn by men, just pretty much blown backwards into a spikey sapphire blue mass. She was an overly busty, definately topheavy, figure bristling with muscle. Add in the tanned copper colored skin with face paint in ultramarine blue stripes on each cheek, the v marking of the same color on her forehead, the trenchcoat that really should be taken to a repair terminal it had gotten so ragged, the pale gold eyes, huge grin, and one of the larger blp rifles available on the market and you had one. bad. ass. chick.

Somebody most avatars avoided, because she looked like something out of a pirate queen's fashion fantasies.

And she was Bored. BORED. BORED!

Escaping from the high traffic around the teleport area, she'd hidden herself in an area only frequented by the greenest of the green. The new player entry area at Port Atlantis.

Demi Wyvern Synthi was not the kind of figure that one provoked, messed with, or harassed. She'd shoot down a mob soon as look at it, dropped probes without respect for life, limb and property, and had been found to be the culprit behind more than one train of atrox through Swamp Camp.

And she was bored.........

There are only so many times you can clean a gun, or a collection of guns, before you get bored. When you've cleaned the marber plasma sniper rifle taken as a trophy off a rippersnapper guardian for the 5th time? Definately time to find something new to occupy your time.

Demi almost missed the new player shaking out his hair by the arrival zone. "Now there's something you don't see everyday, a normal looking avatar." Demi snickered.

Normal was about right, the boy, and yes the avatar looked young, had pale brown hair, almost silver in apperaance. His skin was pale too, but his eyes were red. Bright scarlet red. And there was no mistaking the jumpsuit. "OYE! Hi there!" Demi called out with a huge grin.

The boy blinked, shaking his head. "Huh? Oh aaaah...... hi." He looked kinda shellshocked. "Nice to..... meet you." He gulped, eyeing Demi's outfit. "Aaah...."

"I don't bite." She said lazily. "Name's Demi." Demi said casually.

"Enric....... nice to meet you Miss Demi." The boy smiled faintly. "aaah, Enric Lance...." He said shyly. Then he blushed. "What are you....." Demi had pulled a pair of sunglasses to her face, letters, numbers and stats flashing over the lenses. "aaaah, what's that?"

"ENRIC Lance Draggomani, I like it!" Demi grinned fiendishly. "Follow me Enric, we need to get you some things before you leave the noobie area. Oooooh, I think I have a spare gun somewhere..... Emik pistol, piece of crap, limited, good skills and I got too many. Over here!" Demi pulled on the boy's hand, and Enric squeaked in surprise. "I think I should show you around, I'm bored and you're new." The uber grinned fiendishly. "OY!" Demi pulled Enric over to a stand. "Standard equipment for my friend here!"

The woman at the booth rolled her eyes, the NPC handing Demi a small wrapped package. "Have a good time on Entropia Universe." She said mechanically.

"Okay, see these?" Demi held out her own headgear. "These are your bread and butter. The headset goes around your ear. It acts as a radio. The cord goes around here to the back of the neck, it STINGS a little, but that hookup allows you to gather sweat, which you will need and I'll explain later. Lets just say you DONT want to lose that." Demi demonstrated on herself. "The glasses plug into the earpiece." She placed them on her eyes. "But you can remove them any time you want. You ARE going to need them in the field though. They're scanners. They give you a compass in the lower right, that's a radar. The dot next to it will tell you if you can be shot by other players or not. Fortunately you're not going to be in THAT area for a long time. If it turns yellow or red turn around and run in the other direction. The glasses have a remote here." She held them up. "They also give you a person's name, rank and society on sight." She explained. "It gives you your health and helps you identify monsters too." Then she pulled on a pair of gloves. "These will work even if you're wearing armor." She explained. "You need them to call items from your inventory." They looked like a very fine wire net, but they had small circular glass panels which lit from inside.

Enric fumbled, and Demi smiled, helping the newbie to hook up his equipment for the first time. "kay. Now look at me and practice. Don't worry, I don't bite."

"DEMI you goof! Where are you?" A voice said over the headset. "Sigurd and Tiamat are waiting. We were going to twin tonight remember? Pharming plow cows, I think Chichin Serpent's exact words were, 'Those dumb puppydogs are going to eat Solomate!'"

"Hey chief, I'm with a noob right now. Can I catch you later? And exaurosaurs? How low have the mighty fallen. I could blast like, six of them without breaking a sweat."

"Oh fine. You're going to miss it. Hey kid! I'm Nidhogg Venom! Welcome to Entropia from all of us at Dragon Vanguard! Give us a visit at Atlas Haven when Demi gets you up there!"

"Uuuuh ummm..... thanks?" Enric squeaked, blushing.

"Don't mind them. My society mates are a bit gregarious. We just love to party. All of us have dragon usernames. Chichin Serpent is a bit of a nag him." Demi grinned. "He's just mad because he got OWNED at the last world of firepower tournament. Don't worry, I'll show you what's what."

"Aaah, thanks..... I think....." Enric blushed. "ummm..... so what next?"

"I show you basic controls, and then we take an easy run to swamp camp. Its the training ground for all new players. I'll show you as we go." Demi grinned impishly. "I'm not a particularly good mentor, though I am pretty strong. But there are a lot of new players at Swamp, with just a few experienced folks to help them out. Its chaos, but its a good practice ground. You should be able to find a mentor to help you no problem. Oooooh, and you're not going to miss swunt night are you? Its this halloween earth calender. We gather all the Noobs at Swamp camp, tell the story of the game, then party for a little bit, when the clock strieks midnight we run all the way up to Billy's and arrive there at dawn. Its wild. Don't worry, I'll leave you with Matron Saint Lootius. She'll take good care of you. NOW, glasses on, headset as well. Follow me." Demi grinned. "I'll show you functions of the scanner glasses as we go. The remote has two control panels and a joystick. The joystick allows you to check peoples' names and stats. Simply look at a person and move the curser to their head. You'll see their name, their rank and their society. Don't worry about societies right now, they're social groups, kinda like country clubs. They work together, hunt together and trade together. The joystick also acts as targeting for some weapons such as mindforce and gathering sweat. So its REALLY important that you NOT lose the glasses.

She held up the controlls. "There's a joystick with two buttons, a lower keypad, an upper keypad and a trigger." She held out the control module. "Its a bit of a stretch to operate, but think of it like a wii mote or other gamecontroller crossed with a pistol. The upper keypad are status functions, the lower keypad are social functions. The trigger allows you to enable and disable functions at will, such as channels. The button on the joystick is purely for toggling between chat channels and calling up team stats in either Team or PVP play."

"The chat window is the talking button, it allows you to open a private channel with other players. Simply drag the curser with the joystick over the person's head, click, and hit 4 on the lower keypad. It will open a private channel, when chat is enabled, you push the trigger on the bottom to activate and deactivate the private comm system. During this time all the public channels will still be running in your earphone, so you won't miss anything. Are you with me so far?"

"like this?" It was clumsy, and Enric's hands were really too small to use it quickly at first, but he toggled the PM function into play on Demi. "Mike check 1 2....."

"That's right, you learn quickly." Demi said with a grin. "Now here's the fun part. Toggle over to me and hit five." She pointed to the button on the controller. "Its the friend button, now you can call me for help or information any time you want. Let me do it to you too...... when I move to add you, push 5 and the left button on the joystick. That means yes." Enric waited, and the prompt came up on the screen. Enric fumbled, but he got it. "There we go. If you ever need help, call me. I'm normally pretty bored. Not much to do."

"So what's this other pad?" Enric turned the controller and indicated the upper keypad.

"Alright, this button is another way to activate chat, this one is to deposit. This is the hall of fame, if you hit something worth a large amount of ped, it goes in here. There's also a button for 'new discoveries' you want to watch that, because if somebody discovers a part to a monster otherwise unknown, it means that Mindark may be releasing a new mob on the game. The last one, Daspletor, was bought by Neverdie."

"Neverdie? Who's that?"

"He's a legendary player here, he owns a space station up in orbit. That's the place where the best of the best go. Its REALLY hard to make it at Club Neverdie, but if you're strong enough to last there you can win /big/ peds. Neverdie also owns a bank, and several landareas. There are lots of mobs that you can /only/ hunt on some of Neverdie's territories. He has two land areas as well as the station. The most famous of these are the Daspletor. They're REALLY strong, you have to gang up on them to even have a prayer. They're actually kinda fun!"

"FUN!" Enric gulped.

"Like I said, its the place where the best of the best go." Demi frowned. "Back to the topic...." She smirked. "The hall of fame function is mainly for bragging. But the 'new discoveries' page is important. So remember it. The star....." And she leaned in to indicate a star button. "Is your professions. These are skills like hunting, mining and first aid that you can make money off of."

Enric frowned, then pushed the star button. "I see, so since I'm new they're at...."

"Zero. We need to get you to swamp so you can practice. We're almost done. 'K' shows your experience points. 'J' lists friends, so if you need me, hit 'J' then click like so, and you see what comes up? You have 'friend' 'chat' and 'trade'." She continued quickly. "Hit 'M' and see the map? It says we're at "Port Atlantis" click continent."

"There's another land area."

"Yep, that's Amathera. I'd suggest warming up on 'Eudoria' where we are, before going to Amathera. The reason is that the monsters there are REALLY hard. If you don't have an escort, a newbie can get stuck in a land area, with /swarms/ of monsters blocking your way out."

Enric gulped. "That's bad." He looked up at Demi and blushed a bit. "Sorry.... a little uncoordinated."

"Oh yeah its bad." Demi smiled. "Its okay. If you get in a jam, gimme a ring. I'll give you a hand. And answer whatever questions you have until you get yourself a mentor." She grinned. "But here's the real trouble, you can use the teleporter to get from area to area, but you can't teleport to an area you haven't been to. So when you get a mentor, move from swamp camp through Eudoria and get as many tp's as you can. Trust me, it makes moving from place to place a lot faster." Demi moved on quickly. "Inventory calls up what's in your pack. That's important, you can carry a lot, its very efficient, inventory tells you immediately what you have with you. The pack is basically a data carrier.

"The last thing you need to remember is the lower display. There's a compass there, which tells you what's in the area. Humans are green, pets are yellow, dead animals are blue, as are the teleport pads, and monsters are in red. Your strength is the green, yellow and red bar. Also, if you're using an item, the little blue and white bar is the reload indicator. It has to fill all the way before you can use an item again. Kinda like reloading a gun. Lastly, there's a PED counter and a green bauble. The ped counter is self explanatory, but watch the green bauble. If it turns yellow, that means another player can shoot you, but you won't lose your items. Yellow areas are for practicing and having fun mainly. But if it turns red, BOLT in the other direction. The area is radioactive, without the proper shots you die, and if you're killed in a red zone by another player, whoever kills you can take any loot you've found, hunted or mined. So stay out of the red if you're on your own."

Enric nodded. "Okay, now how do we get to swamp camp?"

"Hang on kid, I need to show you what's here at PA first. This way......" Demi lead Enric through the trailer that seperated the newbie area from the rest of PA. "Alright, firs the tp. You need your glasses to activate it. Stand in the tp, pull the trigger, it brings up the map, use the joystick to pick a place." She indicated an area on the radar that had a blue blip, and lots of green blips. "That's the tp courtyard. That big building behind us is the mall. Have you deposited anything?"

"My allowance for the last summer yeah." Enric agreed. "And yes, I get an allowance, long story." He shook his head. "RL I'm stuck in the hospital, I'll probably be in there a long time. So mom and dad gave me money."

"Aw, sorry...... you know, then Entropia will cheer you up. Come here....." She took Enric's arm and tugged. Enric squealed in surprise and ran along behind her. "Okay, see the bank over there? There's a teller pad out front. You can only access a pad with your trigger controller, but you can access the trade terminal, abbreviated TT, manually. It teleports the items into your pack, or if you'd like into your hands. You select an item using the controller, it signals the pack, then uses the glove to teleport the item into your hands." Demi demonstrated. "Right now, I'm selecting my opallo. Its the most basic rifle, almost everyone has one. You should be able to buy one easily since you're a depositor. Forget the pistol, you want the opallo." As she spoke she toggled the controller. A rifle appeared in her hands, and Demi held it out for Enric to inspect. "They're so popular that some people will ONLY let you into a hunt or event if you're using an opallo. No other weapon."

"They're that popular?" Enric blinked in surprise.

"They get you a huge amount of experience, more than any other easily accessible weapon." Demi lead Enric at a quick walk towards a black trailer. "This is just your simple trailer. It contains a revive station, er..... if you die you're sent automatically to a revive station. It has a repair terminal. You have to pay for repairs, and most things break eventually. And it has a trade terminal, where you can get ammunition, basic mining equipment, things like that." She lead Enric further over. "And THAT is the auction house. The auction house is where you can sell really valuable things. Anything in your pack you can look up the value of. Dont' worry about it just yet. Now.... FOLLOW ME!"

Demi took off at a run for the edge of PA, and Enric struggled to keep up. He kept following her signal on the compass, until he found her at the base of a gun turret. "Watch, see that guy over there?" A new player had a monster on his trail. "Use your glasses, watch." Enric turned the toggle onto the monster.

"It reads, 'combibo, young'." If anything, Combibo looked like an insect, and sounded so much like a pig that Enric asked. "What, are they edible or something? They sound like they'd have some great bacon."

Demi laughed. "Not really, they're anatomically more like dinosaurs." She watched the new player run towards them.

"LOOK OUT!" The player yelled as she closed in on the tower.

"Is it gonna attack us?" Enric tensed, ready to run.

The retort of a machine gun sounded, and Enric flinched. Demi grinned fiendishly and said smugly. "Nope."

When Enric looked again, the combibo was dead, its form slowly disappearing. The newbie panted at the base of the turret. "Sorry..... trying out my new, pistol..... ran out..... of....ammo."

Demi shook her head. "TT model?"

The newbie nodded. Demi rolled her eyes, looking bored. "Hold out your control toggle. I need to demonstrate trading for my friend here."

The female player sighed in relief. "Thank you....." She toggled the joystick, then shook hands with Demi. There was a faint glow from the glass panels on the gloves. "500 ammo? WOW thanks!"

"No problem, but I aint given you anymore. So you better make that count!"

The newbie ran a tanned hand through her white hair. "Thanks! I will!" And she went off again.

"Alright Eneric, this is a gun turret. Lead a monster you can't kill to it, and it will shoot the monster for you. But you can't take loot or sweat off a dead mob, so be careful where you lead it!" Demi nodded to Enric. "Okay, this way."

"We're going to this 'swamp' place?" Enric asked as he ran behind Demi. "Heey! I can't run as fast as you."

"Sorry." Demi slowed down and nodded. "Swamp camp is the best practice ground for new players. Lots of monsters, a turret, a revive, and a trade and repair terminal. Everything you need to start is there." Demi was leading Enric away. "Up for a swim?"

Enric gulped. "I'm not good at swimming."

"Here you are!" Demi exclaimed, pushing Enric off the hill and into the water. She jumped in after him. Then Enric heard Demi's voice over the channel. "Water is the best way to shake off an enemy mob when there's no turret around. And here you can stay under water indefinately. Give it a try, take a breath."

Enric turned green, 'here's hoping I don't drown.....' he muttered. "Hey! It works!"

"Yep." Demi's kicking bootheal was visible a ways in front of him. "Follow me." She kicked and swum at a liesurely pace, making sure that Enric was behind her. "Anyway, even if you can speak under water, and breathe under water, sound doesn't carry very far, and visiblity is low. So you want to use the comm system and the radar to find your way."

"Alright, so which way do we go?"

"Well use your compass, see how it moves? We're going northwest, aaaalllmost....." They were on dry land now. Demi paused and pointed to a ridge. "Over that, see how the radar is TEEMING red? Those are all the mobs that can be sweated, and the green are all players sweating, hunting, and practicing their skills. When we get to the ridge, follow me at a run, don't stop for anything. Just keep running."

Enric gritted his teeth, nodded and ducked into a sprinter's crouch. "Good..... one...... two...... three...... BOLT!" Demi roared, Enric ran.

The water was a blind, headlong panic. Then up on the hill Enric ran. The world was a blur, there were other players, flashes of green energy, the retort of weapons. Enric heard a snap/hum sound like a camera and a cry that sounded like a monster out of a jurassic park movie. There was a buffalo like monster, and something resembling a raptor and a chicken, but barked like a dog. There was the snorting noise of a combibo distant, and growing bigger, a set of three trailers. "Almost there!" He heard Demi tell him. "Stop at the base..... of the..... turret!" Then they were there! Enric skidded to a stop and caught his breath, looking around.

There were three trailers, one of them open with terminals inside, there was a gunturret as well, with players grouped around it. "Demi, this is it?" Enric panted.

"Yep, and I need to find....." Demi hopped up and down, trying to see through the crowd with her scanning visor. "OY! MATRON! WHERE ARE YA?" She bellowed.

"I know that voice out of a stadium." A woman dressed in an elegant white ellen evening gown bustled her way over. She wore sapphire colored urban nomad mountain boots and a brigadeer coat over all of this. "I know that bellow. Demi what do you want?" Matron had long, crimson red hair that hung simply around her shoulders with little adornment. Her scanner visor was a bono shades glasses with simple black frames. "Did you bring in a new one?"

Avatar profile

Avatar Name, Matron Saint Lootius
Society name: Saints of Lootius
Rank: Chapel Matron
Specialty: Administration, First Aid and Support, Mindforce
Been around since: Winter 2001

Accomplisments: Matron took part in two WoF tournaments knocked out in the early rounds of both and was part of a team that failed the most recent landgrab. She is also co head of Saints of Lootius. She has participated in three low level beacon missions, but doesn't go on more than one every six months, as she dislikes the stress level. She has made one trip each to Crystal Palace and Club Neverdie, and claims she will not go back without at least three society mates.

Weapons and tactics: Matron specializes mainly in first aid and support, and prefers melee weapons or pistols. She stores her most powerful weapons, two mentor edition high level weapons and several random limited or high level blade and pistol weapons, for use in tournaments, events and hunts. Typically she carries just her chips, cleric dagger, and opallo, leaving the rest of her weapons stable in storage for when needed.

Weaponslist: Firestorm Chip Moderate, Cleric Dagger 3C, Katsuchi Valor, for backup she carries an opallo with amps, and several limited pistols of varying strengths. She also has two very rare mentor edition weapons, a manticore deathbringer mentor edition and a Sollomate Tasmo Mentor Edition, which remain safely tucked away for important occasions.

Information: A calming and down to earth personality, Matron is the head female position of Saints of Lootius society. Besides basic administration duties, Matron takes charge of teaching new players, and is a frequent guest of Swamp Camp. She is capable of handling up to five disciples. Rumor has it that IRL she is vp of an up and coming financial company, and has a lot of resources and ped at her disposal. She is especially sought out for her knowledge of mindforce and is a skilled medic. While she enjoys mining and hunting, she considers mindforce to be her main combat talent. In addition to her firestorm chip, she carries highly advanced teleport and heal chips.

end avatar profile

Matron shook her head, "honestly, Demi you look like some kind of wild woman. Did you scare any newbies recently?" She stopped near them, looking Enric up and down. "You brought a new one."

"Yeah, Matron, this is Enric, Enric Lance Draggomani." Demi pushed Enric eagerly forwards.

"Well, you look rather shy. Don't worry, we'll have you fixed up in no time." Matron shook her head. "Are you a depositor?" Then at Enric's nod. "Alright, then you should be able to get the equipment you need from the terminal. Will you be staying long Demi?"

"No, I've been thinking of heading out to Atrax park for a bit. Blasting dinos is fun." Demi grinned fiendishly. "Take care of him will you?"

"Sure thing." Matron rolled her eyes. "you really should mentor one of these new arrivals. I have my five, I can't take any more." She sounded kind of like the grandma Enric never had, the way she fussed over the new arrivals. And other than the coat she was simply dressed, just a dress and a pair of boots. She even dressed in white like a saint might.

"Aw, I'll find the right one someday." Demi winked at her. "Now, Matron, I need to head out." Demi told the medic.

"See you then." Matron sounded exasperated, as if this was a constant thing for Demi.

"Oh wait, one more thing." Demi toggled her controller. "I have something for you." A window came up on Enric's visor. 'Trade with Demi?'

Enric fumbled, clicking yes. There was a few seconds wait, and then a pair of pistols and 500 rounds of light blp ammo. The screen that came up said 'Emic S30 (L)' on it. Demi grinned, approving the trade, "Okay, click 'yes' with the joystick." She instructed. Enric hurriedly clicked yes. Demi flicked up her visor, motioning for Enric to do the same. "To finish the trade, clasp hands. It transfers ownership data between your datapack and mine." She held out her hand. Enric did the same, there was a brief flash as data passed between storage packs. "Those are Limited pistols. If a weapon or item has (L) at the end, its limited. That means that when you use it up, its gone. So watch the decay bar above it. When they reach max decay, tt it. Use these as your trump card, Matron will get you set up with everything else." Demi winked. "I'll give you a buzz in a couple of days, and I'll come back for halloween's ritual run."

Enric waved goodbye numbly, still somewhat dazed from Demi's whirlwind trip from PA to Swamp Camp.

//I think, therefor I am, it is a simple phrase that means a lot. Suddenly I am robbed of physical form, and trapped inside a dream. There is no way to wake up. I am constantly thinking.

//I'm dazed, and homesick, and worried what my family will say when I disappear from my hospital bed. But I guess I'm safe at swamp. And I made a friend. Matron is nice too, I think she's rich, with all the gear she has and all the fancy clothes.

//I think, therefor I am, I am constantly dreaming, yet even dreams must rest. I am exhausted, and even in a virtual world I sleep.

//As the sun sets on swamp camp, the only sounds I can hear are the baying of mobs and the tatter of a turret. There are flashes of mindforce in the dark, and nothing else really visible. Yet its calm, and quiet.

//I think, therefor I am...... dreaming.

~

It took me AGES to figure out how to convert the game's functions into a controller format.

 

[sakuraqueen]

what?

 

[Monica]

what?

Indeed

 

[Gwen Ryuunami]

there's an anime called .hack. I did an entropia version of .hack. .cal

I suck at summaries, and I have the worst habit of writing fanfiction between the hours of midnight and 4am.

Summary: Enric was always sickly, and on his 18th birthday was hospitalized for a long stay. While recovering, he picks up an innocent game called Entropia, only to be sucked into a game that is very very real. Not sure who he can trust, Enric goes off on his lonesome and witnesses a secret that threatens both the real and virtual words.

Now forced to work with the Dragon Vanguard society, Enric joins a desperate fight to halt a hideous plot by rival society, "Phoenix Conquistadors." And the only way he's getting home is a fight that will shake Calypso to the bones.

 

[Blackjack]

Great story so far! Please continue!!!!!

I really think you should bring some more real characters into this tho, Just chase em down in here and ask to use thier name!

Wonderful story! More pleeeeease!!!!

Blackjack

 

[Johned]

Fun story, I hope you keep it up.

 

[Gwen Ryuunami]

I don't want to offend anybody, so I'm trying to make up groups and characters rather than use a player or society and have somebody get mad at me.

Plus I'm basing all the made up societies around a theme, Matron saints for example around a midevil chapel and the folks around it.

Hmmm..... if you want to be used, use this form. leave it in your review post. And if a society head wants to allow theirs to be included, I'll have a form for that also. right now I'm working on section 2.

Believe it or not, I do have a plot.

I'm ALMOST but not quite passed mentorship. So there are certain places I'm not strong enough to enter yet. If you can find shots of CND or CP and any screencaps you can get on Beacon missions, I REALLY could use them. I'm basing my chapters off of game areas and screenshots I find. it took me AGES to come up with the control/scanner glasses/data glove unit.

e-mail screencaps to Oceankissedbluerider@hotmail.com

Basically, the glasses produce the health bar effects, anything visual. The headset also covers chat channels and controls trades. It also works with the data gloves to control the gathering of sweat and the aquisition of loot or mine loot.

The gloves store one's inventory as data, and interface with excavators, refiners or other tools to convert whatever items you have into data. the gloves then remove data from the pack to equip an item or transmit data from the pack to effect trades or transfer to storage. No muss, no fuss.

Avatar profile

Avatar Name
Society name (or freelancer): (your society's name here)
Rank: (your rank within your society)
Specialty: (what professions you are best at or most interested in)
Been around since: (give season and year you joined)

Accomplishments: Anything noteworthy you've done, this includes particpation in WoF and landgrab, in which case please list main team or support and the round you were eliminated in (unless you actually /have/ won), it also includes trips to CND and CP. Any high level skill, new discovery, or hof you are proud of. Also any event victory that you are proud of, basically anything you want to brag about doing.

Weapons and tactics: List your two favorite weapons, favored armor set, and your favorite tactics in combat or hunting.

Weaponslist: (Your weapons stable TOTAL, please mark if the weapon in your list is always on your person or if you store it for special occasions)

Information: (Basic information on what you do on Entropia on a day to day basis, your personality, and if you're willing to give it up "rumors" about what you do in real life [ie, rumor has it that IRL he or she is a teacher, or a doctor, or an office worker from New York or France or UK or other country]

One other note, I'm making up avatar appearances for fictional characters based on the armor clothing and coloring lists on Entropedia, but you can help by including a portrait screenshot of yourself however you wish to be described in the fic.

 

[Blackjack]

Avatar Name: Jaxon Blackjack Crowley
Society name (or freelancer): The Disturbed Ones
Rank: Group Leader
Specialty: Hunter, Miner
Been around since: Nov 06

Accomplishments: Rosethrough the ranks of the NBK to become the General of the NBK Guard. Finally left NBK to persue other ventures.

Weapons and tactics: Favorite weapons are my Starkhov AS-147 and my Maddox IV. My favorite armor set would be my Phantom. As for tactics..... that would be blast away untiul something/someone falls down.

Weaponslist: My weapons are always carried.

Information: What I do in entropia is blow peds. I also known to annoy noobs from time to time. But most of my time is spent hunting, usually planetside although it is not unknown for me to take a trip up to CND or CP if I have been particularly lucky and feel the need to correct the anomaly. In RL there is no need for rumours, ask me and Ill tell ya! I work as a Quality Assurance inspector for the US. Army in Korea. Basically that means I spend my days crawling around a variety of armored vehicles making sure they have been properly repaired.







Hope this helps!

Blackjack [

 

[Wistrel]

oooh this looks good - looking forward to reading it through

(yes I'm a hack fan too - btw have you read the novels? if not you should)

 

[Gwen Ryuunami]

Avatar Name: Jaxon Blackjack Crowley
Society name (or freelancer): The Disturbed Ones
Rank: Group Leader
Specialty: Hunter, Miner
Been around since: Nov 06

Accomplishments: Rosethrough the ranks of the NBK to become the General of the NBK Guard. Finally left NBK to persue other ventures.

Weapons and tactics: Favorite weapons are my Starkhov AS-147 and my Maddox IV. My favorite armor set would be my Phantom. As for tactics..... that would be blast away untiul something/someone falls down.

Weaponslist: My weapons are always carried.

Information: What I do in entropia is blow peds. I also known to annoy noobs from time to time. But most of my time is spent hunting, usually planetside although it is not unknown for me to take a trip up to CND or CP if I have been particularly lucky and feel the need to correct the anomaly. In RL there is no need for rumours, ask me and Ill tell ya! I work as a Quality Assurance inspector for the US. Army in Korea. Basically that means I spend my days crawling around a variety of armored vehicles making sure they have been properly repaired.

Now I just need to think of a way to use you. XD the next chap is a noob event that Enric goes to.

 

[Blackjack]

Now I just need to think of a way to use you. XD the next chap is a noob event that Enric goes to.

Wheee!!!! Im gonna be used! Im gonna be used!!!...... Heyyyy.... Wait a minute....

Blackjack

 

[Gwen Ryuunami]

Chapter 2

Newbies began to gather around the trailer at Swamp Camp. Matron raised her voice to be heard as her fellow Saint Lootius members began a warm up by the turret. Armor flicking on and off, checking guns and tallying and sharing ammo, checking faps for signs of max decay, and checking each other's equipment with scanners.

For ease of clearing traffic, pet owners had stabled their pets at the opposite end of the camp. The area was now quickly crowding with players that Enric's scanning glasses labeled as being high ranking, each from different societies. Enric was quickly checking hot key commands. "Okay, I have the emik and opallo, and the vivo I got. I don't think I need anything else." Enric adjusted the data gloves, the fasteners of his sweat and scan goggles.

Matron called out. "Okay everybody! This is an event my Society, Saints of Lootius, holds every three months. This is, for many of you, your first team hunt. Very likely we won't get much, but you will be getting something more important. You'll get the chance to meet players from many local societies and several higher level or newly formed societies. While there is no ped bonus for joining one, many find joining a society gives them better contacts for hunting, mining and other business ventures. Likewise societies share information among their members, affording each a chance to learn more about the world of Calypso.

"You also want to ask around to see if you can find a mentor. Finding a good mentor allows you to get every advantage of learning how the game works. I expect that all would be mentors will act responsibly in their Search for a disciple. Remember that we were all new once, and as such we need to give the newbies every ounce of guidance we can afford them."

"When the team forms, follow me. We will form a circle on the lawn between here and the stables in the distance. Escorts will split off into three groups, one will be responsible for fapping injuries. Fappers please raise your first aid packs so that we can see you."

Five standard Hedok SK20 faps were raised in the air.

"Alright, everone who has a weapon, please call out." Most of the gathered newbies had this or that weapon. Enric had mastered a wildwest draw with his Emik pistol. "HERE! HERE!" He raised his hand.

"Alright, these are your instructions. We'll be forming three rings. The newbies are in the center, the veterans, that's any society representative in on the action tonight, will form an outer ring. We will have mindtropians and healers moving around the middle. Our people are in white, red, and have the occasional gold accessory."

"We have mob collectors, these are splitting up into three groups. We will lead mobs into the circle, with no more than four at a time if we can help it. Because Swamp Camp is so busy, odds are we will have more. You will be participating in an ages old tradition, the Swunt Circle! This circle is commonly done at Neas, but so far none of you will be strong enough to reach Neas yet. This is also to get you used to team hunting. There can be no more than 12 people a team. We have 36, that makes three teams. Three circles."

Several wore the colors of Saints of Lootius, as their society specialized mainly in mindforce, crafting and support for hire jobs. They made sure that their members were easily visible during events, as they were frequently hired as medics for team or event hunting.

Society Status Sheet
Name: Saints of Lootius
Leaders: Matron Saint and Dark Demon Patriarch
Specialties: Mindforce, Crafting, Fap for hire
Ranks: Initiate (new discple, not yet passed mentorship), Novice (general graduated member), Apprentice Druid (apprentice Fapper), Druid (fapper), Temple Master (head fapper) Apprentice Tailor (beginning clothes crafter), Tailor (clothes crafter), Merchant (in charge of procuring materials for society crafters and selling their crafted items), Apprentice (general crafter), Journeyman (mid grade and upper grade crafter), Master (head crafter), Staff Bearer (disciple/new graduate, mindforce specialty), Nun/Priest (regular mindtropian), Cardinal (head of mindforce), Matron (female soc leader), Patron (male society leader)

Blurb; Saints of Lootius don't have very many high level victories to their belt, but they don't typically need it. Their success is based on Cooperation, not confrontaiton. Their numbers are small, around 50, not including initiates or disicples who are uninterested in membership in the society, who are always in or out. But they're always looking for new members. While on their own devices, Saints may wear whatever they please, but on society business or a Fap for hire job they are required to wear white shirts with red patterns. Therefor the Saints have several high level tailors, colorers and texturers for making their clothing. When a new disciple joins the society, they must wear a white shirt and the pants of their standard issue suit. This marks them as beginners to the rest of the society. The high level tailoring pays for a lot of the society's other expenses.

The Saints are unique in that they share resources. They have a forum/blog/website, which lists information. A password protected section contains the "Equipment Pool", a list of all the items members of the society are willing to share should the need arise. Unless an event or job is pending, one must give one week's warning before using any equipment from the pool. The depository acts like a library, giving their members temporary access to resources they otherwise would not have. Uniforms are part of the depository, along with armor, refiners, matter or orefinders, and weapons.

The saints manufacture their own mindessance, dividing it in half. One part going to their own, the other auctioning. They are also the 'go to' society for skill or mindforce implants and related equipment. Everybody contributes a little ped to the pile for ammo and bombs or probes. This ensures that there is always plenty to go around. They also manufacture their own equipment. The best of these go into the "Equipment Pool", the middle grade or unwanted go on auction, the rest are cast off to whichever newbie needs a skilling weapon, finder, fap, ecetera.

End Society profile

"Joy, there you are. I need an extra mob collector." The Saints head mindtropian, Cardinal Numina Flammas was arming three of her better mindtropians for battle. "Grab a lowlevel armor and arm your opallo."

A squad of five members was powering up mindforce. “They’re rounding up a teleport chip?” Joy asked, frowning in concern.

“It’s a little surprise for the newbies. We’ll go up into the hills and lure some tough mobs down for them to whet their teeth on.” A man in a black and gold long coat offered his hand to Joy. “They’re my folks. I’m Jenlel Jainak Odersvank. Co head of Torchwood Institute society. Me, two friends and a couple of high level folks from the NBK groups are going to bring the newbies a little surprise.” Jenlel cracked his knuckles.

“Joy Jemima Farrel, temporary co head of Calypso settlers. I didn’t have to come, but Gwen has a riker and she knows how to use it. The chaos that reigns here gets on her nerves big time. She never comes near Swamp for hunting if she can help it.”

“So you’re supervising her, hmm?” A dark skinned girl dressed in Gremlin armor was bouncing up and down in excitement, Riker UL1 (L) in hand and squealing as she hung off some boy from Torchwood Institute.

The five fellows on Jen’s squad had finished powering up their teleport chips. “Alright boys. I’m sending you the cords via team chat.” Jen began to power up his tp chip. The glowing nimbus of power standing out in a halo around his body marking that he was using mindforce of some sort.

“Roger Jen.” One of the other Torchwood Society members grinned. The trio from NBK waved, signaling that they too were ready. “We’ve got it!”

“On three. One, two, THREEEEEE!” Jen roared. He and his squad disappeared with a ‘woosh!’ and a flash of bright light.

Matron smirked, as she continued her instructions. "We have mob lures, the way it works is that we lure mobs to you, you sweat them until it says they have no more sweat, then everybody shoots. DO NOT shoot until they say 'dry'. You will be in trouble if you do! Those of you with melee weapons are out of luck, if you got between us and the mob, we won't be able to hit it.”

“Now, I want you to focus on the sweating and shooting. We’ll have a surprise for you in two hours. So if you’re good you get to see something amazing.” Grinned Matron.

“Alright.” Joy turned from the group. “Gwen you’ve got Gremlin and you love them so much, get your opalo and tag us some Berycled.”

“Yesm ma’am!” Gwen grinned fiendishly. “Trouble with a capitol T here I come!” She darted off in the direction most of the Berycled spawned.”

“Boa, go get us a nice long string of Daikiba, Raven, go to the edge and get some Cornandacauda. But wait a few minutes before you get them. Drop some probes or bombs to pass the time until I give you the signal. Dave, thank you for leaving your new friends for the night. Get us some combibo from the hill. If we’re lucky we can get a high level armor part for these newbs.” Joy smiled. “Matron, I’ll be right back with something good.” Joy dashed off into the forest.

Enric growled, drawing his Emik pistol with his customary wild west spin. “Emik huh. Good choice. Have you been up to Atlas yet? The Exaurosaurs there drop a lot of them.”

“Uuuuh, no I haven’t.” Enric said shyly. “The emik was a gift. My friend Demi gave them to me.”

“Ooooooh, the pirate queen?” The boy giggled. “I’m Vyrgil, I’m from the cK Coat Killers.”

“Oh…. Um… I’m not from any society.” Enric blushed. “To be honest I’m not quite sure who to go to.”

“Well be carefull where you go. There are good societies and bad ones. cK is famous, so are the NBK groups, there are a lot of different ones. M2S is one of the strongest. There’s also several Starfleet themed societies and the new group Torchwood Institute has three satilite societies that are springing up. And my old buddy Ryuken is starting a Bleach themed society.”

“Um… do you know what Dragon Vanguard Society does?” Asked Enric.

“Them? They’re one of the early groups! CalDragons is one of four powerful societies. But they’re open to EVERYONE. Some societies have requirements for your skill level, your interests on calypso, some even go by country. So you must be careful who you apply for. Also, don’t take an unsolicited invitation to join a society. To be considered legit when founding a society you need to have a certain number of members for a certain amount of time. After that, you get to expand your group any way you wish.”

“I see. So Dragon Vanguard are big fish?” Asked Enric, looking in the direction Raven had run to.

“yeah, along with Tiger Nightrangers, Turtle Phalanx and Phoenix Conquistadors societies.”

“Hey jooooy.” Raven whined over the Calypso Settlers channel. “I have like, six of them here. When can I bring them in.”

“let Gwen arrive with the Berycled first.”

“That might be a… um… a problem?”

“Why.”

“They all came at me at once the instant I dropped the probe!!!! If you want any left for the kiddies I need to RUUUUUUUUN!” Exclaimed Raven with a giddy laugh. “Cause otherwise I’ll kill them all!”

“Oh good god Raven, I keep telling you you show off too much!” Gwen growled over society chat. “I’ve got as many Berycled. Took me awhile to get them all. Coming in!”

“This is Mike. I have the Daikiba you asked for. And a nice little ample of nexus to come back to when I finish!”

“Gratz. All Calypso settlers, please switch to Ventrillo if you can. We need to run.”

“Hee heeee! No problem boss.” Gwen grinned. “Bery bery quite contrary how does your garden grow. Gee, I don’t know Gwen, you just took your opalo and shot up my garden! I’m gonna CHEW YOUR ARMS OFF!” Gwen cackled. Then, on the open channel. “Hey neewwwbies, HEADS UP!!! I’ve got a blast of biting scratching super fiesty Bery flavor for you!”

Enric growled, parting for the Berycled Gwen had to run into the circle. He started sweating instantly, having gotten good enough at it to do so on reflex. At the same time another Calypso settler ran in with a train of Daikiba and a third with some strange creature called a Cornandacauda. The Berycled spread out, and the Daikiba were quickly drained of sweat and dispatched.

The cornandacauda was stronger. It had more hit points and endurance, and regenerated too quickly. Several of the newbs were wearing random pixie parts or settler armor. With two of them and combibo also on the attack a circle a boy wearing the white kobald armor two people down collapsed, the revive terminal sweeping him away.

Matron roared over the Saints society channel. “YOU IDIOTS!” She told the healers. “I trained you better than that!!!”

“Easy Matron.” Cardinal told Matron. “Taking hits is part of the game.”

“But there was no need for it until the group from TWI and NBK comes with the high level mobs.” Matron protested. “Speaking of which.” She healed the newb with her Hedok and then called into the pm. “Jenlel, how’s it coming?”

“The NBK boys have found some Atrox up near billy’s, which would you rather we do? Go up to Zych to get some Maffs and feffs?”

“No, go to Orthos west mound and bring down some atrax, Molisk and merp. And any stray bots you find too will do nicely.”

Suddenly a cry went up from the third circle. Golden rings of light surrounded the newbies in the group. “WOOOOO!” Raven cheered. “Your first global boys and girls enjoy!”

Gwen beamed at Raven. “SEEEE? Seeeee? My Berycled got them a one hundred fourty ped global. It would have been a Hof if Jenna Mercury and Planet Express Soc hadn’t scored such a big hof tonight.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. These guys have forever and a day to match her if they want to.” Raven grinned. “It’s a /game/ Gwen. Sure it costs money to play, but most things in life do. Or are you going to tell me the only reason you play is out of greedy pipe dreams of getting rich?”

“It would be nice. But no, that’s not the only reason why I’m here. Hey kiddies! Don’t forget to take a picture! Hit the print screen button on your keyboards!” Gwen called over the public channels.

//Like I have a print screen button to press.// Enric thought. Suddenly the loot screen of the Berycled he took down popped up. //Its an armor piece, but its blue!// He checked. //Gremlin? That’s the sapphire blue suit that girl was wearing. Urg but its in horribly bad condition. //

“Heeeeey! What did you get?” A girl from Starfleet Academy leaned over his shoulder.

“Gremlin, in crap condition. Only…… four peds decay on it. But its male, so I can wear it.”

“Oh yeah, Berycled drop a wide variety of items. And their hides fetch a /pretty/ price!” The girl replied.

“This is Valence from NBK Legion. We have sight of no fewer than six atrox. This is your party Matron. What would you like us to do?”

“This is Boudicca from Torchwood One society.”

“This is Jenlel from Torchwood Institute.”

“We’ve got a problem. There’s too many merps over at Orthos. We can lure them in quick but they’d trample us combined with the Atrax. Its going to take awhile to pick what we want. We /did/ find a ship. But we couldn’t finish it off without killing the bot too, so we’re standing guard on it until you give us the signal.” Jenlel told Matron.

“Alright.”

“Boy, its too bad Echo couldn’t come. I hear he chickened out because of some kind of outing?”

“Hey, who are you calling a chicken?” Echo’s voice came in over Ventrillo. “The place closed down it turns out. So we decided to spend the night at home.”

“Echo, Jenlel and Boudicca need a hand up at Orthos west mound. They’re looking for local mobs that would challenge a newbie. Atrax, Merp and Molisk, and a ship they’re trying to lead the drone from.”

“Cool. I’ll PM them.” Echo replied. “On my way.”

~
Society Status Sheet
Name: Torchwood Institute/Torchwood One/Torchwood Three/Torchwood Genesis
Leaders: Jenlel Jainak Odersvank (Torchwood Institute), Warrior Princess Boudicca (Torchwood One), Jainak 51st Jackrabbit (Torchwood Three), Rowen Deadman Harper (Torchwood Genesis)
Specialties: Exploration, hunting
Ranks: VARIES DEPENDING ON SOC. TWI is an academic society. TW1 is Corporate. TW3 is military. TWG has yet to be decided, as its charter is still being drawn up.

Blurb; The Torchwood Institute is the first of a group of societies named after the renegade investigation group of the Doctor Who Universe. They are referred to collectively as the Torchwood Dynasty. Torchwood One and Torchwood Three are the societies following. With rumors of a fourth society, Torchwood Genesis based out of Twin Peaks that focuses near exclusively on mining is under construction. Until then would be leader Rowen Deadman Harper will be serving in Torchwood Three. Rowen plans to make TWG a recruiting ground for the other three societies.

The leaders of all three societies know each other IRL, making cooperation between them easy. Jainak almost exclusively spends his time on Crystal Palace and CND, only coming down to stalk Amathera for supplies or during tournaments on the ground. Jenlel has been outbid three times for a land area, and operates a junk shop titled "The Curiousity" in Emerald Lakes Mall. Warrior Princess Boudicca is known for her affection for rare weapons, and is the first to display them. During the last Robot invasion Boudicca found one of the required parts for a Protector of the Empire armor suit, but auctioned it off to the highest bidder, instead using the ped from it to buy a high level rocket launcher. She is known for being willing to do /anything/ to get a shiny gun and for her extensive use of the gladiator inspired armor suits. Surprisingly enough Boudicca also has high level makeup skills, and frequently paints the faces of her society mates "just for kicks."

On the global/hof channel the three societies identify themselves as TWI, TW1 and TW3. Making them easy to spot on the hof reel. They do a decent job, pulling in two or three large scale hofs every month. However, their members focus on honing their skills more than making a quick buck. They're known for their work ethic, and are more likely to spend their peds skilling and having fun than withdrawing them. The Torchwood Dynasty is attempting to rise on the society charts to qualify for landgrab, and Jenlel has an intense desire to own a land area. With the recent expansion of new LA's it is possible that the Torchwood Dynasty may at last stake its claim on Amathera as its Founder intended.

end society profile

“ECHOOOOOOOOO!” Boudicca squealed, tackling the Uber the instant he came out of the teleporter.

“Boudicca. Hi.” Echo sweatdropped. “Okay, where’s this ship? I’ll lead it away if you’ll grab the button. Just remember to save me a spot on the beacon if you get one.”

“For you cutie pie? Anything.” Boudicca purred. “Hey ROWEEEEEEEN!”

A thin man with bright blue hair and a make up with the Torchwood T symbol on his cheek came out of the trailer. “oh no. I’m not playing tag again. You’ve got that gigantic shooter from your last run kissing butts with Planet Express.”

“But… but… Ptah gives me a good raaateee.” Whined the ditsy girl. She equipped a Marber foxtrot plasma annihilator. “Heee, see? He sold it to me last week. Its pretty!” Hearts floated above the buxom gun bunny's head.

“Ho brother.” Rowen looked ready to punch the ebullient Boudicca.

“My dear Bouda, where did you get such an enormous weapon. Don’t you think its over kill?” Echo asked, trying to calm the excitable young woman.

“Nope!” Boudicca exclaimed, discharging a shot into the air. It narrowly missed Echo, the uber ducking clumsily out of the way. “Good news everyone! The Warrior Princess Boudicca has a new toy!”

Echo just sighed and shook his head. "Is she always this hyper?"

Rowen screwed up his eyes crankily. "Every moment of every day."

"Ooooh oooooh oooooh! Boys watch this! I can hit the merp before it even aggros! Look!" She shot the overpowered sniper rifle at one of the nearby merps this time.

"Jeez Bouda overkill much?" Jenlel's face twitched. "Alright. We need to get some tough mobs into the camp. NBK has already started gathering atrox for the newbs to swing at. Echo, get the bot, Boudicca get the beacon and then help me round up some atrax."

"Sir yes sir!" Boudicca squealed. "oooooh, trains are so much fun." she hopped around cutely. "Chooo choooo chugga chugga chugga chugga chooooo chooooo!"

"How do you deal with the insanity?" Rowen whispered to Jen. "She's your rl girlfriend."

"Simple my friend. Just smile and nod." Jenlel replied. "And be ready to hand her more ammo when the clip runs dry."

At that, Echo chuckled. "Reminds me of Gwen. 'But i'm not doooooneeee yeeeeet!'" He mimicked. "Always wants to shoot something."

"Oh god thats EVERY SINGLE DAY." Rowen snorted.

~

Enric was starting to get the hang of the whole swunt circle thing. Until...

"What the hell is that?" The newbie on his right cried out.

Enric pulled his glasses down over his eyes, the compass showed a group of mobs coming in long distant. "WOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo!" Came the howl over the radio. "ATROX COMING THROUGH!!!!!"

There was a roar as no fewer than six atrox ploughed into the circles. Two in each of the three teams. The Saints of Lootius quickly fapped the tired NBK fighters before helping the more seasoned players hemm the atrox into the circle of noobies. "May I have your attention everyone? We're bringing some more powerful mobs down from the mountains for you to sweat! Don't worry, we'll keep them distracted! Just sweat them and jump them!!!"

Enric grinned hugely, focusing on getting as much sweat as he could. It took several minutes more until the atrox were drained dry. Noobs were falling in all directions from jaws and bites. He got a nasty hit that took about a third of his hp, but before he could even call his vivo one of the Saints of Lootius covered him, getting his health back to full.

Suddenly the young went down in their circle. The sound of fanfare and the gold rings marked a HUGE hof. "eighthundred ped! Excellent!" Vyrgil clapped him on the shoulder in congratulations. "Go over your loot later! Now get ready. I hear echo is bringing a bot down from Orthos!"

"B....... b......... bot?" Enric was still stunned by the sudden income of items and the fanfare. But then the atrox in the circle to the right globaled. The others didn't, though the circle on the left missed a global probably by a matter of ped.

"Robots." Vyrgil replied. "Focus. Don't worry. Coming from Orthos its probably a drone!"

The girl from Calypso Settlers, Gwen was jumping up and down in glee and doing a cheerleader routine, using mindforce power up as pom poms. "Go noobs go! Go noobs go!" One of the Saints threw his fap at her. "GO GET MORE MOBS!" "Geeze! alright! No appreciation." She muttered, running off for more berycled.

It took another half an hour before "OYEEEEE! GWEN CLEAR OUT! LOOK OUT!!!" Enric heard laser gunfire and the whirring of gears.

"HERE COMES ECHO! OUTTA THE WAY FOR THE DRONE!!!" Matron bellowed.

All of a sudden a drone burst into full view. The left hand circle parted for the mob and a man marked by the scanner goggles as Nessie Echo Sindie of Calypso Settlers fell to his knees, panting and out of breath. "WOW. What a run!" He giggled nervously. "Boudicca got a beacon out of that. A tough one too! I think thats Torch's first society beacon."

"Nice." Joy beamed. Gwen squealed. "Tell me how it was Echo kay?" The girl in Gremlin armor beamed hugely. "And don't let Raven in on it. He'll hog all the glory. You know him and that Boudicca girl are cut from the same mould."

"I heard that." Someone called from the veterans gathered around the right hand circle.

"Actually Gwen, she's more cut from your mold." Echo snickered, looking up at the ebulliant girl. "She's go the same color hair too!"

The global rose up from the left hand circle. "WOAH! Somebody must love Swamp tonight." Snorted the girl across the circle from Enric.

Suddenly. "This is Torchwood Institute, Jenlel here. We have a bit of a......"

"COMING THROUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHH! CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHOOOOO CHOOOOOO!" Squealed Boudicca at the head of the line. "March mobs march! Traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiin! CHOOOO CHOOOOOOO!"

Merps, Atrax and Molisk /poured/ into swamp, along with three cornandacuada mature and six sabakuma that had been picked up in the race. Breaking all semblance of a circle instead of sweating the sea of mobs everyone just opened fire. The fanfare indicating a global rang once, twice, three times, four times, seven times before the hof rose up from the neglected left hand noob team.

With a roar, the Atrax pounced Enric. The noob fell over onto his butt. That was when a rocket launcher's grenade knocked the mob back. Demi stood in the crowd, waving the launcher in the air and aiming at the atrax for another shot. BAM! BAM! BAM! Three more hits and the mob fell to the ground. The Hof fanfare sounded again. Demi came away from that train five hundred peds richer.

"DEMI! WAIT WAIT FOR ME!"

"Huh? Enric?"

"Thanks, that was an awesome shot!" Enric told Demi. "Where did you get a rocket launcher???"

"You think so?" Demi blinked in surprise. "And its just a common Vumpoor. I scored two crits on that Atrax. Takes muscle though. You won't be up to using one of these for a long while." A pause, then awkwardly. "Did you have a good time tonight?"

"Yeah. An awesome time." Enric beamed. "That 800 ped team hof, that was us!"

Vyrgil was tugged past them and away by a woman in shadow armor from M2S. "Come on Vyrgie vyrgie! We're going to do some private celebrating. I hear the bar at Troy has been restocked. We can get some booooozeeee."

"oooooh, booooooozeeeee..." Vyrgil floated after her, hearts floating above his head.

Demi ahermed awkwardly, giggling at the two of them. "Cool that you got your first hof." Demi turned and walked away. "Get yourself some mining equipment. If you run Northwest you'll eventually reach Orthos, and then you want to head north to Hadasheim. The mining is good out there and the run is long enough to get you some good experience."

"Aren't you going to stick around and celebrate?" Enric asked hopefully. "You can teach me more about mining!"

"Not my thing. I have to store the loot I got from that Atrax" She called over her shoulder. "Enjoy your victory Enric." That was said kindly. Back near the trailers, one of the NBK fighters who had lead the atrox to swamp pulled out a pyrotropy chip, doing an intricate dance for the Noobs who cheered him on, hanging on his every word about his society and how great it was as he put on a show. "You know where to find me."