Mcmolly

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele proceeded cautiously, keeping within the flickering pool of light cast by Kazuki’s torch. It was a silly thing, really, for someone like her to be even mildly afraid of the dark—someone with a literal affinity for it, who was also, allegedly, an adult. But she couldn’t help it, it’d been that way since she was a little girl, and the only thing that had changed was that now she was better at pretending it didn’t faze her as much.

Suddenly, something snapped behind the group and filled the dark room with a horrid, echoey grinding. Someone shrieked and jolted like a startled cat.

It was Seele.

She quickly clapped a hand over her own mouth, and her brief flash of surprise devolved into embarrassed giggling. Oh gosh, she’d actually just done that. What a way to inspire confidence in the others.

Before she could apologize however, there came the familiar croaking of goblin voices from…the walls? From somewhere that wasn’t right here, charging at them, which was abnormally strange for the earlier mobs.

Quickly, though, she understood why. As the room’s sinister designs revealed themselves in a flurry, Seele’s mind raced for answers. She made to run through her spells but—no console? Was this part of the apparent glitch? Shoot. But she knew her spells at least, she’d been doing this long enough, and the first thing that came to her was simple, and disconcerting.

She had no answer for this.

But that was fine. She didn’t have the answer to most of Pariah’s problems, that wasn’t how she played the game. She didn’t make the plays, she helped other people make the plays. If there was a way out of this, then the best thing she could do was make it easier for her team to find it.

Seele straightened up and took stock of her allies. “I think I can handle the ceiling,” she said, and with a flair of her sleeves she brought her wrists up parallel to each other. Chains coalesced from the dark, sloughing off shadows for ghostly violet light, and in the work of an umbral moment, her hands were bound.

The effects were immediate, she felt weaker, even more so than she usually did when the shackles were summoned. This was strange. This was worrying.

This was not the time for doubt.

One by one she angled her shackled hands to her allies and snapped her claw-ringed fingers. The tinny din of the metal was different this time, its echo a warble of arcane devilry. Light shimmered around each of them in turn, and though it took a few moments, soon enough most of them had been surrounded by a faint shell of violet, which just as quickly faded out of sight, only to flicker back into being if struck. The shields were not very strong, but they also weren’t very expensive. The drain Seele felt from each cast, she knew, was more from the effect of the shackles than the cost of the shields.

Cracks formed in the chains between her wrists, leaking iridescent vapors to the floor. She threw buffs to a few them, negligible and quickly vanishing thanks to the shackles, but they did their jobs. After several moments of focused casting—a luxury she didn’t often get—the chains suddenly shattered into mist.
…Mis…sy…
Now she did not feel weak.

Another round of metal snaps brought new shields to a few of them—not many, she couldn’t afford to do too much lest she run herself empty or break the phase. Darker, almost void-like, only to be sucked away back to Seele an instant later as she brought one hand up towards the ceiling.
…please…
A dome appeared around the few of them who had stayed towards the back, and with some effort its shape changed, becoming more taller, narrower. It connected with the descending ceiling, and she felt an uncanny pressure within herself as the spikes met the shimmering, abyssal light. Truthfully, she didn’t know if it would hold for long, or if it would even hold at all, but the best she could do right now was try.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

As the group began dividing itself to discuss duties, things finally started to feel like normal. This was one of Seele’s favorite parts, getting to know her team’s strengths and weaknesses, figuring out where she could best fit in to help the others. Whether the challenges ahead were conventional or not, some level-headed planning and practicality would see them through.

Graves hollered some fun, good-natured banter their way, and she gave him a placating wave in return. But when Benkei came asking after…what was tonic water? She felt a little hiccup catch in her throat. Oh, oh no. He thought she could cook. She’d brought sandwiches to the Wayfarer’s Retreat and now her group leader thought she could cook.

Shoot.

“Ahm…aheh…well—” she started, but then Benkei’s attention turned to Rael, and the two discussed some sort of artifact. Rael turned him down, downed some sort of potion, and then did some spectacular work with her spear. Electric light emanated from the runes, and while it wasn’t perhaps enough on its own, it was better than the tonic water Seele didn’t have.

Kazuki spoke up again, a welcome change of thought. She was surprised to hear that this would be his first rodeo in a dungeon like this, but that was fine. Keeping Kazuki and Alex together would benefit them both, and splitting her focus between Graves and their backline wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Perfect! You two can watch each other’s backs, and I’ll do what I can to mitigate some of the damage you’ll have to heal. Alex, give me a great, big holler before you throw out your strongest attacks, alright? Oh, and Kazuki—”

Seele paused as the lanky healer produced a torch from his bags, and she audibly sighed with relief, hands clasped as if in a grateful prayer.

“Oof, you lifesaver. Anyway, if you know someone’s about to need major healing, just point’em out and I’ll try and throw some big defense-buffs their way. Hopefully that’ll make it a bit easier on you. And one more thing, both of you. If you feel a chain pulling you—”

She flicked her fingers, the ring-claws clinking faintly together. A thick, ghostly chain manifested from beneath her sleeve, wafting dim-violet light, then vanished in an instant.

“Don’t fight it. I know it’s not fun getting yanked around, so I promise it’ll only be for emergencies!”
…they’re not…coming…
Seele started a bit when Kalie spoke up. The girl was something of a shadow it seemed, but she supposed that was a given considering her role. Perhaps she had an affinity for the dark as well, or perhaps Seele wasn’t nearly as observant as she thought she was. Likely a combination of the two.

“Now now,” she said, a bit stern, but not unkindly. “Let’s focus on the enemies ahead. Experienced or not, with all of us working together, I’m sure there won’t be any reason to panic.”

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

It had been a long, and unusually uncomfortable walk to get here as far as the weather was concerned, and once the raid had moved inside, things had only gotten…stranger. Seele wasn’t blind to patterns, and one was certainly forming here. Between Alja's inexplicable drunkenness, the stark humidity, and now this horrid odor, she couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. A glitch, certainly, but not one she’d encountered before, and from the wary looks spreading amidst the raid, she assumed it was a first for them as well.

An uneasiness was beginning to take root. Benkei was doing his best to soldier through it, and so Seele decided to do her part and share his resilience.

She waved farewell to the other group, finding a warm respite seeing Aaginim and Luci together. Then she turned her attentions back to her own team, and clapped her hands together.

“Eyes bright, everyone! Strange or not, there’s new content ahead. Aaginim’s counting on us to do our part, so just follow Benkei’s lead, watch each other’s backs, and everything will work out great!”

Seele believed her own enthusiasm. She sort of had to, as a support; sometimes people could get so down on themselves walking into unfamiliar territory, and it wouldn’t do for her new friends to be doubting themselves now.

She made her way to the lanky, quiet beanpole called Kazuki, nodding gently. She often sought out her fellow supports and healers before raids, especially new ones. Coordination was key to these sorts of things, and she didn’t want to be the cause of any potential problems.

“Hey, Kazuki!” she said. Her voice was a tinge quieter now, given they were in a dungeon and things could get…echoey, otherwise. Still, she kept her tone bubbly. “Looks like Benkei’s got me off in the flank with Graves, and pulling some add-duty. How are you with healing big groups? I was gonna try to stay close enough to throw a few buffs off your guys’ way, but if you’d like, I could probably focus on fortifying some of our squishies.”

She brought her fingers into the air, daintily-clawed rings poking at some invisible diagram in her head. “Alex might need some extra attention. And Kalie will probably be fine on her own so long as Rael and Benkei keep aggro, but I'm sure she'd appreciate a boost or two as well.” Seele blinked, shrugged, gave Kazuki a smile. “What do you think, though? Really, my job is to just make yours easier so you can keep our friends alive, so whatever would make you most comfortable, I’m good with!”

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

A lot happened very quickly.

Seele was pleased with the group that was forming around them. Alja was a wonderful presence, Kazuki, for his quietness, seemed nice enough, as did his brother. Kalie was an…intriguing person, whose dedication to her character Seele could certainly respect, and Alex—an entirely new face to her, compared to the more infamous members who she didn’t know, but had at least heard of—was delightfully chipper. She couldn’t tell how experienced he was, but she’d try to keep an eye out for him in the dungeon, just in case.

The red-haired, drink-dumping tank finally joined them—Rael, apparently—and to her surprise, she started speaking Japanese. Seele blinked, unsure if she’d even heard correctly, but, no, she definitely had. Pariah generally filtered all speech into its common tongues, one would have to go out of their way to say something in their native language. It had been a while since Missy had spoken Japanese, and most of it had been conversations with her father growing up, or his colleagues. Seele made a note to remember that for later.

The surly swordsman, Graves, came over. She gave him a smile and when he held out his fist to her, she stared at it. Oh—duh. She made to bump knuckles with him when attentions suddenly shifted.

There was commotion across the Retreat, and Seele looked around a bit blindly at first until she saw that the stoic, authoritative woman, Luci, was an utter mess of smiles and tears and screams of joy. Seele couldn’t really hear them from where she was, but she saw Luci showing off her hand to her friends, and the beaming grin on Aaginim’s face, and was able to put two and two together.

“Ohmigosh! Guys! Guys! That’s so beautiful!” She squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing on the tips of her toes. Her oversized cap bobbed atop her head like a buoy at sea.

The excitement, at least for their group, was short-lived as Alja, who was so distinctly…vertical compared to the rest of them, became suddenly and somewhat alarmingly horizontal. Seele wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first. Clumsiness? No, that seemed out of character. Maybe just a bit tipsy? That seemed to be the growing consensus.

Graves was the first at her side, which Seele found to be an endearing surprise. As with most people who put on rough faces online, he seemed to have a softness to him. Seele found the scant remains of her worries washing away. It seemed to her that, so long as their group stayed together, they could handle whatever challenges this dungeon presented.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele beamed as Benkei waved her over, and a pink-haired girl wandered off, likely to join the other group. She bowed politely, and took stock of her leader as she assumed he quickly did the same with her. Young, quite young actually, compared to most of the other wayfarers she’d seen so far. She couldn’t pin-point his age of course, due to the altered nature of Pariah’s avatars, and she supposed it didn’t matter much, either. Missy had never been the type to equate age directly with capability; so many things went into experience, and everyone was unique. If Aaginim had decided Benkei was fit to lead a group through new content, then she’d follow right along.
...sy...
“It’s nice to meet you too!” she said, clasping her hands together. “Ah, a bit of the unconventional sort. Shields, buffs and debuffs exclusively. Thankfully it looks like—”

She paused as the friendly giant approached, and thankfully this time with much less urgency than before. Seele waited patiently while she discussed her role with their group leader, and offered her a smile and assuaging gesture when she apologized.

“Not at all! I’m Seele—or Missy, whichever you prefer. It’s nice to meet you! I was only going to say that I hope we have at least one more traditional healer, for the sake of making things smoother, but—and pardon me if I’m gear-profiling—you already seem to have that covered, it seems?”
... ...
Seele craned her neck around Benkei to the young man accompanying him—taking note of the undeniable resemblance between them—and gave him a slight wave. Running content with newer players, Seele had developed an eye for the quiet types. Normally she didn’t like to push her way into people’s comfort zones, but with the group forming up, it seemed like a fine time to make an exception.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele started just a bit when a rather loud, authoritative voice rose over the general clamor of the hall. The whole Retreat fell silent in a matter of moments, and all eyes went to a man that some clearly recognized, and others—like herself—had to take cues from the rest to identify.
…sc…ared…
Ah, she thought. That must be Aaginim. He seems charming.

Seele stood from the table and listened intently as their raid leader explained the guidelines for their event. Some of the information seemed a bit…obvious, to her, but the fact that he had to emphasize that no one should be stealing loot was inarguably concerning. She was aware that some of her potential teammates had reputations for bad behavior, but surely they’d all be willing to behave themselves for something like this. Aaginim was right, after all, if there weren’t going to be any quest items dropping inside, then there was no reason to claw over loot they could all just farm from later runs.

After the rules were established, Aaginim moved on to the part she and undoubtedly most of the wayfarers had been waiting for: grouping. Two of them, A and B. Seele smiled and listened and when he was done listing off the names, she blinked, and looked around.

Oh, right. She didn’t know any of these people. The larger of the two endearingly jovial women had called the other one "Leafy," but that was the extent of her knowledge.

A few moments passed and as the people she assumed to be group A started gravitating towards Aaginim, she waited for someone to announce themselves as group B. …don’t…

Nothing yet. Seele clicked her tongue. Oh well, fair enough. She’d been waiting on introductions until the grouping had been done, so she supposed now was as good a time as any to start being proactive.

Keeping her smile warm and welcoming, she raised a hand up into the air and gave a little wave around the room.
…go…
“Benkei?” she called out to the others. “Is Benkei here? Group B support, looking for my fearless leader!”

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele found herself smiling—now this girl was a breath of fresh air! Energy entirely different from the people she’d encountered so far—for the most part, though she saw a bit of the titan woman in her mannerisms—excited and ready for the adventure ahead of them. It was enough to shift the mood and shove Seele’s creeping doubts away.

She giggled good-naturedly as the unruly man fumbled his way through the conversation, still clearly aggravated by the ale that lingered. She did take note of the slight magic he employed in drying himself, though.

“Seele,” she said, nodding politely to them. “Or Missy is fine, too. I’m not picky. It’s nice to meet you both!”

Seeing as her basket had served its purpose, she took the cloth from inside and set about dabbing up the ale the new girl had splashed about in her enthusiasm. As with her cleaning before, it was mostly meaningless, but she did it anyway. Perhaps that was why people sometimes mistook her for a denizen. Not that she minded, they were for the most part a lovely folk.

“I don’t provide healing, unfortunately, but I’ve been told I’m a very reliable support. If I’m lucky enough to be grouped with the two of you, I promise I’ll do my best to keep you safe.” Mis…sy…

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

When the mess was cleaned—as best she could clean it anyway, though she was sure the denizens would come by to do it better later on—Seele took her seat again. Her basket was empty now, her food stocks diminished, and only a few people had gotten any benefit from it. But, a few was more than none. The nearly-fight had been a bit troubling, but Seele was certain now that even if this new raid was nothing special, her fellow wayfarers would at least make it interesting.
...don’t…
Part of her wanted to seek out one of those authoritative members of the raid team before things kicked off, someone friendly with Aaginim. Seele wasn’t short of confidence in herself, but in her experience it was only fair to make the organizers aware of her build before going into challenging, or even just potentially challenging content. More than once had she been placed into teams without traditional healers because the raid leaders had just assumed—rightfully, of course—that she had brought the sort of spells expected of her role. It wasn’t that she couldn’t pull off solo-supporting, she’d done it before, but something told her a fair number of these players weren’t the type to put up with “close-calls.” Better she was placed with at least one other proper healer, for tempers’ sakes. ...leave…

However, though plenty of the others had broken off into smaller conversations, Seele got the sense that things were coming to a head. The raid had clearly been put together with such haste for the purpose of being among the first into the new dungeon, and if they waited too much longer, someone else would surely beat them to it.

So, Seele decided to stay put for now. The socialite in her protested, but again, there would be much better opportunities to make new friends once the raid had actually begun, and their groups were formed. Hopefully she would come away from this with a longer friends list, but at the very least she’d get some experience with the new dungeon, which would make it easier to help others through it later. ...me…

Her stomach growled. She cast a hopeless look at her empty basket.

Well, hopefully not too much later.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Well this was escalating poorly.

Seele lost a bit of wind when the table lurched against her, but more importantly, the angry man’s sudden spring into action had knocked her basket and sandwiches onto the floor. She tried to snatch at them as they fell but, well, dexterity wasn’t her forte. She managed to pinch one of them by the corner though, before the stone was seasoned with ham and cheese and that tangy sauce she’d bought on her way into Thorinn from an utterly delightful denizen. Sad, but, oh well. Spilt milk and all that. She tucked the sole survivor of the sandwich massacre away and scrambled out from her position nearly under the table just in time for thunder to strike.

No, wait, not thunder—bootsteps. The woman she’d seen before, the exceptionally large one, must have stormed over the very moment things had turned sour, because she was already between them by the time Seele was back on her feet. Her chest tightened for a moment, fearing the worst, when she realized that the woman wasn’t joining in, but rather defusing, or trying to at least.
Please…
She had a loud voice, and so her points were just about impossible to ignore—although it seemed to Seele that the ornery man was attempting to. More than a few times on her journeys, Seele had encountered people like this woman: big, presence, big weapons, bigger hearts. Always a breath of fresh air to see players who hadn’t been jaded by their experience.

Unfortunately, the effort did little to ease the tension. Both the man and the girl were having none of it, and Seele had a sinking feeling that the Retreat was about to become a battleground.

“If either of you toggle PVP anywhere you’re out of the fucking raid!”

Or not.

The first word that came to mind when Seele saw the new trio approach was ‘authority,’ and, clearly, she wasn’t alone. Like a licked wick, the burgeoning fight was snuffed before it even had the chance to start. The tension remained, but that was expected. Seele had run more than a few raids with members that couldn’t stand each other, this was still doable even if the two of them were paired up together. It…hurts…

Either way, it was over. To Seele’s pleasant surprise, the man came back and shimmied the table back to where it had been. He seemed remorseful, or at least embarrassed. Hopefully this was a lesson learned for him, but she wasn’t about to give him some kind of lecture after all of that. Instead, she smiled and waved off his apology.

“It’s really no problem, I’ve faced greater foes than tables and emerged victorious before. Here,” she offered the sandwich, ham and cheese, last of his name. “One more for the road?”

With that settled, Seele set about cleaning up the mess her impromptu picnic had become. Sure, there were probably denizens ready to sweep and mop, but she was here, and in some way it felt a little bit like her responsibility.

Pariah Online: A Voyage into the Intangible Aether

Location: The Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

One or two nervous-looking wayfarers had come by to pluck from the meager stack of sandwiches, and Seele had given them smiles and encouragement as they went on their ways. There certainly did seem to be more buzz around this dungeon than she’d initially thought, but that was fine. She played this game for a challenge, she wasn’t about to back down from one now.

Eventually the inevitable happened, and someone came along who, either from intrigue or boredom, decided that conversation would pair well with the food she offered. Which was great! Granted, the man had opted to enjoy both in tandem, but there were worse things than someone who couldn’t decide between speaking and swallowing.

Seele smiled at his advice. Fair enough that he thought she was green, she was the one pitched up with lowbie food in the middle of a progression queue. He snatched up a second sandwich, and while she instinctively wanted to ask him to save some for the others, again, it was lowbie food. More for taste than stats. He must have known that too, so then he had enjoyed it, right? She supposed that was good enough.

“Ah, not my first time, no,” she said lightly. “Though I’ll admit to being newer to progression, so no offense taken! You look like you know your way around a dungeon though, maybe you could share some pointers with me? Want to make sure I’m ready as can be in case we’re—oh, hello! Would you like a sandwich?”

Seele recognized the girl again as one of the tanks with a…dubious reputation. Not a problem. Not only had she never met the girl before, but regardless of her past, Seele was always ready to offer out the hand of friendship—or in this case, the sandwich.
Rain…
But she didn’t get that chance. First the girl made a somewhat disparaging remark, and then without warning, she emptied her flagon over the head of her newest friend. With a hard blink, Seele leaned back in her seat and pulled the basket and stack of sandwiches to her side of the table, out of the splash zone.

“Oh dear,” she mumbled. “That’s going to stain.”